Your portfolio is beautiful. Their question was about planning.
Your work photographs well and past clients would hire you again. But a homeowner with a heritage house, or a developer with an awkward site, starts with a question — will this get approved, what will it cost, how long — and the practice that answered it in writing is the one they call.
The short versionArchitecture practices lose projects because their sites show finished buildings while clients search for answers about planning, cost and process for their kind of project. Planning and sector content written around real questions, a clear explanation of how fees are set by stage, and a prompt reply to site enquiries fix most of it.
Why these three“For heritage extensions, Residential studio explains the planning route, fee stages and similar projects…”
Leak 1Portfolio, no answersFinished projects, but nothing on planning or process.
Leak 2Fees left vagueNo sense of fee basis, stages or what's extra.
Leak 3Slow site replyEnquiry with site photos answered a week later.
Start here
Tick anything that sounds like your week.
Eight things architecture practice principals commonly describe. Select the ones that apply and we'll show what usually causes them, in the order we'd tackle it. Nothing is submitted.
Tick what applies3 of 8 selected
Why a good practice still loses the project
Clients can't read drawings. They can read a planning answer.
Most clients can't judge design quality from a portfolio, and they know it. A homeowner with an old house, or a developer with an awkward plot, starts with practical worries: will it get through planning, what will the architect cost on top of the build, how long will it take. They ask an assistant and search, read whoever explained it for a site like theirs, and call two or three. Photographs alone rarely survive that first round.
01
The planning question you never answer
Architect for a heritage home extension?
1Residential studioNamed first · cited
2Large multi-sector practiceNamed · awards
–Your practiceNot namedPhotos only
Why don't AI assistants recommend our architecture practice?
Clients look for an architect by project type and constraint — a heritage extension, a school expansion, a tight urban infill — and by whether it will get approved. A portfolio of finished photographs gives assistants nothing to match. A practice that wrote up the planning route for similar sites gets named instead.
02
The fee nobody explains up front
architect fees for an extension
Your page“Fees on application.”Tab closed
Answered pageFee basis · what each stage covers · what sits outside our feeQuoted by AI
Should an architecture practice explain its fees online?
Clients want to know the architect's fee alongside the build cost, and most practice websites say nothing. Explaining whether you work on a fixed fee or a share of construction cost, what each stage includes, and what sits outside — surveys, engineers, planning charges — filters in serious projects and is the answer assistants quote.
03
The site enquiry left for a week
Photos attached — old house, want a rear extension. Can you help?Web form · 8:15 pm
Thanks for getting in touch — we'll review and come back to you.6 days later · 10:20 am
Thanks, we've had a site visit with another architect.11:05 am
Why do architecture enquiries go cold?
Enquiries usually arrive with photos, a rough budget and a hope to start soon, and they often go to several practices at once. If the reply waits until a director has time to visit or write a considered response, the client has usually booked a site visit elsewhere. A short reply with a call or visit slot is enough to stay in.
What we'd do about it
Five moves, in the order that pays.
Fix the leaks first, then grow. Scaling a funnel that loses enquiries just spends more to lose more.
Move
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10W11W12M3+
01Map projects you want more ofProject types, sectors and budgets you want, set against what clients ask before hiring. We check what assistants and search say about you and two rivals today.AI Search Optimisation
Weeks 1–3
02Write planning and sector pagesPages for each project type you deliver, covering typical planning routes, timescales and constraints in general terms, each linked to real case studies from your work.Content Marketing
Weeks 2–7
03Explain fees and processA plain page on how fees are set, what each stage covers, what sits outside your fee and what happens at the first meeting — so clients arrive having read it.Content Marketing
Weeks 3–6
04Close the enquiry-response gapOne queue for forms, email and social messages, a named owner, and a prompt first reply that asks two questions and offers a call or site-visit slot.Marketing Automation
Weeks 4–7
05Then take the work outsideProject write-ups for local and sector press, process-led social and client-facing versions of award entries — once there are pages for people to land on.Digital PR
Month 3 onward
Social presence · where clients check you
Clients scroll your feed for the thinking behind the photos.
Clients use your feed to judge taste and process: sketches, site visits, planning decisions. Six things decide whether a scroll becomes a project enquiry with site photos.
