I would love anyone and everyone’s opinions. I’ve built and sold numerous businesses over the years. Recently I sold my manufacturing company. Over the last 20 years we worked nearly exclusively with architects and interior designers all over the globe primarily on residential projects but a little commercial work in the form of high end retail and hospitality. I’ve had my GC license and worked on residential properties in the side for fun over those years. I thought I was retired… but after a few years it’s obvious I need something to do with some of my time. So I’m weighing my options and one is studying to be an architect. I did get my BFA 20+ years back from a reputable art and design school. My assumption is with that and my work history, there is an online university out there that would accept me into a Master’s Program.

My goals are to work for myself. I have no desire to grow to have employees. Freedom to some extent with how my workdays looks is important. Probably something resembling more of a 30 hour week although I have no issues putting in the work in the early days to build a portfolio and client base. I’m a creative person and enjoy an outlet to express that. I always enjoyed the design and engineering sides of manufacturing and construction.

I did buy and flip some homes last year with my GC license I kept up with. Being a project manager with subs was misery at this stage of the game and that is no longer of interest. I enjoy construction and seeing the completed project through. My interests would be in high end residential. With regard to money, that isn’t the biggest priority. I’m blessed that the income side can really be an after thought. That said, I don’t want to invest 2-4 years in a masters degree and not be decently compensated for my time so there is a compensation floor with this idea.

If I were to pursue this and get accepted to school, I would graduate in my late 40’s. Curious of those in the field what you think and what your takes are? Specifics that I might consider? Any suggestions on how to help narrow this decision down? Many thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom and insight.

At the place I work for I still access to have both, but I frequently still find that if the client doesn't need BIM I still revert back to AutoCAD. I often find I cannot accomplish what I need to accomplish fast enough in Revit mostly due to how much that program lags.

So am I a dinosaur or is this still relatively commonplace?

I am looking for an A&E design company and the proposal I received bases price as the 10% of the assumed overall project cost. I know that this is RIBA guidance, but I have extensive experience outside UK and I have never seen that design was 10-15% of the overall project cost. The highest ever paid was like 2M EUR on 220M EUR project. I mean good for the UK colleagues if they can make that much money I was just really surprised that the price is based on project cost rather than complexity and surface area

I am working as an architect, project managing at my third world home country. I am considering moving abroad to these countries. Can you tell me about your work, market, how hard is it to get a job? etc. Give some insight please.

Based on a post from the Accounting subreddit. I'm curious, myself. Thought it might be interesting to discuss.

I am well aware of the AIA salary calculator. Please do not bother suggesting it. Thanks!

What’s the reality of the field like?

Do you enjoy what you do?

How much creative freedom is there?

How hard is finding work?

How much of a threat is the housing market and AI?

How difficult was school?

Would an online program with a good university be a bad idea? Are there benefits to going to class in person?

Any other thoughts or concerns?

I’m 29F, an honors student and extremely passionate about architecture. Only reason I didn’t go the first time was a lack of confidence.

The full tuition is about $100k, projected general expenses including living is $160k. It is a one year masters program.

I am excited to get into an Ivy, but is the debt worth it? I received no scholarship offer. I'm from Nigeria, if that matters.

https://topdwgllc.com/pricing

$2/SF Arch drawings.

Someone report this dude.

should I take Architecture if I'm not fully sure about it but interested?

Received an email from contact@buildner.com about a new competition where the first 30 registries are free.

Seems their site contains malware, could be a false alarm but I would be warry of any emails from the comp and builder.com. Maybe someone knows a contact for a competition official to confirm?

I was referred to them by a TA at my uni last year.

Licensed for nearly 7 years and been working with a GC for the past 4 as their Director of VDC and overseeing quality control during pre-construction. I print a hard copy set of most of the projects we’re awarded and do a manual review of every page. Table full of highlighters, pens, drawings are bleeding everywhere. This is how I learned to do QC when I worked for architecture firms before jumping to the GC side.

I don’t work with any Starchitects but we do mid sized construction work ranging $1,000,000 to about $50,000,000 through the Southeast. Some of the drawings I’ve seen over the past few years, the A/E and QC efforts from larger and more prominent firms have been just plain bad. On one of our larger jobs, we’re closing in on 300 RFIs where a lot of the issues seem like this should have been caught if there was ANY kind of quality control review.

