Questions to Ask Architects
Twenty questions for interviewing architects when you are comparing several practices and the fees look similar. These probe judgment and working habits: how they learn about you, how drawings get checked, what they do when taste or budget collides with design, and what they have learned from their own finished buildings.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What kind of work do you take on, and what do you turn down?
Why ask it
The refusals are the informative half. A practice that has never declined a project either needs the work or has no defined focus, and either way your project will be shaped by whatever they are learning on it.
How many projects are you running right now?
Why ask it
A concrete number you can weigh against the size of the office. Four projects in a two-person practice means your calls go unanswered in the weeks when someone else is on site, which is worth knowing before you sign rather than in month four.
How do you find out how someone actually lives or works before you design for them?
Why ask it
The strongest answers describe visiting your current space, asking about routines, or watching how you use rooms rather than handing over a questionnaire. Practices that skip this step design their own preferences and call it a brief.
How do you present ideas to clients, and why that way?
Why ask it
Renderings sell and hide, physical models explain volume, plans require training to read. A practice that thinks about how a non-architect understands space will say so. One that only produces polished images may be managing your reaction rather than informing it.
Who checks your drawings before they leave the office?
Why ask it
Drawing errors become change orders that you pay for. Look for a named second person or a defined review step. Sole practitioners should be able to say who reviews their work externally, and the honest ones will.
How do you work with engineers, and who catches it when their work conflicts with yours?
Why ask it
Most construction surprises come from the gaps between disciplines: a beam through a window, a duct below a ceiling. The answer tells you whether coordination is somebody's job or something everyone assumes is happening.
On a site like mine, how would you think about daylight and orientation?
Why ask it
Ask it on site if you can. You are listening for whether they talk about your specific aspect, trees, and neighbours rather than principles. This is also the fastest way to find out if they have visited properly.
Tell me about a constraint on another project that you had to design around.
Why ask it
A story with a real obstacle in it, a protected tree, an awkward level change, a neighbour's window, shows how they think when the easy option is closed. Practices that only describe unconstrained projects have mostly worked on straightforward sites.
How do you record what we agree, so that we both remember it in six months?
Why ask it
Meeting notes issued after every discussion sound bureaucratic and prevent most disputes. If nobody writes decisions down, the version that survives is whoever remembers more confidently, and that is usually not the client.
When a client's taste and your judgment pull in different directions, what happens?
Why ask it
Both extremes are a problem: an architect who always concedes gives you an expensive draughtsman, and one who never concedes gives you their building. Ask for an actual instance and listen for whether they say what they gave up.
What do you do with a design the budget cannot support?
Why ask it
You want to know whether they redraw at a smaller scale, simplify the construction, or keep the shape and downgrade every finish. The approach they name is the one your project will get, so check it matches what you would choose.
How much do you steer clients toward or away from what is currently fashionable?
Why ask it
Materials and forms date, and the client lives with it for twenty years. A thoughtful answer distinguishes durable decisions, layout, light, structure, from replaceable ones. A dismissive answer often means their portfolio all looks like the year it was built.
Tell me about a project where the brief changed substantially partway through.
Why ask it
How they describe a moving target predicts how they will handle yours changing. Note whether they mention renegotiating the fee openly, and whether they sound resentful about the client, because you may be the next such client.
How do you decide a design is finished?
Why ask it
Answers range from a budget or deadline forcing it to a clear internal test. There is no correct one, but the reasoning tells you whether the process ends by judgment or by exhaustion, and the latter usually shows in the drawings.
When did you last change your mind because a contractor or a client pushed back?
Why ask it
Being unable to recall an instance is itself the answer. Architects who work well with builders can usually name a detail that was improved on site by someone who had to install it.
What do your former clients complain about?
Why ask it
A question that rewards honesty and exposes evasion. Answers like slow email or too many options are credible and manageable. Claiming there are no complaints after twenty years of practice is not.
What have you learned from going back to buildings you finished years ago?
Why ask it
Practices that revisit their work talk about maintenance, how the users adapted the space, and details they no longer use. Practices that never go back learn nothing after handover, and it shows in repeated mistakes.
Which of your buildings are you least satisfied with, and what happened?
Why ask it
The most revealing question in the list, because it asks for a self-criticism in front of a prospective client. Look for a specific building and a specific cause, and be wary of blame placed entirely on the client, the budget, or the contractor.
From your side, what makes a client difficult to work with?
Why ask it
You learn their expectations of you, which is fair to hear before committing. It also surfaces mismatches early: an architect who finds involved clients tiring is the wrong choice if you want to be in every decision.
What decision on a recent project would you make differently now?
Why ask it
A closing question that separates practices that reflect from ones that repeat. Specific answers about a material, a sequence, or a consultant they would not use again suggest someone still paying attention to their own work.
Interviewing Practices When the Fees Look the Same
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to Run the Interviews
Meet on the Site if You Can
An hour standing on the plot or in the existing building produces better conversation than any office meeting. You find out who notices the neighbour's overlooking window, who asks where the sun comes from in December, and who talks mostly about their past work.
Ask for the Same Story From Each Practice
Pick one question, ideally the one about a project where the budget or brief collapsed, and ask every practice the same thing. Comparing three answers to one question is far more useful than comparing three general impressions.
Talk to the Person Who Will Do the Work
Winning the job and running the job are often different people. Ask to meet whoever will be drawing and answering your emails, and judge that conversation, since it is the one you will be having for the next two years.
Write Your Impressions the Same Day
After three meetings you will conflate them. Note what each practice noticed about your site, what they disagreed with you about, and how they handled the question they least wanted to answer.
What the Answers Tend to Reveal
- Practices that ask about your routines and how you actually use space usually produce plans you do not have to fight later.
- Willingness to name a project that disappointed them tracks closely with willingness to tell you bad news during construction.
- An architect who cannot describe how drawings are checked is telling you that errors will surface on site at your expense.
- Talking about buildings they have revisited suggests they learn from handover instead of moving on.
- Blaming past problems entirely on clients, builders, or budgets is the clearest signal to keep looking.
Common Pitfalls
Choosing the Most Charming Meeting
First meetings reward presentation skill, which is not the same as design judgment or reliability over two years. Weigh the reference calls and the site conversation above how the pitch felt.
Only Asking About Process
Every practice has a process diagram and it is broadly the same. The differences show up in stories about specific projects, so keep pushing for examples rather than accepting the general account.
Assuming a Portfolio Style Is a Choice
Sometimes it reflects conviction, sometimes it is the only thing the office knows how to detail. Ask what they have built that looks unlike the rest of the portfolio, and why.
Ignoring How They Handle Disagreement in the Room
Push back on one thing during the interview and watch what happens. The response you get in a meeting where they want the work is the best version of what you will get later.