Developing Relationships With Architects and Designers
As a professional remodeler or custom home builder, you likely know that forging connections with architects and designers can open doors to exciting high-end construction projects that will enhance your portfolio. These partnerships often become a valuable method of filling your sales pipeline and keeping your teams steadily busy with new building projects.
However, breaking the ice with architects and designers can be challenging when self-doubt creeps in, leading us to believe we might not operate at the same level as them. It's easy to tell ourselves stories about why these professionals wouldn't want to collaborate with our remodeling or custom home-building company, hindering us from reaching out.
Why Collaboration with Architects and Designers is Beneficial
Major remodels and custom-built homes frequently originate from architects and design partners. These construction projects tend to be larger in scale and higher in value, allowing you to enhance your portfolio and fill your pipeline with consistent high-end work.
If you aren't a design-build firm and don't offer in-house design services as part of your construction process, establishing strategic partnerships with architectural and design firms often becomes essential for a steady flow of work versus relying solely on word of mouth, expensive paid marketing/advertising – or worse, "hope" marketing.
Addressing Hesitations in Builder-Architect Partnerships
General contractors often express a desire to establish relationships with architects and design teams but may struggle with where to begin because of self-perceived inadequacies or fears of rejection.
Overcoming such internal barriers is crucial, as negative self-talk hinders the proactive steps needed to grow your business.
We all tell ourselves stories in our heads about our own perceived worth. And more often than not, those stories prevent us from making valuable changes in our business, like charging for estimates or pricing projects based on the knowledge and expertise we bring to a project or forging connections with architects and interior designers.
But instead of focusing on self-doubt, you need to highlight the unique value and expertise your residential construction company brings to the table and, start to build a foundation of trust and demonstrate a commitment to a superior client experience, much like the firms you're trying to connect with.
Lower the Stakes
As you begin this process of building architect relationships, keeping the right mindset about it is important. It's best not to approach this from the perspective of:
I need to bring them work
I'm looking for work
Instead, your focus should be establishing a genuine connection and seeing if you like each other and would work well together. This isn't the point where you should be feeling like you need to sell your company or that you need a massive track record and a perfectly operating business to establish a good relationship.
Your job is to be yourself, be genuine, and openly discuss the industry, the challenges with client relationships, their design process, how you both focus on project goals, and most of all, to listen.
A long-time client of mine always says, "It's 10 percent business and 90 percent relationship," so focus on making that connection with them.
Building Connections: Three Core Principles
Building a productive relationship with architects and design professionals is a process that takes time, often encompassing several meetings across many months, if not years, before the prospect of working together comes to fruition. Sometimes it happens sooner, but it's important to trust this process and not rush it - or give up early because you feel it isn't working.
When it comes to getting your foot in the door with architects and designers, you want to make sure that you are:
✔️ Focusing on building the relationship first and not on acquiring a project.
✔️ Putting your ego aside and making it about them.
✔️ Genuine and interested in them by being present and asking engaging questions.
Here Are Three Core Principles to Guide You:
Establish a Connection First
When reaching out to new contacts, the goal is to build a connection rather than immediately pitching services. Think of it as a first date – an opportunity to understand each other's values, challenges, and operational methods.
Adopt a Sports Team Mentality
Rather than targeting only new and less-established firms, consider collaborating with experienced ones. Learning from each other's expertise can contribute to overall growth, akin to a sports team where rookies learn from veterans, but once in a while, the vets learn from the rooks.
Don't Fear Catching Whales
Taking on challenging projects, even if initially daunting, can lead to significant professional growth. Embrace opportunities that push you to "level up" and enhance your business's client experience.
Do Your Research
One of the first things you'll want to do before reaching out cold to architects and designers is to do your due diligence and research them and the work they do. Doing this is key to establishing meaningful connections with them instead of simply blending into the crowd.
Use the Web
Using Google or Houzz, architect association websites, and social media, make a list of the names of architects and designers you are interested in working with.
Determine which firms you aspire to work with and review their website, LinkedIn page, and other social media profiles to get a sense of the work they do, the language they use, and the content they share. This will come in handy in building conversation starters with them.
