The Client Experience
Jan 25, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min · 12 segments
Ep 193: The Client Experience, looks at why client relationships feel adversarial and why architects have more control than they think.
- Speakers
- Bob BorsonHost
Andrew HawkinsHost
Jan 25, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min · 12 segments
Ep 193: The Client Experience, looks at why client relationships feel adversarial and why architects have more control than they think.
Andrew HawkinsHostAs we talked, I understood what he was describing when he said, and now keep in mind, this was really specific to residential projects, which is what this whole episode kinda lives specifically in that bandwidth even though it's gonna play outside the boundaries from time to time.
But as he was saying, "Hey, we don't like clients, and we're arrogant," and I felt the need to explain why residential architects might act in a particular way when somebody calls them up out of the blue.
they also missed the weight of what architects are carrying when they show up to these sorts of conversations.
Somebody calls up, and they ask for something that's not reasonable, or this is later, but when people go, "I know what I want.
I just need you to do some drawings." And there's a certain kind of reduction of what we do and why we are who we are and why we care about the things that we care about, and I think that the profession of architecture asks for a high level of emotional investment.
I mean, I feel personally, like, if I do something wrong, I personally feel responsible for it.
It's almost like a you can't m- make mistakes sort of world that we frequently put ourselves into as service providers.
And when you take all those things and you put them in a, a world where the value of what we do is not immediately understood or universally respected, almost everything sounds like a reduction or a dismissal of who we are, what we do, and why it matters and therefore why does it have value, and because it has value, why you should actually have to pay for it.
And I think that what makes that interesting is that- Most clients, residential clients, they show up to this process with no understanding of how that process works.
As we talked, I understood what he was describing when he said, and now keep in mind, this was really specific to residential projects, which is what this whole episode kinda lives specifically in that bandwidth even though it's gonna play outside the boundaries from time to time.
But as he was saying, "Hey, we don't like clients, and we're arrogant," and I felt the need to explain why residential architects might act in a particular way when somebody calls them up out of the blue.
they also missed the weight of what architects are carrying when they show up to these sorts of conversations.
Somebody calls up, and they ask for something that's not reasonable, or this is later, but when people go, "I know what I want.
I just need you to do some drawings." And there's a certain kind of reduction of what we do and why we are who we are and why we care about the things that we care about, and I think that the profession of architecture asks for a high level of emotional investment.
I mean, I feel personally, like, if I do something wrong, I personally feel responsible for it.
It's almost like a you can't m- make mistakes sort of world that we frequently put ourselves into as service providers.
And when you take all those things and you put them in a, a world where the value of what we do is not immediately understood or universally respected, almost everything sounds like a reduction or a dismissal of who we are, what we do, and why it matters and therefore why does it have value, and because it has value, why you should actually have to pay for it.
And I think that what makes that interesting is that- Most clients, residential clients, they show up to this process with no understanding of how that process works.
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