Dear
Architects
it's time for a
system change!
Architects
it's time for a
system change!
Durf de werkelijke kost van architectuur te benoemen, de waarde is ernaar.
Laat u niet uitpersen als een citroen.
Spreek hierover met uw collega's.
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Dear Architects,
wie of wat is dat?
wie of wat is dat?
Dear Architects ijvert voor een betere sociaaleconomische positie voor architectuurwerkers
Dear Architects is een organisatie die ijvert voor een betere sociaaleconomische positie voor architectuurwerkers. Dear Architects vertegenwoordigt meer dan 150 architectuurwerkers.
In 2009 stelde Simon Sinek:“Selling based on price is like heroin. The short-term gain is fantastic, but the more you do it, the harder it becomes to kick the habit.”
Vanuit mijn job als business developer voor architectenkantoren kwam ik vaak in aanraking met onze lage-prijs-verslaafde-sector.
Dear Architects is een organisatie die ijvert voor een betere sociaaleconomische positie voor architectuurwerkers. Dear Architects vertegenwoordigt meer dan 150 architectuurwerkers.
In 2009 stelde Simon Sinek:“Selling based on price is like heroin. The short-term gain is fantastic, but the more you do it, the harder it becomes to kick the habit.”
Vanuit mijn job als business developer voor architectenkantoren kwam ik vaak in aanraking met onze lage-prijs-verslaafde-sector.
* De term architectuurwerker is ontleend aan het Engelse ‘architectural worker’ en wordt gehanteerd door de Amerikaanse beweging Architectural Workers United.
Ik gebruik de term om te verwijzen naar mensen die architectuur, ingenieurarchitectuur, interieurarchitectuur, landschapsarchitectuur of stedenbouw gestudeerd hebben, en aan de slag zijn bij architectenkantoren.
Ik gebruik de term om te verwijzen naar mensen die architectuur, ingenieurarchitectuur, interieurarchitectuur, landschapsarchitectuur of stedenbouw gestudeerd hebben, en aan de slag zijn bij architectenkantoren.
Daarom schreef ik een open brief. De reactie daarop was overweldigend. Het werd duidelijk dat vooral architectuur-werkers* in deze problematiek te weinig gehoord worden.
België telt het hoogste aandeel freelancers in de architectuursector in Europa. De gevolgen hiervan zijn nefast.
Vandaag werkt Dear Architects, samen met BAU (Belgian Architects United), aan een organisatie die de stem van architectuurwerkers luid wil laten weerklinken! Word lid!
België telt het hoogste aandeel freelancers in de architectuursector in Europa. De gevolgen hiervan zijn nefast.
Vandaag werkt Dear Architects, samen met BAU (Belgian Architects United), aan een organisatie die de stem van architectuurwerkers luid wil laten weerklinken! Word lid!
Momenteel ben ik de stuwende kracht achter Dear Architects. Maar die groep breidt binnenkort uit, stay tuned!
Ma. interieurarchitectuur sinds 2012
Pg. Management Of Architectural Offices sinds 2018
Gastdocent vakgroep Management KULeuven, Faculteit Architectuur sinds 2022
Als freelancer met als missie: om van fantastische architecten-bureau’s ook fantastische bedrijven te maken, werkte ik al samen met: NAV, Vai, Marge architecten en aNNo architecten.
Volg me gerust op Linkedin of contacteer me via paulien@deararchitects.be.
Ma. interieurarchitectuur sinds 2012
Pg. Management Of Architectural Offices sinds 2018
Gastdocent vakgroep Management KULeuven, Faculteit Architectuur sinds 2022
Als freelancer met als missie: om van fantastische architecten-bureau’s ook fantastische bedrijven te maken, werkte ik al samen met: NAV, Vai, Marge architecten en aNNo architecten.
Volg me gerust op Linkedin of contacteer me via paulien@deararchitects.be.
Hey, ik ben Paulien.
Open brief
October 2022. For months, reports of the rising cost of living have dominated the news. Inflation is at 11.3% this month, the highest level since 1975. How do we deal with this as an architectural sector?
Since the abolition of the deontological standard, fees have plummeted. Resulting in low margins for offices and barren working conditions for employees. Most architects work as freelancers for offices. The average annual income of a freelance architect remains at EUR 36,192.81 before tax deductions. That is good for 11th place in the European ranking.
After taxes, that works out at about EUR 1,799 per month. The average net personal income in Flanders is EUR 1,933 per month, for highly educated people even EUR 2,424. The conclusion seems clear: dear architects, it's time for a system change.
Associates are mainly good at architecture
Architecture firms are run by people who are good at architecture. Often in their twenties, together with some friends and after their hours, they managed to win a few architecture jobs. This is how the ball started rolling for many. The delivered architecture is top notch and they also work very cheaply. Since their mandatory architectural internship, they are used to it. Gradually, more staff arrived, in the same statute they themselves once worked in.
Their company grew, their team grew with them. A few have professionalised and hired specialised profiles to outsource management tasks to. Most have continued to do everything themselves. The partners of architecture firms generally did not have an economic education.
Some had never heard of the health index until last year. The difference between mark-up and indexation was unknown to them.
The negotiation game
In public tenders, all energy goes into award criteria ‘concept’ and ‘plan of action’. Up to 1,000 hours are spent on these, usually unpaid. In contrast, the award criterion ‘fee’ often seems to be treated quickly and rashly. Rarely is the effort made to simulate the grading. Even when fees do not weigh heavily in awarding, there is always some architect who offers his services at far too low a price. Out of habit?
The architect who wins the competition will be put at the helm of a design team. The fee is divided between stability engineer, engineering technician, acoustics engineer, landscape architect, surveyor ... In this, too, architects rarely invest time and effort to negotiate. The final fee left for the architect is paltry.
These people also have to sit down with property developers to negotiate contracts. Unlike construction CEOs, real estate agents or the developers in question, architects are not masters of the game of negotiation. They come out of these talks penniless. With forfaitised fees determined on the basis of budget estimates, which in retrospect turn out to be far from realistic.
Those who try to do something about it can count on there always being a competitor lurking around the corner who is willing to let their team work at rock-bottom prices.
In the current economic climate, it is mainly freelancers who are in trouble. They work too many hours, at wages that are too low. All the while, they often bear sky-high responsibility. Usually, they have no contract with their, not infrequently, only client: the architectural firm they work for.
So no indexing! Their fees, already far too low, are dwindling fast. When a few people get up the courage to knock on the door and ask for a one-off ‘raise’, all too often the door remains closed. After all, ‘our fees are not indexed either’.
Let's all push the standards together
Therefore, a call to the architecture industry:
- Take the corporate governement of architecture firms seriously
- Don't let your enthusiasm for the assignment guide your fee determination
- Dare to name the real cost of architecture, the value is there
- Make sure you have a well-negotiated contract, even as a freelancer
- Link hourly rates to the health index
- Demand indexation of your fees, even if these provisions were not included in your original contract
- Pursue architectural contracts based on realistic construction prices, or even better: the contracting cost of the project
- Do not let yourself be squeezed like a lemon
- Discuss this with colleagues
Only if we collectively put pressure on the current conditions, things will change, and architects too will be able to claim their share of the profits made by the construction industry.
Keep in touch
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