flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Turning Down Projects and Tripling Revenue: One Firm’s Story

Turning Down Projects and Tripling Revenue: One Firm’s Story

How does a firm make the jump from two to twelve employees in just a few years during a recession? Matt Parker, Business Manager at Vertical Arts Architecture, admits surviving and thriving during a recession wasn’t exactly easy. 


By BQE Software | November 21, 2013

They started with just 2 employees and a big dream—to be a premier high-end, multidisciplinary firm, able to provide clients with a full range of services. They wanted to meet and exceed the most discerning clients’ expectations and have Vertical Arts’ vision stamped on every aspect of production.

Since Vertical Arts opened its doors in ’05, they’ve been using ArchiOffice to handle billing and project management. They had fluctuations like everyone else during the roughest years of the recession, yet they’ve more than quadrupled their staff and have plans to expand even more in the coming years.

Their revenue has gone up 300-350% in eight years’ time. Their accountant has even started recommending ArchiOffice to neighboring firms.

They’re able to offer a full service architectural experience—coordinating surveyors, helping clients orchestrate moves or get home inspections done, and allowing consultant billing to come through them.

How Do They Do It?

They Invoice in Half a Day or So

Using ArchiOffice means they can get billing done for all their complex projects in half a day to a day. So all employees’ hours are always billable, and Parker, the company’s only administrative employee can tackle billing efficiently, getting on to his other responsibilities. “If we didn’t have ArchiOffice, we’d have to hire at least one more person, part or full time,” he admits.  Instead, they can take on more jobs and projects because their staff isn’t tied up doing administrative work.

They Organize Projects Ridiculously Well

Parker explains: “We have one specific project that we’ve chosen to divide into with 9 sub-projects, so that we can individually track time and expense per sub-project. And ArchiOffice keeps that whole world organized for us. ArchiOffice allows us to manage more jobs and projects with still just one support staff member.”

 


Since Vertical Arts opened its doors, the firm has been using ArchiOffice to handle billing and project management. The firm can get billing done for their projects in less than a day.

 

Their Client Relationships are Rock Solid

“It streamlines our process and gives us access to tons of information and reports quickly so we don’t spend much time answering questions for clients—we just generate it and send it right back. I know our clients trust our billing and our process. It’s really strengthened our client relationships.”

They Became an Incredibly Impressive Firm

“Overall ArchiOffice is just a great billing and project management software—to be able to go to one place and see all your time, all your budgets, all your invoices and transactions, it just streamlines the administrative side significantly,” explains Parker.

Now, Vertical Arts doesn’t have to settle for taking on uninspiring projects. They do most of their work with a number of individual clients. They’ve achieved their dream of being a multidisciplinary high-end firm—they have an interior designer on staff, a landscape architect, as well as a full architectural team, so they’re able to provide the full range of services they know their clients deserve.

Learn more about ArchiOffice Software here.

Check out Vertical Arts Architecture here. 

Tags

Related Stories

Architects | Jan 27, 2022

Gensler’s latest design forecast is also a call to action

The firm urges the AEC industry to take the lead in creating a fairer, cleaner built environment that faces many obstacles.

Market Data | Jan 26, 2022

2022 construction forecast: Healthcare, retail, industrial sectors to lead ‘healthy rebound’ for nonresidential construction

A panel of construction industry economists forecasts 5.4 percent growth for the nonresidential building sector in 2022, and a 6.1 percent bump in 2023.

Sponsored | Steel Buildings | Jan 25, 2022

Multifamily + Hospitality: Benefits of building in long-span composite floor systems

Long-span composite floor systems provide unique advantages in the construction of multi-family and hospitality facilities. This introductory course explains what composite deck is, how it works, what typical composite deck profiles look like and provides guidelines for using composite floor systems. This is a nano unit course.

Sponsored | Reconstruction & Renovation | Jan 25, 2022

Concrete buildings: Effective solutions for restorations and major repairs

Architectural concrete as we know it today was invented in the 19th century. It reached new heights in the U.S. after World War II when mid-century modernism was in vogue, following in the footsteps of a European aesthetic that expressed structure and permanent surfaces through this exposed material. Concrete was treated as a monolithic miracle, waterproof and structurally and visually versatile.

Urban Planning | Jan 25, 2022

Retooling innovation districts for medium-sized cities

This type of development isn’t just about innovation or lab space; and it’s not just universities or research institutions that are driving this change.

Sponsored | Resiliency | Jan 24, 2022

Norshield Products Fortify Critical NYC Infrastructure

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration. 

Coronavirus | Jan 20, 2022

Advances and challenges in improving indoor air quality in commercial buildings

Michael Dreidger, CEO of IAQ tech startup Airsset speaks with BD+C's John Caulfield about how building owners and property managers can improve their buildings' air quality.

3D Printing | Jan 12, 2022

Using 3D-printed molds to create unitized window forms

COOKFOX designer Pam Campbell and Gate Precast's Mo Wright discuss the use of 3D-printed molds from Oak Ridge National Lab to create unitized window panels for One South First, a residential-commercial high-rise in Brooklyn, N.Y.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Construction Costs

Data center construction costs for 2024

Gordian’s data features more than 100 building models, including computer data centers. These localized models allow architects, engineers, and other preconstruction professionals to quickly and accurately create conceptual estimates for future builds. This table shows a five-year view of costs per square foot for one-story computer data centers. 


Sustainability

Grimshaw launches free online tool to help accelerate decarbonization of buildings

Minoro, an online platform to help accelerate the decarbonization of buildings, was recently launched by architecture firm Grimshaw, in collaboration with more than 20 supporting organizations including World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), RIBA, Architecture 2030, the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and several national Green Building Councils from across the globe.


halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021