One casual day of April, one of our past clients of Studio Jonah approached us with an unusual, unique mission: to assist her to choose the right condo unit to purchase. Often, potential clients’ request for help starts like “I have a project in mind. What is your fee (all in one sentence)?”, but this was different. Due to the nature of condo as a costly but long-term investment,  it is definitely a smart move to seek professional’s advice and consultation to make the best decision.  As many clients expect,  how can architects add values to clients in addition to their traditional architectural service?

1) Where to live?

When it comes to real estate, we ALWAYS hear these three words: Location, location, location. At this point in Toronto, where condos are dominating the housing market, this sentiment has almost become a cliché. Yet, choosing the right location to settle down or selecting the most profitable investment is definitely worthwhile. For out client, the condo on her shopping list is the ArtShoppe, conveniently proposed on the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, one of the rapidly developing area in Toronto. Analyzing the vision and developments of the area, as well as the prospective trend of housing market, helps client decide with conviction.

2) Which one to select?

image source: CondoNow

Regardless of size or floor level, floor plan tells LOTS of information that most people can easily miss: structures, flexibility, potential furniture arrangement, circulation, direction the windows are facing, amount of sunlight that can be received throughout the day, and much more. Knowing how to read floor plan properly is important in analyzing the potential benefits of any real estate investments, such as convenience, daylight, occupancy.

3) How to provide “added value”?

The overall process of consultation was fairly smooth, thanks to the past experience of working with the client, as well as her cooperation and enthusiasm. When discussing with an architect about potential investment or project, it is absolutely essential to share what exactly it is that client wants. This experience was a great lesson for not only getting to know the client better, e.g. what client likes or dislikes, but for understanding the client’s preference as we are planning to discuss about a potential commercial project in the upcoming year.

“great lesson for not only getting to know the client better…., but for understanding the client’s preference”

One realisation after this consultation is that, being an architect provides so many perks and added values, mainly due to the nature of profession demanding diverse knowledge and experience in various fields, which overall helps our role as a consultant. Being a consultant to the client rather than taking on the traditional role of an architect brings new perspective and skill sets.  We believe that all those non-traditional experience strengthens us as better architects.

Lastly, if you haven’t so, take some time to read one of our previous blog,  condo, condo, condo discussing some trends and patterns of condo development in Toronto.