Setting expectations at appointment

The appointment is when clients are most open to hearing how the project will work. They are excited, they want to get going, and they haven’t yet formed habits about how to work with you. It is the best time to set expectations, and the hardest time to get them back if you don’t.

Most clients, especially first-time domestic clients, have never worked with an architect. They don’t know what a stage is, how many design options they’ll see, or that planning permission and building regulations are different things. If you don’t explain, they’ll fill the gaps with assumptions.

Your professional duty

The ARB Architects Code expects architects to give clients clear information about the terms of their appointment before work starts, in writing. In general terms, that includes the scope of the work, the fee and how it is calculated, and how complaints are handled. Check the current Code on the ARB website for the full requirements. RIBA members should also check the RIBA’s requirements for their appointment documents.

A clear fee letter or appointment meets that duty. A good conversation alongside it makes sure the client has actually understood it.

The four things to agree

1. Scope

What are you doing, and what are you not doing? Clients remember the conversation about the kitchen they want. They don’t always remember that the landscaping, the party wall process or the interior design were excluded.

Be specific about exclusions. Common ones:

• Interior design and furniture
• Landscape design
• Party wall matters
• Applications beyond the first planning submission
• Specialist consultants (structural engineer, drainage, ecology), who are usually appointed separately
• Site visits beyond an agreed number

2. Stages

Explain the RIBA stages you’re appointed for in plain English, and what the client will receive at each one. You don’t need to recite the RIBA Plan of Work. A simple table helps:

Stage	What happens	What you’ll receive
2 Concept Design	We explore options and agree a design direction with you	Two concept options and a preferred design
3 Spatial Coordination	We develop the design with the engineer and prepare the planning application	Coordinated drawings and a submitted planning application
4 Technical Design	We prepare the detailed drawings for building control and the builder	Building regulations drawings and a specification

Also explain the gates between stages: you’ll ask them to approve the design before moving on, because changes get more expensive as the project goes on.

3. What’s included

Number of options. Rounds of comments. Meetings. Site visits. These are where scope creep starts, so put numbers on them.

At Concept Design we’ll show you two options, and develop your preferred one through up to two rounds of comments. If you’d like more options or further changes, we’ll let you know before we start and agree any additional fee with you.

4. How decisions get made

This is the one most often missed. Agree:

• Who decides. On a couple’s house, both? On a commercial project, which named person has authority?
• How quickly. “We’ll need your comments within a week to keep to the programme.”
• How they’re confirmed. “When you approve something in a meeting, we’ll confirm it by email and ask you to reply to agree.”

An appointment meeting checklist

Use this at the first meeting after the fee is accepted, or when you go through the appointment with the client:

1. Walk through the scope and exclusions
2. Explain each stage and what they’ll receive
3. Put numbers on options, comment rounds, meetings and site visits
4. Agree who makes decisions and how they are confirmed
5. Agree how often you’ll update them, and how (see Lesson 2)
6. Explain how changes to the scope are handled (see Lesson 4)
7. Explain fees and when invoices are raised
8. Explain who else they’ll need to appoint, and roughly when
9. Ask what worries them about the project
10. Follow up in writing the same week

Question 9 is worth more than it looks. A client who says “we’re worried about the budget” or “we’ve had a bad experience with a builder before” has just told you how to communicate with them.

The follow-up email

After the meeting, confirm what was discussed. This is your first record.

Dear Sarah and Tom,

Thank you for your time today. To confirm what we discussed:

• We’re appointed for Stages 1 to 4, as set out in our fee letter of 3 March.
• At Concept Design we’ll show you two options, with up to two rounds of comments on your preferred one.
• You’ll both make design decisions together, and we’ll confirm each one by email for you to reply and agree.
• We’ll send you a short update every other Friday.
• The structural engineer and party wall surveyor are appointed separately. We’ll help you find both.

If any of this doesn’t match your understanding, please let me know.

Try this week

• Read your current fee letter template and check it covers scope, exclusions, stages, included options and meetings, and how changes are handled.
• At your next appointment meeting, ask the client what worries them about the project, and note the answer on the file.
• Write a plain-English stage table you can reuse for domestic clients.