Architects anonymous: in a nutshell

I recently spoke with an architect at a local firm about the general state of the market from his perspective. He asked not to be quoted by name, but gave us the OK to reprint some of his observations.

As you might expect, the majority of architecture firms these days are very slow. For many, especially the large corporate firms, times are bleak – there have been serious layoffs in the past year and there are a bunch of unemployed architects trying to figure out what to do with themselves. A few firms are still busy but those are typically the ones that are working with government, educational, and/or health-care clients. The residential sector, on the whole, is extremely slow for obvious reasons.

Our office, which typically does a mix of high-end residential, commercial, restaurants, etc, has been much better off than most, I think because of our higher-end projects that have not been as adversely affected by the recession. We had been super busy for the last several years and now have slowed down substantially, but have not yet had any layoffs and are still all keeping relatively busy. Part of that might be because of the size of our office – as a smaller firm, it is easier for us to adapt. Having a mix of clients has also helped us – some areas are slower than others so we are able to shift our focus to those that are not in order to stay afloat. For those clients that can afford to build at this point, there are certainly deals to be had in the construction sector as most contractors are also very slow and willing to discount their bids in order to have work.

To our readers in the architecture community: How does the world look from your drafting table right now? Chime in below…

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