Hiring architectural assistants and freelancers – getting started with delegation

When you are trying to get your architectural business off the ground, the main rule is to delegate as fast as possible.

You can’t afford to be the bottleneck of your own company, and there are physical limits to the amount of work you can get done in a day.

Moreover, if you focus on routine stuff like administrative work, modelling, or accounting you will get behind on the creative work that truly grows your brand and brings referrals.

This post will help you understand if you are ready to hire an architectural assistant – and how to go about it.

Types of assistants to help an architect

When most architects start out they lack an understanding of how much they can outsource and delegate.

It all comes down to maximizing the effect of your work. 

Outsource things you’re not that good at or hate doing, and focus only on high-level work, like closing bigger and better clients, speaking, presenting, and concept design. 

Everything else can be outsourced to architectural assistants or freelance architects.

Accountants

This one is obvious – no matter how small you are, if you are doing your own accounting you are wasting time and lagging behind the competition.

You can hire a remote accountant, as long as they work in the same country you work in, but most architects go with local accountants.

Keep track of all your incoming and outgoing payments with PlanMan and export all data conveniently as often as you need using our FreshBooks integration for architects.

Architectural freelancers

The more you charge for your time the more smart outsourcing you will be able to afford. Also, the bigger the project you’ve signed up for, the more help you will need. 

Sure, you may be able to pull everything off alone, but it might drain you and cost you other clients or referrals.

The most common type of help architects get from freelancers is 2D and 3D drafting. You can get drafting help from freelancers that are experienced and reliable – and they will do exactly what you want them to.

Another great way to impress your clients is to hire freelancers to produce high-quality visuals you wouldn’t normally be able to make quick yourself.

Fiverr, for instance, has hundreds of architectural professionals ready to turn your ideas and sketches into 3D models and renders, as well as virtual staging presentations.

Building Information Modeling freelancers

It’s too easy to make mistakes when doing BIM work. That is why a good idea is to hire someone who does BIM every day for years. 

Architectural assistants will help you run clash detection and BIM coordination reports, offer Revit modelling and MEP project work, and a lot of other BIM-related operations.

Administrative assistants

An administrative assistant will take care of all calls, messages, and emails with your project stakeholders, but also can help with project management for larger projects.

Having a tool like PlanMan really makes sure you get the most out of your administrative assistant’s efforts – the platform lets you communicate with stakeholders, store documents, assign tasks & track progress, and a lot more.

Marketing & lead generation

Word of mouth is surely the best marketing strategy, and referrals get you further than anything else.

However, as you are building your brand as an architect you will still need help putting yourself out there. 

Marketing assistants can help you with blogging, social media management, SEO of your website, and lead generation. 

You can either hire a full-time marketing VA or use ad-hoc services from freelance professionals for each separate task you need to do.

PlanMan allows you to store all your marketing materials and documents conveniently in the cloud storage so any new assistant can resume work wherever others have left it.

Employees vs contractors

You may not be able to afford an employee at first, and that’s absolutely fine! The world is moving towards remote work and the gig economy, so you can have architectural assistants working for you as contractors.

You don’t have to pay benefits to a contractor, taxes are easier, and so it is hiring and firing. 

Hire full-time employees only once your architectural practice grows into a major firm and loyalty becomes an issue.

Where to find architectural assistants

Depending on the type of tasks you’d like to find assistants for, you’d be using different channels.

For instance, look for an accountant on local job search sites and ads, because you obviously want someone familiar with local taxation and regulation.

When looking for architectural assistants for drafting, modelling and BIM work – use websites like Fiverr, Upwork, and LinkedIn. You need high-skilled professionals regardless of where they are based.

A lot of architects report great results from hiring Filipino assistants at OnlineJobs.ph – the platform hosts a lot of experienced architecture freelancers for administrative and marketing work.

Managing architectural assistants

In order to stay on the same page with your assistants, and assign & track tasks efficiently, you need a project management & collaboration tool. 

PlanMan was built specifically for this purpose – you can communicate with your remote team, assign tasks and track progress with ease. 

Try it for free today and see how easy and structured your daily routines become!