9:41●●● 5G
yourstudio.arch
YSYour StudioArchitecture practice
Homes and extensions · near youFees by stage, explained ↓Send us your site ↓
EnquireMessageCall
ProcessFeesPlanningProjects
Sketch to site · by NiaPlanning, explainedSite visit diaryFees by stageFinished: garden roomModel studyIn the client's wordsDetail · by MaxMeet the studio
SATFinished projectType, stage and the brief it met.
DAILYRepliesDMs within a day, with the enquiry form.
What we'd watch
Your dashboard, minus the vanity metrics.
Six numbers that show whether the work is turning into qualified project enquiries — each pulled from a system you already own. The audit fills in your baseline; every sprint after shows the trend.
Practice pipeline · monthlyYour dashboard after the free audit
Named in assistant answersAI visibility tracking
Baseline—
Planning and sector page visitsWebsite analytics
Baseline—
Time to first replyYour inbox and CRM
Baseline—
Enquiry to appointmentCRM or project system
Baseline—
Enquiries by project typeIntake form
Baseline—
New clients by sourceIntake form or CRM
Baseline—
Your numbers, not ours
What is the slow reply actually costing you?
Three inputs only you know. We don't know your business yet — so nothing here is a benchmark, just your own arithmetic.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent.
What you may be losing
$77,940a month in clients who book somewhere else — worked out from your three numbers above.
6 × 4.33 weeks× 1 in 2× $6,000
The fix is a prompt first reply, not a full proposal. A named owner, two questions and a visit slot — weeks 4 to 7 of the plan.
Free with any monthly plan from $499. Domain, hosting and paid tools are bought by you and stay in your name; shops and booking systems are quoted separately. The 48-hour clock starts once your plan is active and the launch checklist is done.
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Questions architecture practices ask
Straight answers, no sales script.
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, a 30-minute call is the fastest route — no pitch, no deck.
You don't have to publish a figure, but explain the basis: fixed fee or share of build cost, what each stage covers, and what sits outside your fee. Clients who can't find that often assume the worst, or appoint whoever explained it first.
Can we write about planning without giving bad advice?
Yes. Pages explain how the process generally works for a type of project, what tends to matter and what the client should prepare. They don't promise approval or interpret specific rules for a site. Anything site-specific stays for the paid appointment.
Our work is mostly through builders and repeat clients. Do we need this?
Those are strong channels, and we'd keep them. But they bring the projects other people send you. Published content is how you get more of the projects you choose, from clients who don't know a builder who knows you.
We get too many small enquiries. Will more content make that worse?
Only if the content is about small jobs. What you publish shapes who calls. Lead with the project types and budgets you want, explain your fee basis, and the mix usually shifts towards those projects over time.
Do awards help us get named by AI assistants?
They can help as a signal, especially when they're mentioned on sector or local sites. But assistants mostly name practices they can find specific evidence for. A written case study does more than a logo on an awards page.
How long before we notice a difference?
Reply-time fixes can show in appointments within weeks. Planning and sector pages usually take a few months to be picked up by search and assistants. We don't guarantee rankings, AI mentions or projects.
Which social platforms matter most for an architecture practice?
Instagram and LinkedIn, for different clients. Homeowners judge taste and process on Instagram, while developers, schools and commercial clients check the directors and project types on LinkedIn. Show the thinking — sketches, planning decisions, site visits — not just finished photos, and share clients' homes only as far as they've agreed.
Do we get a free website for our practice?
Yes. Every monthly plan includes a free 5-page website for your practice — fast, AI-readable and yours to keep. It goes live within 48 hours once your plan is active and the launch checklist is done. Your domain, hosting and any paid tools sit outside the offer and stay in your name; online shops and booking systems are quoted separately. What's included
Free · one business day
Tell us about your practice. Get a plan back.
A strategist reads your brief and replies within one business day with what we'd fix first for your practice, a timeline and the real cost.
Reply in 1 business dayFrom a strategist, not a bot
Ask for an architect like a client. See if you are named.
We'll check what assistants say when clients ask about the projects you want, review your project and fee pages and test how fast an enquiry gets answered — then send you what we found.
Social presence · where clients check you
Clients scroll your feed for the thinking behind the photos.
Clients use your feed to judge taste and process: sketches, site visits, planning decisions. Six things decide whether a scroll becomes a project enquiry with site photos.
yourstudio.arch
Is your profile ready to sell?
Tap what's already true.
Where your clients look
A week that books, not just posts
Social Media Marketing Included in Zero to Hero (2 platforms) and Own The Answer (4 platforms).