#374 - ROBERT YUEN, CEO of Monograph
SUMMARY
This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design are joined by Robert Yuen, Co-founder and CEO of Monograph to discuss Monograph; the business of architecture; billing cycles; talking about money in the profession; his perspective on the industry; and more. Enjoy!
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Introduction.
(01:26) Architecture offices and finances.
“If you try to solve the problem by trying to pretend like you are an accountant, you will fail at the job because you're not trained as an accountant.” (04:04)
(05:53) 3 things architecture offices could do better.
(11:54) Health of business in younger architecture offices.
“What I do know is that the awareness is a lot clearer because technology makes it more accessible, it is more accessible.” (14:01)
(18:08) Ideal billing cycle.
(26:25) Talking about money in the profession.
“When I was a young designer, the fear around talking about money was really only a fear that I had and it didn't come from the client.” (28:16)
(31:51) Setting budgets.
“You want to define the ballpark budget and the goal isn't to be exact because it's a long journey. It’s going to take a long time to design what you want and we're going to go through that exercise together and we do not have to be right [about the budget at the beginning] to help the client feel more comfortable.” (35:46)
(37:44) Time tracking and fees.
(42:42) Increasing fees as architects.
(47:27) Architects as business owners.
(50:08) Taking skills from architecture school into the profession.
“The way you think critically doesn’t have to change.” (51:35)