Use a CRM Tool to Keep Track of Your Findings
Most importantly, you should be implementing a system to keep track of your efforts so that you stay organized and consistent.
I recommend you start a CRM (Client Relations Management) pipeline strictly for managing the list of architects and interior designers you shortlist. You don't need anything fancy for this, but tracking your interactions with them over the long term will make you more consistent and successful.
Here are three options that range from basic needs to advanced functionality:
Trello
Trello is a simple project management tool that allows you to set up custom boards to track your work. You can create a very simple CRM board to manage your outreach efforts at every stage.
Streak for Gmail
Streak is an intermediate-level CRM tool that provides more automation and functionality. It syncs right into your Gmail account and is actually the tool I've used for almost ten years. One of the advantages of this tool is that you can program follow-ups for the next action, which will email you when it's time for that next interaction.
Pipedrive, or the CRM in your PM Software
Using a purpose-built CRM product with advanced features can be beneficial, but they often have too much complexity and can hinder you from doing the important work like picking up the phone and calling.
Whichever tool you choose, remember that consistency is the outcome you're looking for here. If you don't track this, then you can't improve it… or as Peter Drucker said:
"You can't improve what you don't measure."
Attend Architect or Designer Association Events
Almost every state or province has a professional association for both architects and designers, and they often host events. Research the associations in your city/state and what events or conferences they are hosting, then add them to your calendar.
This is a great opportunity to shake hands and make in-person introductions with a captive audience.
How to Get Started
Engage on Social Media
Follow them on their social channels and gradually engage in interactions and conversations - not every post and not every day, but where it makes sense and where you can add value to the conversation. This helps build recognition and allows you to show some of your expertise and relationship value in an unintrusive, non-sales way.
Most importantly, build consistency in doing "the work." This means dedicating 10-15 minutes a day to actively search the names in your CRM and engage with their content. Rotate through the list so you aren't the first to like their posts every day, and you spread out your efforts across all of the contacts in your pipeline.
Make Contact
Once you've conducted research on potential partners you think would be a good fit for your remodeling or custom home-building business and engaged with them online over a period of time, you can move to the next step in the process; making contact.
Remember that this is a long-tail process. We want to research, connect, and interact before we make the first call.
Think about any time you've struck up a new friendship. You don't start out being "best buddies" and sharing your entire life stories. You build the friendship over a series of connections, each one becoming a little more familiar and personal as time goes on. And that connection is built upon mutual interests, something you can find through your research phase and utilize when connecting.
There are many approaches you can take here, and no one way is right, or wrong, or better than the other. These are just a few ideas that you can mix and match to suit what works best for you, starting from very low-touch ideas like using social media, to high-touch, which are things like in-person meetings that tend to happen later in the relationship.
DM Over Social Media
In the research phase of this plan, you hopefully spent time following and consistently engaging publicly with local architects and designers on their social media feeds. Doing that helps to build recognition so that now you can take the next step and send them direct messages on platforms in which they are active - and hopefully elicit a response.
You might try something as simple as complimenting their Instagram feed or sharing your thoughts on a LinkedIn post.
On Instagram, you might send something like:
Hi [NAME] - I came across your profile on Instagram while looking for other building partners to connect and network with. I love your work. I would love the opportunity to chat about the industry if you're open to it? Are you free next week for a 15-minute call?
On LinkedIn, you might start by sending a connection invite with this personalized message:
Hi [NAME] - I came across your profile and thought it would be great to connect as we are in the same industry. Best regards - [NAME]
For more information and downloadable swipe files on how to build relationships on LinkedIn, click here.
But if there's something specific you can connect with them about, like if they've shared an award they've won or another noteworthy event, offering congratulations is a great way to break the ice and get a conversation started.
I wanted to send out a quick note to congratulate you on receiving [INSERT AWARD TITLE]. I've had a look through the work you do and wanted to congratulate you on your leading-edge design work in [INSERT CITY].
The big thing here is not to overthink it, to play around with messaging, to keep the stakes low, and to stay consistent.
Send an Email
Another low-touch, easy-to-execute effective communication method is reaching out via email. In the early stages, your email communication might look very similar to what you would send in a DM - or as a follow-up to a social media message.
