Proposals, coordination and project delivery: how your studio really works
Architecture firms document every step of a project: proposals, design reviews, consultant coordination, RFIs, submittals and construction administration. Years of that history across your project management system, email and shared drives show how real design decisions get made, the kind of operational workflow AI labs are asking for.
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Who fits
- Architecture firms and design studios
- Interior design and space-planning firms
- Landscape architecture and planning firms
- Design-build firms' design and preconstruction teams
What a provider looks at
- A desk team: employees and contractors who work at a desk in your company's email and software. Field and hourly crews who aren't in the systems aren't the desk count.
- Several years of history in your systems.
- Work across systems, such as email, chat, file storage, CRM, tickets and billing.
- Requirements vary by provider, sector and dataset, and the provider confirms fit.
What a licensable workflow can look like
A client's request becomes a proposal and fee estimate. The team issues a drawing set, logs a contractor RFI, coordinates the answer with consultants by email, revises the drawings, reviews a submittal, and records the change and the hours against the project.
A generic illustration, not a real client. Labs value the sequence of steps, decisions and handoffs across systems; how personal details are handled belongs in the agreement.
Records that count
- Proposals, fee estimates and contract-scope workflows
- Drawings, models and revision history
- RFIs, submittals and construction-administration logs
- Consultant and client correspondence by email and team chat
- Project schedules, time tracking and invoicing workflows
- Internal standards, templates, SOPs and training material
Good to know
- Design files, drawings and models are among the records these firms keep. What can be licensed depends on who owns them under your client contracts, and that's reviewed before anything is included.
- Client names, contact details and other personal information are handled as the agreement specifies. Owner contracts are excluded upfront.
- Architects, designers, project managers, admin, marketing and accounting staff are the desk team, and contractors in your systems may count too, depending on the provider.
- Kept out unless a review and the agreement say otherwise: privileged material and client matter files, health information and biometric data, payment card and bank account numbers, passwords and credentials, data about minors, export-controlled or classified information, another party's data or licensed third-party content, and sensitive personnel, safety or critical infrastructure details. Scope is a choice, so you can leave out anything else, such as pricing or trade secrets.
- Workflow data from QuickBooks, NetSuite and HR systems still counts.
- Usually not a fit anywhere: data involving minors, export-controlled or classified data, mostly paper records with little digital history, or records you don't have the rights to license.
- How personal details are removed or replaced belongs in the agreement, and the provider's review sorts out what's licensable. When in doubt, it's worth a conversation.
Tools your team already uses
Common architecture software we see. Don't see yours? Other systems can hold the same kind of work, and old or retired systems can count too.
Design & documentation
- Autodesk Revit
- AutoCAD
- Archicad
- Vectorworks
- SketchUp
- Rhino
Markup & collaboration
- Bluebeam Revu
- Autodesk Construction Cloud
- Newforma
Project management & accounting
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Deltek Ajera
- BQE CORE
- Microsoft 365
What counts is your team's own work in and around these tools: the emails, tickets, notes, tracking and billing. No files are collected on this site, and we never ask for passwords.
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners and are listed for reference only; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Architecture FAQ
Who counts as desk staff?
Desk staff: architects, designers, project managers, admin, marketing and accounting staff, plus contractors who work in your company's email and software, depending on the provider. Requirements vary by provider, sector and dataset, and the provider confirms fit.
Can our drawings and models be licensed?
Drawings, models and revision history are among the records firms like yours keep. Whether any of them can be licensed depends on who owns them under your client contracts, and that's reviewed before anything is included. Your own workflow records, like proposals, RFIs, correspondence and billing, are usually the clearest starting point.
What stays out?
Owner contracts and client agreements, financial reports and statements, passwords and credentials, and anything you choose to exclude. How client personal details are removed or replaced belongs in the agreement.
See If You Qualify
A few quick questions. No files needed, and we never ask for passwords.
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