Plan B Business
Professional Services

Stop discounting your design fee
and start commanding project value.

We work with boutique architecture and interior design firm owners doing $500K-$5M in annual revenue (residential, commercial, hospitality, multifamily) who are tired of scope creep, late draws, and watching margin disappear in revision rounds. Our 12-month engagement gets you to disciplined fixed-fee structures, predictable cash flow, and 20%+ net margins.

Book a Free Strategy Call
Industry Reality

9 patterns we see in >70% of architecture & interior design firms

85%
frequency

Billable hour pricing on creative work - margin eaten by revision rounds

Root cause: Firm charges hourly. Client expects unlimited revisions. Junior designer spends 20 hours, you can only bill 12.

What we do: Move to fixed-fee productized service offerings. Schematic Design ($X), Design Development ($Y), Construction Documents ($Z) each with defined revision rounds. Beyond-scope work = change order. Margin lifts from 15% to 30%+ within 9 months.

80%
frequency

Project margin known only at close-out - 6-12 months too late

Root cause: Time tracking exists but no one looks at it. Project manager has no margin visibility. Owner discovers a project lost money after the final invoice.

What we do: Real-time project margin dashboards in Monograph, BQE Core, or Studio Designer. Weekly PM review with target vs. actual hours. Mid-project alert when margin drops below threshold. Margin awareness changes behavior.

75%
frequency

Contracts are generic Word docs - scope creep is built in

Root cause: Owner-architect uses a 10-year-old contract. AIA contracts seen as 'too formal' or 'too expensive.' Scope language is vague. Change order discipline absent.

What we do: Adopt AIA contract suite (B101 for owner-architect, B102 for residential, B103 for D-B-B) with carefully negotiated supplementary conditions. Train PMs on change order discipline. Adds 5-8 points of margin annually through proper scope management.

70%
frequency

Cash flow tied to construction draws - 60-90 day collections

Root cause: Firm bills at construction milestones controlled by GC or owner. Bills go out, payments arrive 60-90 days later. Cash crunch every quarter.

What we do: Restructure to phase-based fixed fees (paid on completion of phase, not on construction draw). 25% mobilization on every project. Net 30 max with autopay or ACH discount. Cash cycle drops from 75 days to 35 days.

75%
frequency

Project portfolio is 50/50 dream projects and unprofitable ones - no qualification

Root cause: Firm takes any work that walks in. Owner-architect's design ego makes 'cool projects' that lose money. No project qualification framework.

What we do: Project qualification framework: client type, project size, design freedom, payment terms, timeline. Bid only on qualified projects. Net 30% fewer projects, 60%+ revenue lift on the right ones.

70%
frequency

Software stack is fragmented - ArchiCAD/Revit/AutoCAD/SketchUp/Photoshop all running parallel

Root cause: Each designer uses their preferred tool. Files don't talk to each other. PM spends 5 hours/week reconciling versions.

What we do: Standardize on primary BIM tool (Revit for commercial/large residential, ArchiCAD for design-focused, SketchUp for early concept). Defined workflow: BIM as source of truth, downstream tools for specific outputs. Cuts admin time 30%+.

80%
frequency

Owner-architect doing schematic design on every project

Root cause: Owner doesn't trust junior staff on creative work. Owner is the brand. Owner is the bottleneck. Firm can't grow because owner can't step away from the drawing.

What we do: Develop 2-3 senior designers as 'signature' creative leads. Owner-architect shifts from doing schematic design on every project to design review + client relationships. Owner working hours drop from 60 to under 40 within 9 months.

85%
frequency

No recurring revenue - every project starts at zero

Root cause: Architecture and design is project-based by nature. Owner views recurring revenue as impossible.

What we do: Build advisory retainers ($2,500-$10,000/month) with commercial real estate developers, multifamily owners, hospitality groups, and corporate clients. Master planning, FF&E refresh cycles, brand-standards consulting. Targets 15-30% recurring revenue within 18 months.

75%
frequency

No marketing - 100% referral - pipeline visibility under 60 days

Root cause: Owner-architect says 'design firms market through their portfolio.' But portfolio shows nothing without distribution. Instagram, LinkedIn, design publications - all neglected.

What we do: Content cadence: Instagram (3 posts/week showing process + finished work), LinkedIn (1-2 posts/week on industry insights), submission to ArchDaily / Dezeen / Architectural Record. Pipeline visibility extends to 90-180 days.

