Architecture in the den: Choosing your niche market with Dominic Hailey

Architects work notoriously long hours, so much so that when you calculate an hourly rate, it doesn’t go very far.  So what steps could you take to make sure your time is valued by others as much as it is worth to you? Host Lisa and her guest Dominic Hailey have about 40 years’ experience of the business of architecture between them.  Tune in to hear them chat about how to make money as an architect and share their tips on how to identify the right niche for you.  For them a really key step is to identify your market and specialism, and to exploit that to be as niche as possible in a particular sector to ‘line the nest’.  For Lisa it’s the Pride Road Franchise model working directly with clients living in the many thousands of 1930s semis in this country.  For Dominic it’s the ‘grey pound’ and later living schemes and understanding how these are underpinned by clients and funds in order to best support the development journey. In both cases having a steady stream of income from a particular sector helps underpin stability, growth, and profitability for a practice.   Pride Road Franchise grew out of Founder Lisa Raynes’ refusal to accept that there was only one way for a woman to have an architecture career and a family life.  She built her practice in the domestic sector, and then invested to turn her business into one that other ambitious architects wanting work/life balance can buy into.  She’s had a seat on the RIBA Council (2015-18), been Chair of Women in Property NW and founded Manchester Curious, an urban architecture outreach festival.  A franchise can be understood as a business-in-a-box – you are buying the experience, systems and processes of business success and enterprise. https://www.prideroadfranchise.co.uk Dominic Hailey has worked in architectural practice since 2001 designing and delivering architectural projects ranging in value from £1m to £100m. With an approach based on creating and maintaining positive, productive relationships with stakeholders, clients, and the wider project team, his experience in the residential sector, both with private developers and registered social landlords, gives him a broad base of knowledge and expertise in both design and technical areas. Dominic joined ColladoCollins Architects in 2015, and now leads the teams responsible for later living and care projects, as well as construction and delivery work, alongside sharing the management of the 35 strong practice with four co-directors. Through the practice he developed the Just Living book, co-written with research architect and specialist Carly Dickson, and he has presented the research and findings at a number of sector-specific conferences and events, including https://www.colladocollins.com/publications https://www.prideroadfranchise.co.uk