The business of architecture
Last month, a group of predominantly British architecture studios penned an open letter to Autodesk criticising its poor performance over recent years. The group, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Grimshaw, Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners and other prominent studios, condemned the increasing cost of ownership of Revit, its constantly changing licensing arrangements, and failure to keep pace with product... Continue Reading →
Earlier this year I shared a list of ten rules for exceptional documentation. The rules were codified following years of experience working with AutoCAD and one or two of its brethren, beginning in my university days and persisting across practices and decades. During that time, I perfected all the fiddly things that a well-rounded drawing set... Continue Reading →
This article was written on behalf of ArchiTeam, Australia’s leading representative of small, medium and emerging architects, in my role as director. Between late September and early October last year, ArchiTeam conducted a substantial survey of our members. Though we've conducted member surveys in the past and gather membership data in the insurance forms you fill... Continue Reading →
This article was written on behalf of ArchiTeam, Australia's leading representative of small, medium and emerging architects, in my role as director. Between late September and early October last year, ArchiTeam conducted a substantial survey of our members. We received responses from 153 of you, or 22% of our membership at the time. Though we've... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, I started encountering disturbing reports of banks unwilling to grant small construction loans where Australian Building Industry Contracts are used. ABIC contracts are published by the Australian Institute of Architects in partnership with the Master Builders Association. They are a suite of plain English building contracts with versions suitable for major, simple and... Continue Reading →
Last week, I reflected on our goals for growth. I looked back through the history of Mihaly Slocombe and explored the decisions we've made as we've expanded from two to eight people. I concluded that we began growing without a systematic reason to do so. We had a little more work than we could handle,... Continue Reading →
A couple of colleagues of mine, Dave Sharp and John Ellway, responded to my resource planning post a fortnight ago by asking for my take on why our headcount at Mihaly Slocombe is growing. In the post, I had discussed the benefits of a larger team, and its normalising effect on our earnings. Dave and John were... Continue Reading →
In the early days of Mihaly Slocombe, we had no idea how to plan. We knew what needed doing, on what projects, and in what order, but we never attempted to put it all together. We had no conception of short cycle planning, of how to line up tasks each month to achieve a setlist... Continue Reading →
In August last year, Erica and I signed Mihaly Slocombe up to the Houzz Pro membership programme. This placed our sponsored project photos into the organic search streams of local audiences, increasing the visibility of our business in and around Melbourne. We were required to commit to the programme for twelve months, a huge financial leap... Continue Reading →
Today Panfilocastaldi turns 6, meaning I have survived another full year of blogging. As I have on each prior anniversary, I'm going to take this opportunity to reflect on the scope and focus of my writing. Why do I write? What do I write? Who is it for? As I review the content I've published this... Continue Reading →