Ready to Start Your Own Architecture Firm? Questions to Ask Yourself First
You've been thinking about it for months—maybe years. The idea of starting your own architecture firm feels exciting, terrifying, and inevitable all at once. You imagine the creative freedom, the ability to choose your projects, the satisfaction of building something that's truly yours.
Before you draft your resignation letter or register your business name, pause. Starting an architecture firm isn't just a career move—it's a fundamental transformation of your professional identity and your life. The architects who thrive in firm ownership are the ones who have honestly answered some difficult questions about their motivations, capabilities, and readiness for what lies ahead.
Let's explore those questions together. Not to discourage you, but to help you enter this journey with clear eyes and realistic expectations.
What’s the Why?
Start here, because if you can't articulate compelling, sustainable reasons for starting a firm, nothing else matters.
What's driving your desire for firm ownership?
Creative control: Clear vision for how architecture should be practiced. Frustrated by others' frameworks. (Consider: could you achieve this as a senior designer or partner elsewhere?)
Flexibility and autonomy: Want control over schedule, workload, work-life balance. (Reality: most firm owners work longer hours initially. Flexibility comes later, if at all.)
Financial upside: Believe you can earn more than as an employee. (Reality: many take pay cuts in first few years. Understand the timeline.)
Building something meaningful: Create a legacy. Build a practice reflecting your values. Contribute to the built environment your way. (Most sustainable motivation—carries you through tough times.)
Frustration with current employer: Unhappy in current role. (Warning: running from something rarely works. Firm ownership may amplify problems, not solve them.)
Here's the critical follow-up question: Will these motivations sustain you through the hard times?
Because there will be hard times. Months without new projects. Clients who don't pay. Designs you're proud of that never get built. Late nights fixing errors in construction documents. If your "why" isn't strong enough to carry you through those moments, reconsider whether now is the right time.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Motivation matters, but so does capability. Wanting to run a firm and being ready to run a firm are different things.
Can you function without external structure?
As an employee: someone else sets schedule, assigns projects, monitors progress. As owner: all on you.
Critical questions:
Do you naturally set and work toward goals?
Can you prioritize when everything feels urgent?
Do you maintain productivity without external accountability?
Are you comfortable wearing multiple hats?
Typical day: designer, project manager, bookkeeper, marketer, IT support, HR, janitor.
Reality: early-stage owners spend only a fraction of their time on design. The rest goes to business development, administration, financial management, client relationships.
Question: Can you find satisfaction in this mix, or will you resent time away from design?
Can you handle ambiguity and make decisions without perfect information?
Employees: escalate decisions to supervisors. Owners: make final calls with incomplete information.
Examples: Should you hire this person? Take this project? Invest in this software? Challenge this contractor?
Consequences fall on you.
Do you know how to run a business?
Architecture school teaches design, not business. Common gaps:
Financial management and cash flow
Marketing and business development
Contract negotiation
Project management
Human resources and team leadership
Good news: skills can be learned. Question: are you willing to invest time or hire expertise to fill gaps?
What Are You Actually Signing Up For?
Romantic notions about firm ownership often collide with practical realities. Let's ground this in what day-to-day life might actually look like.
Financial reality check
Startup capital needed for:
Business registration, insurance, software
Marketing materials
Living expenses during lean months
Recommended savings: 3-8 months of expenses before launching.
Revenue reality: Architecture is cyclical and project-based. Three great months might follow two slow ones.
Questions:
Can you access capital without jeopardizing financial security?
Can you start as side venture while maintaining other income?
Can you manage irregular income without excessive stress?
Work-life integration (not balance)
Reality: work and life don't balance—they integrate.
Working from home blurs boundaries
Thinking about business during dinner, weekends, vacation
Stress management becomes critical
Questions:
How do you respond to sustained stress?
Can you set boundaries, or do you tend toward workaholism?
How will this affect relationships, health, well-being?
Impact on family and relationships
Firm ownership brings:
Financial instability
Long hours
Emotional stress
Not just for you—for people who share your life.
Critical conversations needed:
Does your partner understand the risks?
Are they supportive or resentful of time/energy required?
Have you discussed how this affects shared financial goals?
The reality of client work
Early reality: Not every client is a dream client. Not every project is portfolio-worthy. You may take work you're not passionate about to pay bills and build reputation.
Questions:
Can you find satisfaction in serving clients well, even when work isn't glamorous?
Can you maintain quality and professionalism on uninspiring projects?
What Kind of Practice Do You Want to Build?
Before you can build it, you need to envision it clearly.
What type of work do you want to do?
