Architect Fee Proposal Builder.
An app idea for architecture firms.
A tool that helps small practice owners build staged fee proposals with scope boundaries and exclusions from their own past projects, so they stop undercharging and scope creep is easier to manage.
What the search found
- Who pays
- Small practice owner
- The problem
- In the buyer's words: 'The ONLY way to reduce proposed fees should be by reducing scope' and 'When you're undercharging for scope from day one, scope creep becomes inevitable.' Practice owners write each proposal from scratch, forget exclusions, and then absorb unpaid work.
- The gap
- Generic proposal tools like Plutio and Smart Pricing Table give templates and e-signatures but no architecture-specific scope library, no reuse of the practice's own past project data, and no staged fee structure tied to RIBA-style work stages. Monograph automates proposals for larger A&E firms but is not built around
- Already out there
- Plutio plutio.com
Proposal software for architects. Handles fixed price, retainer and rush quotes but is a generic proposal tool, not built on the practice's own past project data.
- Smart Pricing Table smartpricingtable.com
Architecture proposal template with assumptions and exclusions. A template, not a system that learns from the practice's own projects.
- Monograph monograph.com
Proposal automation for A&E firms with CRM to content library to e-signature flow. Aimed at larger firms and not built around a small practice's own historical fees.
- Plutio plutio.com
- People asking for it
- I have a small Architecture Firm. Lets discuss fees! reddit.com
Practice owner says the only way to reduce proposed fees should be by reducing scope, and that this will not typically avoid scope creep.
- Stop accepting low fees reddit.com
Architects discuss teaching young architects what scope creep is and how scope reduction only works when everyone does it.
- Stop Scope Creep in Architecture with Effective Pricing linkedin.com
Post says undercharging for scope from day one makes scope creep inevitable.
- I have a small Architecture Firm. Lets discuss fees! reddit.com
- The big assumption
- That small practice owners will trust and use a tool built on their own past project data rather than keep doing proposals in Word and Excel.
- Test it this week
- Ask 10 small practice owners to send you three past fee proposals. Build one new proposal for each by hand using their own past scope and exclusions. Ask if the result is better than what they would have written and whether they would pay monthly for it.
Check your own market first.
This idea was checked for architecture firms in general. Your city, your contacts and your buyers change what is open. Run the free search to see the gaps that fit you, or book a call to talk it through.
More ideas for architecture firms
From the same search. See the full report, including the ideas we dropped because they already exist.
- Gap found
Council Pre-App Checklist
A council-specific checklist and document pack builder that tells architects exactly what each local authority needs for a pre-application or planning submission, updated when rules change.