But where social media messages generally require brevity, email allows for slightly more in-depth messaging. For example, email would be a great format to use if you wanted to connect about:
Architect events
Current company events
Awards congratulations
Introducing yourself with a key goal of connecting
Here's what that might look like:
Architect Event Email:
Hi [NAME],
As a leader in architecture in [CITY], my guess is you're attending [EVENT NAME] happening [DATE]. It would be great to meet in person briefly to shake hands and introduce ourselves.
Will you be attending?
Best,
[YOUR SIGNATURE DETAILS]
Current Company Event:
Hi [NAME],
As someone who appreciates great design, I wanted to reach out and invite you to a project open house [OR OTHER EVENT] we are hosting on [DATE]. It would be fantastic to meet in person and introduce ourselves.
Best,
[YOUR SIGNATURE DETAILS]
Awards Congratulations:
Hi [NAME],
I wanted to congratulate you on receiving [INSERT AWARD TITLE]. I've been impressed by your portfolio for a while, and the leading-edge design work you're doing here in [INSERT CITY].
It would be great to meet sometime soon and discuss the contribution we are both making to this great industry. Would you be up for hopping on a quick Zoom call [INSERT WEEK OR DATE]?
Best,
[YOUR SIGNATURE DETAILS]
Introducing Yourself
Hi [NAME],
Despite both of us working in the same city for so long, I don't think we've met as of yet. I wanted to introduce myself to you as one of my goals this year is to develop more architectural partner connections.
Are you open to spending 15 minutes on a call next week to properly introduce myself?
Best,
[YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE]
Remember that all the effort being put into these multiple low-touch connection points is being done with the goal of getting on an architect or designer's calendar for a call.
Phone Calls
When calling architects or designers you want to work with, your goal is to help move the discussion to the next step, which is securing an in-person meeting. That might take one call, or it could span several phone calls.
While you can start out by just cold-calling architects or designers, I generally find people don't stick with it because you tend to get a cold or lukewarm response. Making these connections is a long-tail game, and putting in the effort researching and reaching out using the low-hanging fruit methods via social media or emailing will make them more open to chatting with you than if you just call out of the blue and start talking shop.
Here are some tips to set yourself up for a good phone conversation:
Know your audience: Review your CRM tool prior to your call, and if possible, have it open so you can reference names, dates, projects, or any other key details you want to discuss.
Set clear objectives for your call: Define the purpose of the call. It could be information sharing, setting a physical meeting, extending an invitation to an event, or arranging a second call, but whatever it is, having a clear objective helps you stay focused.
Be concise: Listen A LOT more than you speak, and when you do speak, focus on the most important information and get to the point. You might only have a few minutes of their time, and you want to use it effectively.
Practice active listening: Pay attention to their responses, repackage them back to them, and drive the conversation deeper into topics they are interested in.
End with a clear call to action: Identify the next steps. Whether it's another phone call or a physical meeting, you want to guide them toward the desired action.
Follow up via email: This is crucial. Follow up within 48 hours, thanking them for their time or sharing additional information on a subject you talked about. This could be something personal or professional that you are both interested in or connected to.
In-Person Meetings
In-person meetings are additional opportunities to get to know each other and build rapport after you've spent time nurturing the conversation through online chats, email, and phone calls.
Coffee & Lunches
Here are some conversation starters when meeting one on one:
As them about their experience working with contractors and how to execute successful projects together as a project team.
Discuss their approach to architect-client communication through the design phase.
Engage them with drilling into how they transform client's visions into tangible form through their design intent in the building design phase. Any good architect loves talking about their design process!
Listen for interesting bits of information they drop about their work or life that you can use to continue the conversation and hopefully find mutual ground to connect on in the future.
Lunch and Learns
Invite them to a session you're hosting on a specific topic, where you'll gather other industry professionals like them, allowing them to be among peers.
Attend Their Events
Perhaps they are showing off a recently completed project, which is a great opportunity to gain hands-on insight into their work and learn more about their design process.
Show Off Your Work
If your company participates in a Parade of Homes, which is a tour of homes that have just been built and are "on display" before being moved into, consider inviting architects to come and view your finished project.
