Faux pas and direct hits
Oh, no
- Communicating just for the sake of communicating.
- Making planners’ lives unnecessarily difficult with stand-alone solutions.
- Thinking that architects know everything inside out.
- Swamping them with slogans, advertising brochures and corporate videos.
- Cheap, low-quality merchandise.
Hell, yes
- Delighting architects’ aesthetic eye.
- Being (in)visible and offering the best service.
- Leaving out filler and getting to the point.
- Trending topics, yes. Mainstream, no.
- Providing information in one place and forming alliances.
Clichés vs. target group
Every profession has its clichés. But hardly anyone likes to hear that one of them fits them exactly. And rightly so, because architects are not the only ones who enjoy good coffee in a black polo neck, and hackers are not the only ones who sit in a dark basement staring at four screens at once. That is why, for your communication, it is crucial to know which architects you want to reach at which point in their work, so that you really make their lives easier. What structures do they work in? Where do they get their information and how do they stay up to date? Ideally: how do they live themselves? Or which brands do they trust privately?
Experience at first hej.hand
Since many of us at hej.build are architects or studied architecture, we know from our own experience what we are talking about. This is the basis for all our communication recommendations: by architects, for architects. What matters to us is a long-term exchange of knowledge between those who manufacture and those who design. Because when these two professions talk to each other and work together, you can see it in the results: at best, the products developed are concrete answers to building challenges.
From master builder to specialist
When a cathedral was built long ago, there was a master builder who ran the building site: someone who could picture the result and told the craftspeople what needed doing and when. In modern architecture practices, there is at least one person responsible for each specialist topic, often even a whole team, because the requirements are so varied and each one runs so deep. The larger a practice, the more specialists work under one roof:
- designers, model makers, technical designers, project managers, site managers, lighting designers and more
- specialists in building information modelling (BIM), sustainability, digitalisation, public relations, use of materials, visualisation and more
Just like every company in the building materials industry, every architecture practice is made up of different experts. So who exactly should this one communication activity address?
Our tip
Sub-target groups or clusters help to define precisely the people you want to reach. And ask good existing contacts in your network for their opinion. Still at a loss? Then we also offer target group panels in which we get to the bottom of specific questions.
The right timing for the best service
How do decision-making processes work in architecture practices? When is the right time for building product manufacturers to get involved in a project? Architects work in clearly defined HOAI work stages (Leistungsphasen, LPH), set out in the Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure (HOAI, Germany’s fee scale for architects and engineers). The stages build on one another and include the following points, among others:
LPH 1: Establishing the project basis
- Clarifying the brief and the design method
- Advice on the overall scope of services required
LPH 2: Preliminary design
- Preliminary design taking into account the main urban planning, design, economic, technical and environmental contexts and requirements
- First cost estimate, scheduling and quantity take-off
LPH 3: Developed design
- Developed design, usually at a scale of 1:100, as a continuation of the preliminary design
- Description of the building including materials
- Preliminary negotiations on whether the project can be approved
- Cost calculation
LPH 4: Planning approval
- Preparing and compiling the documents and certificates needed for the building permit application and, where applicable, other required approvals
LPH 5: Technical design
- The basis for constructing the building, including all individual specifications, build-ups and details needed for construction
- Construction design that incorporates the design work of everyone involved in the building on the technical side
LPH 6: Preparing the contract award
- Drawing up the specifications and bills of quantities (Leistungsverzeichnisse, the documents in which products are specified) by trade
- Drawing up the schedule for awarding contracts
- Cost determination based on the priced bills of quantities
LPH 7: Assisting with the contract award
- Coordinating the contract awards for specialist engineering
- Obtaining bids, checking bids, holding bidder meetings and drawing up award recommendations
- Assisting with the award of contracts
LPH 8: Site supervision
- Site management = supervising construction
- Documenting the construction process, monitoring the schedule, organising and accepting the construction work
- Cost control and checking invoices
LPH 9: Post-completion services and documentation
- Professional assessment of defects in the context of warranty claims
- Inspections of the building to identify defects before the limitation periods expire
At what point does approaching them seem right to you? From when would you like to support the architects with advice and practical help? In our experience, the result is always better the earlier everyone involved is brought in. That, in turn, is often wishful thinking, because this communication takes an enormous amount of effort and has to go through the architecture practice. So how can you draw attention to yourselves without being a nuisance?
Our tip
By offering your expert knowledge and helpful collaboration rather than product advertising. In the long term, this creates networks that both sides value, and sometimes even friendships.
Creativity and expertise
What architects have in common is creativity and expertise. Even though they work with 3D programs today, the ability to picture aesthetics and future processes remains one of their strengths. Above all, architects have a fine sense for their clients’ needs, habits and preferences.
Architects are explorers: they want to feel, touch, hear and even taste, if that helps. Experiencing surfaces, textures and materials with (almost) all the senses is something many architects remember from their earliest years. In their work, these traits show up as a love of detail: what simply feels right and good to the users has been deliberately planned and combined by the architects. You’ll find material samples in every design practice. Use this to your advantage and let your building products speak for themselves in the architects’ offices first. If you are then asked for advice, you have made it, because that is your capital: that is where you are the experts.
How architects use media
Once architects are convinced of something, they often stay true to their convictions. That applies to their stance, to their signature as designers, to their preference for a material, but also to brands and products. The range of options is so vast that architects are sometimes glad to be able to fall back on what has proven itself.
It is the same with media and sources of information. Because architects need to know a bit about everything, they are often very well-read people with a wide range of interests. Architecture never stands on its own, and the same goes for the people who design it. They always move in the middle of society, not on its fringes. Like all of us, they keep informed through daily and weekly papers, social media and so on, and, of course, through the well-known trade journals. And if there is time, even in the tangible print version. But time is precious, and in between, newsletters are simply more convenient, as long as they offer real value and are not just sent out because everyone else does it. Or they really take their time and visit a trade fair. Which brings us to the next point.
Where do you meet architects and where don’t you?
»It’s not that we always talked about architecture over dinner, but when we were travelling, we naturally went to see cities and buildings, visited museums … In that sense, it was an integral part of our lives. We were simply made aware of these things early on.«
Martin Henn
Alongside the daily flow of information, sources of inspiration are like H2O for architects: they can’t do without them. Even during their studies, field trips and travel are the greatest inspiration. Discovering the unfamiliar and, through it, recognising what is their own is one of the finest and most influential experiences, and architects devote themselves to it with all their senses and with great pleasure.
The second source is trade fairs, where architects let themselves drift, look for new impressions, and make and renew contacts, just like you. If you present yourselves in a way that is interesting in both design and content on days like these, architects will queue up at your stand. But here, too, the rule is: Business is People’s Business. Choose wisely who represents your stand and who you send out to advise the architects.
Conclusion
Understanding and reaching architects is not a matter of chance but the result of well-thought-out, respectful communication. If you recognise the diversity of this profession, understand how they work and meet their needs with real value, you lay the foundation for long-term, fruitful relationships. Whether in the early work stages or at inspiring trade fairs, the key is not just to advertise but to support. Let your expertise speak for itself, offer solutions to real challenges and stay open to creative exchange. Because in the end, it is not about clichés or short-term sales successes, but about a partnership on an equal footing that makes joint projects and forward-looking architecture possible.
A word about us: if you want to gain target group insights geared to you, we are happy to help. We offer dedicated consultancy services on how to approach architects. Our Architecture Advisory Board may also be of interest to you. It gives you access to experienced minds from architecture and interior architecture. Talk to us. We look forward to hearing from you.
