How do you cope with a client reluctant to pay what they owe? The best advice is to apply certain preventive measures to avoid the problem in the first place. Whether the client is suffering from the slowdown or is simply a deadbeat, paying attention to your business can forestall future headaches.
And yet many architects tend to be more interested in the execution of projects than in managing their firm as a business, says Michael Strogoff, AIA, president of Mill Valley, California—based Strogoff Consulting. Designers may be tempted to jump eagerly into a new project without adequate contract negotiation. But this, he notes, and a general tendency toward conflict avoidance, make architects vulnerable to exploitation. Strogoff recommends frank, up-front discussions with clients about fees to avoid trouble later on. “A big part of negotiation is to address what-ifs,” he says. “It should be a collaborative discussion. A lot of architects view that as a negative discussion they want to get beyond.”
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