Benchmarks

The numbers we hit

KPIMarket avgPlan B targetAfter 12 mo
Net profit margin per project10-18%25%+20-28%
Project margin variance (quote vs. actual)10-20 pts<5 pts5-10 pts
Days sales outstanding (DSO)75-100<4035-55
% revenue from fixed-fee (vs hourly)30-50%85%+70-88%
% revenue from advisory retainers0-5%20%+12-25%
Owner-architect weekly working hours55-70<4035-50
Pipeline visibility (months of confirmed work)1-3 months6+ months4-8 months
Engagement Model

What working with us looks like

  1. 01

    Month 1: Project + financial audit

    We pull 24 months of project P&Ls. Every project's quote-to-actual margin, every designer's utilization, DSO, scope creep capture. We identify the 1-2 highest-leverage actions for your specific firm.

  2. 02

    Months 2-3: Fixed-fee structure + contracts

    We rebuild your service offerings into 3-tier productized packages with defined revision rounds. AIA contract suite adopted with negotiated supplementary conditions. Project margin dashboards deployed in Monograph or BQE Core.

  3. 03

    Months 4-6: PM discipline + qualification

    Weekly project review cadence established. Change order discipline enforced. Project qualification framework rolled out to BD. First advisory retainer relationships pitched and closed.

  4. 04

    Months 7-12: Marketing + compounding

    Content cadence (Instagram + LinkedIn + design publications) live. Pipeline visibility extends to 6+ months. Owner-architect working hours drop. Recurring revenue from advisory retainers at 12-20% of total. We shift to monthly cadence.

Common questions from architecture & interior design firms owners

What size firm is this for?−
Sweet spot: $500K-$5M annual revenue with 3-20 staff. Below $500K, you're still in owner-architect mode and need different help. Above $5M, you typically need full-time COO and Director of Practice - we'd hand off.
Architecture, interior design, or both?+
Both. Architecture firms (residential, commercial, multifamily, hospitality) and interior design firms (commercial, hospitality, high-end residential). The fundamentals (fixed-fee, project margin, contract discipline) are similar. The application differs slightly - interior design tends to have stronger FF&E procurement margin we help capture; architecture has stronger advisory retainer potential.
Revit vs ArchiCAD vs SketchUp - which do you recommend?+
Revit for $1M+ firms with multifamily, commercial, or institutional work (industry standard for documentation). ArchiCAD for design-focused firms where modeling fluency matters. SketchUp + AutoCAD remains valid for residential boutique firms with early-stage clients. We help you choose based on your project type. We don't sell software.
Monograph vs BQE Core vs Studio Designer - which PM software?+
Monograph for architecture firms wanting tight project margin visibility (purpose-built). BQE Core for firms with strong billing and project accounting needs. Studio Designer for interior design firms with FF&E procurement focus. We help you choose based on your situation. We don't sell software.
Our clients hate AIA contracts. They think they're 'too formal.'+
Most common pushback. Reality: clients hate the perception of formality more than the substance. AIA B102 (small residential) is actually concise. The B101 with negotiated supplementary conditions protects both parties and reduces disputes. Clients who refuse contracts that protect both parties are usually the clients who will be disputes.
What about Interior Designers - we mostly do FF&E procurement and don't do construction documents.+
Yes - interior design firms with strong FF&E procurement have an additional margin layer we focus on: keystone markup discipline, vendor relationship management, design-to-procurement workflow. This typically lifts margin 8-15 points beyond the design fee work.
Will you help with hiring?+
Yes. Senior designer / project architect hiring is typically the #1 unlock for $1M+ firms. We help with job descriptions, comp structure, interview process, and onboarding. We don't recruit for you.
What about residential vs commercial vs hospitality - any specializations you don't work with?+
We do not work with very-large-firm corporate architecture (50+ staff), public-sector architecture (different bid dynamics), or pure landscape architecture (different economics). We work with residential (single-family + multifamily), commercial, hospitality, and high-end interiors.
Who does the work?+
Ligal Frish and Eitan Eshtemaker - the two co-founders. Direct access, no associates.
What's your fee structure?+
Diagnostic: $1,500 one-time. Advisor: $3,500/month (most firms, 12-month engagement). Partner: $8,500+/month (multi-discipline firms or M&A prep).

Stop billing hours. Start commanding project value.

30-minute strategy call. We'll diagnose your top 2 levers and tell you if we're a fit. No pitch. No pressure.

Book My Free Strategy Call