Residential or commercial? New construction or renovations? High-end custom or affordable housing? Sustainable design? Historic preservation?
Being clear about your focus helps with everything from marketing to building expertise to attracting the right clients. You can pivot later, but starting with clarity gives you direction.
What are your non-negotiables?
What matters most to you? What won't you compromise on, even when times are tough?
Maybe it's:
Design quality over quick profits
Sustainable practices in every project
Work-life balance for yourself and future employees
Transparent client relationships
Accessible architecture for underserved communities
Defining your values now helps you make aligned decisions later, especially when faced with tempting opportunities that don't quite fit.
What does success look like to you?
Is it building a 20-person firm? Staying solo but highly selective? Winning design awards? Earning a specific income? Having flexibility to travel? Creating a firm culture that attracts top talent?
Your definition of success shapes your strategy. A firm aiming for growth makes different decisions than one prioritizing lifestyle flexibility. Neither is right or wrong—but you need to know which you're building.
Are You Ready for the Identity Shift?
This might be the deepest and most important question.
When you start your own firm, you stop being "an architect" and become "a business owner who does architecture." That's not just semantics—it's a fundamental shift in how you spend your time, what you prioritize, and how you see yourself.
Can you find satisfaction in business success, not just design excellence?
The best design in the world means nothing if you can't keep your firm afloat. You'll need to celebrate business wins—landing a client, maintaining positive cash flow, hiring your first employee—even when they don't involve creative design work.
Can you feel proud of a month where you spent most of your time marketing and managing rather than designing? If that thought makes you uncomfortable, you may not be ready for ownership.
Can you shift from maker to manager?
As your firm grows (even to just one or two employees), you'll spend more time managing others' work than doing your own. You'll review rather than create. You'll guide rather than execute.
Some architects love this evolution. Others feel like they've lost touch with why they became architects in the first place. Which camp are you in?
Can you handle being personally responsible for everything?
When you're an employee and something goes wrong, it's unfortunate. When you're the owner and something goes wrong, it's on you. Every mistake, every missed deadline, every unhappy client—they're yours to own and fix.
This level of responsibility energizes some people and crushes others. Which are you?
The Honest Answer
After sitting with all these questions, what's your gut telling you?
If you're feeling overwhelmed or doubtful, that's not necessarily a sign to abandon the idea. It might just mean you need more preparation—more savings, more business knowledge, more experience, or better timing.
If you're feeling excited despite the challenges, that's promising. Entrepreneurship requires a certain tolerance for uncertainty and a willingness to figure things out as you go.
But if you're feeling relief at the thought of not starting a firm right now, listen to that too. There's no shame in deciding firm ownership isn't for you, or isn't right for this season of life. Being an excellent architect at someone else's firm is a worthy and fulfilling career.
Starting your own architecture firm can be one of the most rewarding decisions you ever make—or one of the most frustrating. The difference often comes down to whether you've honestly answered these questions before taking the leap.
Take your time with them. Journal about them. Discuss them with people who know you well. Let your answers evolve. And when you do decide to start your firm—if you decide to start your firm—you'll enter that journey with clear eyes, realistic expectations, and sustainable motivation to see it through.
References:
Life of an Architect, "Starting Your Own Architecture Firm," Michael Hsu interview, August 2019, https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/030-starting-your-own-architecture-firm/
Novatr, "What Architects Should Know Before Starting Their Own Architectural Firms," https://www.novatr.com/blog/starting-your-own-architecture-firm
Architecture Chat, "How to start your own architectural firm," June 2025, https://www.architecturechat.com/blog/how-to-start-your-own-architectural-firm
ArchDaily, "Starting Your Own Practice: The Challenges and Rewards, According to ArchDaily Readers," December 2015, https://www.archdaily.com/778103/starting-your-own-practice-the-challenges-and-rewards-according-to-archdaily-readers
Levelset, "9 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm," April 2023, https://www.levelset.com/blog/how-to-start-architecture-firm/
AIA, "Starting Your Own Firm," December 2023, https://www.aia.org/resource-center/starting-your-own-firm
Architect Magazine, "Should I Start My Own Architecture Firm?," June 2014, https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/should-i-start-my-own-architecture-firm_o
Medium, "The Mindset Shift — From Employee to Entrepreneur," Janice George-Pinard, September 2023, https://medium.com/@janrickj/the-mindset-shift-from-employee-to-entrepreneur-2810ab4d8b6e
Alchemists Forum, "The Identity Shift: From Business Owner to Business Leader," October 2024, https://www.alchemistsforum.com/insights/the-identity-shift-from-business-owner-to-business-leader
