Architecture Practices

Architecture Practices can connect enquiries, appointments, design approvals and invoicing to protect fee income, keep responsibilities clear and give architects more time for clients and design.

Architecture practices: keeping the brief, the team and the fees aligned

A client's decision to move a staircase can affect far more than a drawing. It may change the engineer's calculations, the planning submission and the practice's fee. Keeping those consequences visible is part of delivering a well-run commission.

Consider a hypothetical architecture practice designing exceptional private residences, boutique hotels and private members' clubs. Its clients have effectively unlimited budgets, but deadlines, team capacity, approvals, cash flow and profitability still matter.

The following example shows how Reson8 could connect enquiries, appointments and project administration around the practice's existing design tools. These are proposed workflows requiring configuration and testing. Available features and connections depend on subscriptions.

1. Give promising commissions a clear next step

Current workflow: A homeowner emails a partner, a hotel developer calls reception and a referral arrives through the website. Details sit in separate inboxes, and follow-up depends on memory.

Connected workflow: HubSpot becomes the shared enquiry record, capturing the site, building type, intended programme, decision makers and likely architectural services. Each opportunity receives an owner and follow-up date. A partner assesses suitability and capacity before agreeing a meeting.

Benefit: Promising commissions are easier to pursue, with less chance of a valuable referral being forgotten.

2. Turn an agreed appointment into an organised start

Current workflow: After the client accepts the proposal, someone copies details into project lists, creates folders and tells finance. The team may start without knowing whether the appointment or initial payment is complete.

Connected workflow: Completion of the approved appointment in DocuSign could trigger a Zapier workflow to update HubSpot, create ClickUp setup tasks and prepare Google Drive folders. The project lead confirms scope and responsibilities; finance checks any required initial payment separately before authorising the start.

Benefit: The commission begins with clearer responsibilities and fewer missing details.

3. Coordinate the people behind each design stage

Current workflow: Architects, engineers and specialist consultants work towards related deadlines, but dependencies are scattered across emails and meeting notes. A delayed survey can hold up several people.

Connected workflow: ClickUp holds administrative milestones, owners and dependencies alongside the practice's design systems. For example, the project architect records that concept review depends on the measured survey and structural advice. An overdue task prompts follow-up; the architect decides whether to adjust the programme.

Benefit: The team can spot blocked work earlier and explain its effect to the client.

4. Record decisions before they become expensive changes

Current workflow: A client approves one layout in a meeting, then requests another by email. Different team members may work from different assumptions, while additional design time goes unrecorded.

Connected workflow: Reviewed documents in Google Drive are linked to the relevant ClickUp decision or change record. A proposed basement extension prompts the project lead to assess scope, fees and timing. Written client approval is recorded, using DocuSign where appropriate, before affected consultants receive the revised instructions.

Benefit: Clearer decisions help prevent avoidable rework and support charging for agreed additional services.

5. Connect completed stages to reviewed invoices

Current workflow: A design stage finishes, but finance hears about it later. Additional work may be omitted because the agreed fee change never reached the accounts team.

Connected workflow: The project lead's confirmation of an agreed billing milestone could trigger preparation of a draft Xero invoice through Zapier. Finance reviews the fee, approved variations and payment terms before sending. Xero's Stripe connection offers online payment where suitable; substantial fees may still be paid by bank transfer.

Benefit: Completed and approved work is less likely to wait unnoticed before billing.

6. Keep routine questions from interrupting project work

Current workflow: Architects repeatedly answer general questions about services and appointment processes while searching busy inboxes for project correspondence.

Connected workflow: SaneBox helps organise lower-priority email, while a website assistant using Intercom's Fin could answer from approved information and direct relevant enquiries to the team. Questions about planning prospects, technical suitability, fees or live projects go to a person. The project lead records consequential decisions in the project record.

Benefit: Clients can get routine information promptly, leaving architects more time for considered advice.

7. Understand which commissions support growth

Current workflow: Partners know which projects are prestigious but may struggle to connect enquiry sources, agreed fees, additional services and the time spent delivering them.

Connected workflow: Google Analytics helps identify website traffic sources and enquiry activity. Reson8 could bring that alongside HubSpot opportunity data and Xero revenue records for reporting. Staff time, consultant costs and write-offs are added to assess margins. Partners also record offline referrals and review opportunities for repeat commissions.

Benefit: The practice can make better-informed decisions about business development, capacity and the work it wants to win.

Where Reson8 fits

Reson8 would review the process, prioritise difficult handovers and connect suitable existing tools. We would test the workflow on one project, check that information arrives correctly and assign responsibility for failed transfers. The aim is more time for design and client relationships, with clearer accountability and a stronger view of revenue.

Sources

Official platform documentation checked for the proposed connections:

Back to News