Written for the working week
Fees, drawings, sharing, copyright and the arguments that come with them. Practical guides for architecture practices in India, with the figures checked and the sources named.
Every guide
Starting a projectThe design brief: the questions to ask, and how to write the answers backWhy a verbal brief drifts, the question groups worth asking in a residential brief, how to ask about the budget without a guarded answer, writing the brief back for the client to correct, and treating a changed brief as a change of scope.12 October 2026 · 7 min readRunning the studioPractice & lawSite recordsThe site visit report: what to record, and how to keep it on fileWhy the report matters more than the visit, how to keep an observation, an instruction and a variation apart, a one-page format with numbered items and owners, photographs that can be used later, and what to do when the contractor disputes it.12 October 2026 · 7 min readRunning the studioDrawings & documentsProject close-outClosing out a project: the final fee, the handover set and ending accessWhy the final invoice is the one that goes unpaid, what belongs in a handover pack, releasing the last set against the last fee and its limits, how to end consultant and client access on purpose, and what to do when a client goes quiet before closing.7 October 2026 · 9 min readRunning the studioPaymentsApprovals & records"I never approved that": getting client sign-off on drawings you can proveWhy a client's approval so often leaves no trace, the four things a provable approval has to pin down, how to settle who approves before the first sketch, a ninety-second routine for every stage, and what to do when the dispute has already started.7 October 2026 · 9 min readPractice & lawRunning the studioFees & paymentGetting architect fees in without chasing: collecting payments online in IndiaThe invoice-to-cash workflow in a studio: what late payment costs with the assumptions stated, the anatomy of an invoice that gets paid, bank transfer against UPI against a gateway, releasing drawings on payment and its three limits, and a reminder cadence that does not sour a client.6 October 2026 · 8 min readPaymentsRunning the studioTools & setupClient management software for architects: seven problems it should solveWhat client management means in an architecture studio, as opposed to a sales CRM: seven problems that appear past three people, what to ask any tool about each, what AtelierLab will not do, and a ten-minute test to run before you migrate anything.6 October 2026 · 10 min readRunning the studioPractice & lawOriginal researchThe India Architect Fee BenchmarkWhat do Indian practices actually charge? Nobody has published an honest answer, so we are collecting one. The method, the full question set and the privacy rules, stated in advance. Fieldwork closes 30 November 2026; results publish January 2027.8 September 2026 · 8 min readPaymentsPractice & lawDocument controlThe drawing transmittal: the ninety seconds that decide the argumentA free transmittal template, and the four fields on it that decide disputes: date, revision, purpose and acknowledgement. How to write the supersession line, how to chase an acknowledgement without nagging, and who should get DWG rather than PDF.8 September 2026 · 10 min readDrawings & documentsRunning the studioPayments setupRazorpay for a studio: test mode, test cards, and going liveOpening the account, what test mode does and does not prove, the documented test cards and UPI IDs, what the standard plan costs, a go-live checklist, and the one question worth asking any platform that sits between you and your fee.18 August 2026 · 9 min readPaymentsRunning the studio
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White-label licensingSelling a white-label client portal: pricing, payback and who buys itThe four ways to package a portal you license, payback arithmetic for a one-time fee with the assumptions stated, where the first ten customers come from, what you take on as first-line support, and the cases where licensing is the wrong move.2 October 2026 · 8 min readWhite-label licensingWhite-label licensingBuild or license a white-label client portal? The maths, honestlyWhat a client portal costs to build once you count the parts nobody sees, a worksheet to run the numbers with your own salaries, the eight questions that separate a real white-label licence from a themed reseller account, and the cases where building it yourself is the right answer.2 October 2026 · 10 min readWhite-label licensing