This is a common event in many US cities and is worth looking into as an opportunity to highlight your work.
You might also consider inviting architects to visit an in-progress jobsite of yours. This allows them to see your process in action.
If you do have architects visiting, ensure that you and your project manager follows a detailed checklist to prepare the jobsite so that:
The front appearance of the site is clean, organized, and appealing.
No refuse is piled up on-site or hanging over the edges of the bin.
The front entry is wide and open, which is inviting for people to enter.
Everyone is presentable and in your company branding.
Everyone is friendly - using good communication with professional partners is key so don't be shy about doing a communication workshop before the event on best practices for small talk. People are often uncomfortable speaking to visitors and might feel they said the wrong thing, but mainly it's because they don't know what to talk about.
Climate control is on, if applicable.
No one is yelling or screaming on the site.
You advise trade partners who might be on-site that day of the visit.
The site is CLEAN and ORGANIZED.
Walk through the project and discuss the different details and challenges and how you've overcome them.
Attend Industry Events
One ideal way to fast-track yourself to an in-person meeting with potential architectural or design partners is to attend industry events and conferences put on by their respective associations.
This is a perfect opportunity to meet in person briefly and shake hands, and if you've planned this in tandem with low-touch activities like connecting on social media, it gives you the added bonus of giving them the chance to put a "face to the name" they've been corresponding with online.
Prior to attending an industry event, try reaching out to a particular architect - or group of architects, that you'd like to connect with via email to try and arrange a meet-up during the event.
Use Referral Currency
I've put this section close to the end of this blog because it's critical that you don't make this the sole focus.
Referral currency works and gets their ear but can lead to a very short interaction. Instead, focus on using the tactics outlined in this blog to forge connections at any point, not just if you have a client to pass along.
I also don't recommend referring design partners and not remaining in the picture with your client, as there can be a few undesirable outcomes:
You can lose control of the design direction and how it connects to the client's budget.
You can actually be cut out of the loop when the client asks the architect if they know any other builders.
You can't rely on the architect to provide an exceptional client experience, and if they don't, it can reflect poorly on you, and clients might start looking elsewhere.
Wait until you've gone through the process of meeting several times with an architect, and then make the referral. This is a very valuable piece of the relationship because even if a project doesn't match their offer, it shows you have thought of them, which goes a long way.
Top Reasons Why Builders Fail Developing Relationships
As a busy remodeler or custom home builder, you might think that you don't have the time to nurture outside professional relationships because you're focused on building them with potential clients, and this is just another thing to add to your never-ending to-do list.
Relationship building is a long-tail game that requires effort being put into it. Here are common reasons why I see builders struggle to develop architect-contractor relationships:
They aren't patient with the process. No one gets married on the first date, and a good working relationship doesn't develop overnight. Trust the process and put in the work.
They stop following up after 2-3 attempts. On average, it takes 5-6 interactions to get someone's attention in today's busy digital and distracted world. Persistence is key!
They don't set up a CRM and create follow-ups to stay consistent. Everyone is inundated with the things that are burning in front of us, and tasks like long-tail relationship building can often fall by the wayside. A CRM keeps focus on these tasks, building consistency and results.
They don't attend networking industry events. This is probably one of the simplest and highest ROI activities that drives great results. Being in a sea of ideal prospects is key to forging new connections.
They are simply paralyzed in fear of rejection and put off reaching out. Wayne Gretzky once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take". The most important thing is just to start because we all have to begin somewhere.
The Bottom Line
Many residential contractors fear reaching out to architects and designers, especially those who seem more established or have higher-end clientele, because they feel their own business doesn't measure up. And that fear can lead to convincing themselves not to even try to forge those connections and build successful relationships.
But much of the doubt about whether or not your remodeling or custom home-building business is ready for that next step is simply based on stories you create in your own head. The key to solving that issue is to change the narrative and remember that, much like in professional sports, a team works best when there are players at all different levels who can teach and learn from each other.
This means you shouldn't shy away from opportunities to partner with architects in ways that can increase your pipeline and portfolio. Instead, you need to focus on implementing a system that helps you properly research, vet, and contact architects and designers in a way that strategically highlights the benefits your residential contracting company can bring to the table.
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