POOR ARCHITECT

It is no news that Architects are poorly paid. The case is worse in Nigeria
because there is an ever increasing number of quacks in the industry especially
with the arrival of computer aided design and drafting software. Almost
anybody who uses AutoCAD now is called “Architect”. Sounds familiar ba?

Well, somehow, the Architects should be blamed too because most of them
have taken up the roles of Builders, Civil Engineers and Contractors. They now
call you “Engineer” on site.

Lol...

Very funny. Karma is truly a bitch (I’m sorry again). But honestly, this is a
menace and it is quickly eating up the profession and rendering many
Architects poor. Now, I’m not writing this article to teach you professional
ethics.

Nah… You know that better than I do. I’m writing this simply to point out few
of the reasons I feel many Architects are poor. The goal is to awaken as many
Architects as possible to the financial possibilities if they will only hear.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you six (6) reasons why Architects are poor:

1. Architects before Them Were Poor.

Oh yes!!!
No matter how much we try to deny this. It remains true.

“A blind man cannot teach other men to see”

The culture of passing on poor creatives has lived long in our nation. “If
they did not pay me well after I worked ten years with Architect John, why
should I pay these new inexperienced young ones well?” Our ideas of making
people suffer lack for so long with the excuse of training them, has kept
us in this ditch for a long time and this is probably the oldest form of
slavery in the profession. If we have gone through a rough patch,
 shouldn’t we strive to ensure that others avoid that same patch? It’s a sad
reality today that now Architects are made to work tirelessly, expending
valuable time, energy and creativity for their employer and yet get paid
meager sums. If we must go further, we need to kill that mentality and
start treating people to their value. Only then will we move forward in
our profession.

If you don’t think I’m arrogant and disrespectful at this point, then let’s
proceed to the other reasons.

2. Society Hasn’t Found A Reason To Pay Them Well.

This is a major truth we can’t deny because at one point or the other,
we’ve been victims of this. “No be just building plan? Na em you dey call this
kind money for me?”
This line is probably one of the most hurtful lines any Architect has had
to hear and undoubtedly almost all Architects have heard it at some point
in their career. Sadly, we cannot blame society because it is simply
reacting to what we’ve made it believe. When they look at an Architect
now, they see a glorified artist who repeatedly does the same thing.
Architects have not communicated their value enough to the society. To
the regular citizen who knows nothing of the Architect’s process, he sees
the Architect as someone who knows how to draw floor plans. It is
therefore our duty as Architects to communicate our value well enough to
society that they know the worth of the Architect before even
approaching him/her. If we don’t do this, we will remain in the same
spot and be forced to share our profession with tech savvy people who
just learn to use software because after all, that’s how society sees us
anyway.

3. Architects Are Yet To Offer Real Value.

Ok, before you swallow me, read first.
We need to understand that value is like a pretty supermodel. It cannot
be hidden. If we say we have it, we should show it, and it should be seen.
Many architects go about offering the same service a quack will offer.
 Ok, don’t get defensive on me now.
Ask yourself if you’re an Architect, what I’m doing now, will I be proud
to tell someone that I spent 6+ years learning to do it? The reality is still
that the Architects are not offering real value.
Let’s switch positions. Say you’re the client.
When you were 25, you built your first house; a 4 bedroom bungalow and
you paid N100,000 for the design to a computer guy who uses AutoCAD
and learnt to draw plans with it. 10 years later, you are richer and intend
to build another house so you contact an architect and ask him to design
you a 5 bedroom bungalow. He charges you N900,000 and gives you the
design. 2 years into the house, you don’t see any difference between it and
your first house. If you are this man, will you seek the service of an
Architect when you want to build a 3rd house?
I’m sure you see it now.
If we must make more money, we must be able to offer real value.
“The worth of real value is only calculated in its availability”
If they can get it anywhere, then it’s worthless. If they can only get that
from you, then you become priceless and hence invaluable. You will then
call the shots. This rockets your worth and wealth to the skies. So the
next time you take on a project, ask yourself what you can do to that
project that no one else can.

4. Many Architects Are Mentally Lazy.

This goes without saying. The most mentally challenging time of any
Architect is while they’re still studying in the University to become an
Architect. Once they become it, they become lazy. They begin to recycle
designs. Pick up one floor plan and redress it in a different façade and
resell. This attitude is killing the profession and is more damaging to the
Architect himself/herself. There are so many hardworking Architects but
few diligent ones.
“Diligence is hard work plus creative strategy”
As the Bible will say in Proverbs 22:29,“Seeth thou a man diligent in his
business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men”.
 Kings don’t underpay. Mere men do. Until we begin to as Architects,
stretch our minds mentally with every project, we will be revolving
around the same figures annually. I mean, why would a real estate
developer who has developed so many estates and has come to understand
a general pattern of designing terraced apartments, use your services and
pay you more than he does others if you’re giving him the same thing in a
different cloth?
We need to wake up.

5. Poor Business Training.

“A man who is not trained, cannot reign”
Almost all through school, Architects are made to focus on developing
their creative and problem solving skill. They are never taught to convert
this developed skill to monetary evidence. There’s no course title like
“The money of Architecture” or
“The business of Architecture”
So, Architects grow up always neglecting the business corner of their
design. Very few Architects even know the worth of the buildings they
design. We create buildings worth billions and accept payments in
thousands and then someone else who understands business but wasn’t
involved in creating, makes more money of your creation than you. Very
sad. We must introduce this to schools and teach the business side of this
profession. How to bargain, how to convince, how to multiply wealth
once it is made are questions we must learn to answer. If we don’t seek
this knowledge, we’ll end up poor wise men that will be forgotten soon.

6. Architects Think In One Dimension

Heheheheh!!!
This guy is mad o!- someone is saying now.
We are so used to the saying that Architects think in 3-dimensions that
we begin to believe it. Just because we can imagine how a building looks
in 3D or project what a building will be in coming years doesn’t in any
way prove that we are 3D thinkers. Warren buffet thinks in 3D. Most
Architects don’t think like Warren Buffet.
 Let us use the analogy of a fisherman.
He paddles his boat to River Epe and fishes in it. That he catches 4 species
of fish doesn’t mean that he has been fishing in 4 rivers, does it? He has
only succeeded in fishing from 1 River. The crazy thing is that many
Architects catch just one specie of fish from one large river and are
nowhere close to attempting to fish in another River. We’re too
consumed with designing buildings that we forget to meddle in other
money-generating ventures and investments. In fact, a very small
percentage of Architects even own any Real estate property. How ironic
but true. We spend so much time with the laptop and mouse that we shut
ourselves to other opportunities of making money. This is a one-
dimensional thought pattern and it can be corrected. Start looking at
other sources of income. Buy those shares, invest in that real estate. Have
another stream of income. The good thing this does for you is that it
gives you confidence because now you’re no longer under pressure to
accept peanuts offered you by your client and you have enough time to
put into whatever project you get.

These reasons are just some of the reasons Architects are poor. Overall, there
are still very wealthy Architects and the way to go is to learn from them. See
you in your Yacht or private jet soon.

Ciao!!!

Ugonwa Chinedu Kenneth

08160524730