This is something that I find again and again and again.

A potential client trying to design it themselves.

And then going around and around in circles but getting nowhere.

I know I’ve said this before many times but I’m going to say it again. YOU ARE NOT TRAINED TO DESIGN!

This is why you’re going around and around in circles. A designer has the appropriate tools, skills, training and experience in order to not go round and around in circles. They know what they are doing because they have been trained to do it.

An architect has developed a set of tools (that are neatly stored in a tool box) that he/she can draw upon to start and finish a design and construction project.

In any particular instance the architect knows which ‘tool’ needs to come out of the box and how it should be used. These tools vary from job to job but can include:

• The initial concept
• Developing the design
• Alternative designs
• Evaluating which design fulfils the brief the best
• How to build the design
• Evaluating the energy performance of the design
• Building the design
• Inspecting and certifying that the design has been built correctly

And what’s neat about a craftsman who uses tools is that the architect works in the same way; he/she has used these tools many times before. You can get stuck trying to resolve a problem but the architect has seen the problem before and knows what solution or tool needs to be used in order to solve it.

So why go around and around in circles? Let the architect use his/her tools to solve the problems you have been stumbling over. If you would like us to solve your architectural problems then why not CONTACT US…

My favourite clip that sums this up (obviously without the violence) is Michael Caine explaining that “…you’re in bad shape, but I do this for a living”:

THIS STORY continues the theme by showing a plumber who has the right tools and knows how to use them.

ps I have for the last two years been asked by the RIAI to show my ‘business’ tools showing how other architects can run their business more profitably.