People amalgamate their professions in pursuit of maximizing the benefits. The same is the case when you see architects being a part of real estate networks. Sounds peculiar? In this era of digital fluency and the tech-fires spreading everywhere, what’s can’t be made possible?
Skills are sold; A mason can acquire skills to become a supervisor on the construction site; Similarly, an architect can become a successful real estate player! All he needs to do is a Lil more hard work for understanding the real estate algorithms.
The reason for the transition
A big chunk of architects works only on the design end of a developmental project. This is quite hard work, but the share of architectural services as a part of the total project cost is quite a minute figure., usually in single numerics. This subsides an architect from the robust total financial benefits of the AEC industry.
The loop of contractors, developers, builders, clients crunches the role architects involved in the project by restraining them to design practices and granting low compensations for their work. Adding to the grievances of the architects, their approach and power is limited when they work on a project with other stakeholders. This is primarily the reason why there is an evident shift from architects to real estate developers. You also might have come across office boards being transformed into design-builds from design offices. The idea is to take up the matters of the real estate and construction industry and secure the rightful position within the industry.
This new transition, however, has brought to surface a new set of challenges with it. The process of developing a project from pieces of drawings to an erected edifice is a business skill that is not usually taught in architecture schools. The question here is that can an architect with no background knowledge of this technical construction process be able to fully bridge this gap. Is an architect able enough to compete with the developers and builders with tons of experiences? Keep reading to form an opinion in this regard.
Let’s dive into the pros of this whisked affair of architecture knowledge and real estate algorithms.
Perks of the dual profession- An architect-cum-Developer
Architects know the fundamentals
Architects mostly know what it takes to take a building project from a drawing table to the site and make it happen for real. Project management skills and construction techniques are something one can understand by going through some quality articles on the internet or doing an internship with a building firm. The main concepts that a project manager requires are to perform various site roles: Leading a team, administering the contracts, negotiations with clients, scheduling, and monitoring of site operations. Owing to this versatility in their experiences, architects have that leverage to fit in the construction processes. Additionally, architects are experts in a variety of niches as they specialize in diverse typologies while practicing architecture.
State-of-the-art Designs magnify the Market Value
An expert architect can create an exceptional building design that can alter the entire panorama of the building industry. It is obvious that a remarkably designed developmental project would have a higher market value. Just like sustainable features if installed in the building designs can significantly affect the value of the property. Tyler Stonebreaker quotes this concept in his words in an interview- He points out the importance of the market value of a project by saying that at the end of the day, high is the market value of a property that has something unusual and extraordinary to offer.
In the contemporary world, as the idea of energy-efficient homes is trending, installing a green design certification mechanism can boost the selling price of a house. Experienced architects know how to play with certain factors of quality spaces and limited expenditures to affect the overall price of space.
Innovative ideas and creative market solutions are the primary focus of the architects that aim at working as property developers; these factors are usually overlooked by ordinary developers. This will give an edge to these architect-cum-developers in the reconciliation of profit-making.
Architects can sense the City Operations
Architects are people that know how to fit things in the available spaces without compromising their beauty and overall aesthetics. An architect-developer has a refined sense of how a project might look when it is taken from paper to space. He is the one who knows the parameters he can play with, in order to add an exceptional appeal to the facade. Designers and architects are taught to fully grasp the concepts of urbanization and realize the areas that can house maximum developmental potential. Architects are trained to think this way. These instincts and skills are not available when a person is a developer or a real estate investor. An architect can thus become a beneficiary in this scenario if he goes onto acquiring property knowledge and amalgamates his profession as an architect and a broker.