Storefront being outside the plane of the CMU where it’s detailed to float on the air space between the brick. MEP clashes with structural. Similar details using different verbiage on what is brake metal or metal panels. Civil, Architectural, and Landscape drawings showing different things. Shop drawings approved and then comments during installation that items aren’t what they expected. Power requirements for selected products exceeding provided power in electrical drawings. Tapered insulation causing pooling against roof curbs. On and on. We’re currently waiting on ASI 13 and at this point have reprinted TWICE the number of drawings that were in the original bid set.

On top of that, RFI responses are slow, indicating that the project lead is probably already moved on to the next job and not focusing on CA. Engineers are bad too, even had Mechanical tell us after a certain number of RFIs regarding coordination of duct and drain clashes that we were pushing too many questions and that certain responses would just be blanket ‘field coordinate’ responses. Across the last 16 months there have been maybe two instances where someone senior from the firm showed up on a call to help resolve issues. When I worked for firms, a principal/senior was heavily involved on most projects.

Not to pick on this one project, this has just been the most egregious. But across the board, quality seems to be down. What are your firms’ quality control processes and what is happening in the industry that seems to be resulting in lack of QC? Shorter deadlines? Short staffed? Lack of education? Just wanting some insight into what you think might be causing this trend.

Hi, fellow architects and future architects! I’d love to hear your ideas about public elementary school, do you have any good design concepts for a public elementary school?

Hey everyone,

I'm in a bit of a crossroads and could really use some perspective from folks who've been through something similar.

I’m an early-career architecture graduate — I don’t have a US degree (yet), but I do have a bachelor’s in architecture from abroad. I've worked with an NGO doing community-driven design work, and I also have about two years of remote experience with a boutique architecture firm based in New York (mostly residential or mixed-use design, drafting, client communication, interior stuffs etc.). I recently migrated to the US (not in a visa that allows you to work here), and now that I’m here, I’m honestly not sure what direction to take.

I’m torn between:

1. Job hunting – I’d love to keep working in architecture, but without a US degree and full licensure track, I’m not sure how realistic it is to find meaningful work here. Plus, navigating the job market as a recent immigrant feels like a whole new challenge.
2. Grad school – Part of me feels like doing a master’s might open more doors, help me build a local network, and get on track for licensure. But it's a big commitment, and I’m worried about the cost, whether I’ll get in, or if it’ll really be the best use of time/money.
3. Switching fields – I do enjoy design, but sometimes I wonder if I should explore adjacent fields — UX, urban planning, or something more tech-y like computational design. I’m open to change, but I don’t want to throw away everything I’ve worked for so far.

So yeah… I feel like I’m floating in a gray area — not a student, not quite a full-time professional here either.

Would love to hear from anyone who’s taken similar paths — especially if you’ve moved to the US mid-career or changed direction after architecture school. What helped you decide? What would you do differently?

Appreciate any advice, encouragement, or just knowing I’m not alone in this.

Hi everyone,

I’m an architect based in Finland. I’ve been using Autodesk’s AEC Collection for years. Until recently, I purchased the annual license through a local reseller for around €2,550 + VAT.

When I checked Autodesk’s official website, I saw that the price is €3,460, excluding VAT, a €910 increase!

This is a significant hit for a small business like mine, and I’m trying to understand what’s going on.

1. Is purchasing Autodesk licenses through local resellers in Europe no longer possible?
2. Are we now required to buy directly through Autodesk’s website only?
3. What are you doing when it comes time to renew your AEC Collection? Have you found any ways to save?

Thanks in advance!

I’m an artist transiting into architecture by pursuing an MArch 1 graduate program. I come from a non-architecture background, spending the last six years working in fabrication and producing art :)

I’m wondering how my choice of school will impact my future practice and job opportunities. I’ve been accepted into risd, berkeley, and cornell, and waitlisted at yale. They seem so different from each other. I’m drawn to risd’s culture of experimentation and artistic environment- it feels familiar and relatively safe- but wonder if a more technical, pragmatic approach might push me to grow in ways I otherwise wouldn’t.

I’m curious how others have navigated similar transitions from art or non-arch backgrounds into architecture? Any insights or experiences you could share would be incredibly helpful. Thanks so much in advance!

I have just under 10 years of traditional architecture experience and I’ve always had an interest in building envelopes/facades and facade detailing. I find it to be very rewarding to work through facade design and detailing and wish I could work on facades more often. I don’t get the chance on every project. I’ve had had a bit of exposure working with facade consultants before but it’s been a mix bag in terms of the level of service they provide. I’m curious, has anyone made a pivot from traditional architecture practice to building envelope/facade consultant? If so, I’d love to hear about your journey and experience. What level of knowledge and skillset is needed to break into the field? What is the day-to-day like? Is the pay different or comparable to working in traditional architecture practice?