A monthly briefing from UNCOMMON Architects
Get your firm on the shortlist for the work you want.
How developers, owners and private clients choose design teams, and the moves that get a firm picked. One issue a month: a deal teardown, a business development framework built for architecture, and one experiment to run in the next 30 days.
Who it’s for
For the people responsible for where the next project comes from.
- 01
Principals and partners, at firms large and small, who are done waiting for the phone to ring.
- 02
Senior architects taking on client-facing and business development work for the first time.
- 03
The in-house marketer or business development lead who owns growth without a big team behind them.
- 04
Small studios and design-led practices, including high-end residential, that want a pipeline beyond referrals.
If you think business development is beneath the craft, this isn’t for you. If you want both, you’re in the right place.
In every issue
One focused issue you can read in a coffee break.
Built for the people who run growth inside a firm, whether that is the whole job or one of many.
01
Deal teardowns
How a specific project was won, from first contact to shortlist to signed work. The positioning, the timing and the relationship behind the win.
02
Business development frameworks for architecture
Simple systems for outreach, positioning and pipeline, built for how design firms win work.
03
Where the money is moving
Signals from the people who commission work, from developers and retailers to institutional owners and private clients: what they are funding next and what they want from a design team before they commit.
04
One experiment to run
A single practical move you can test in the next 30 days to put your firm in front of better clients.
Why listen to us
The thinking behind the work, written down once a month.
UNCOMMON runs business development for architecture and design firms that want to grow through better client relationships. Shortlisted is where we write that thinking down. Some of what it has produced for clients:
28
executive conversations
with decision-makers at target developer organizations in 4 months, for MEEKS + Partners, a 50-year multifamily firm.
67
executive conversations
and a 45% positive reply rate in 5 months for TECHNE Architecture, starting from a single-page website.
2x
average project value
and 40% revenue growth over 18 months for Studio Carney, after repositioning the studio and its pricing.
The same approach, one issue a month. Read the case studies
The clients you want are shortlisting firms long before the work is public, and your name isn’t in the room.
Referrals built the firm. They won’t carry the next decade on their own.
Shortlisted is how firms get in that room, one issue at a time.
Join Shortlisted
The moves that get your firm on the shortlist for the work you want. Once a month.