Start-ups: five newly minted residential firms share their hopes, fears, and growing pains. See if you recognize your past, present, or future in their first five years of practice

Residential Architect, Nov-Dec, 2003 by Meghan Drueding, Nigel F. Maynard, Shelley D. Hutchins

Can you remember what it was like when you first made the leap and started your own firm? Chances are, you left the security of a regular, paying job. Previously, someone else danced the rain jig for clients. Someone else called the copier repair guy, the phone tech, the computer guru. Your Social Security, medical insurance, and 401K didn't drain entirely from your own pocket. You didn't have to pay for the chair you sit on, the software you use, the fluorescent lights that shine overhead. Overhead ... you didn't have to think about that at all.

So now you're the one who has to foot the bill for the office space. Ouch. Ah, but your name is on the door. The plans you draw have your stamp on them. This is your business and your dream. As you can see from the five firms we've profiled, many start-up experiences are similar. It's hard to get clients to pay on time--or ever; it's tough to attract the quantity and quality of work you need; and when, for goodness' sake, do you find time to design? Then again, maybe baby firms and more seasoned ones are not so different. These are problems all firms reckon with, no matter what their vintage. But the difficulties loom so much larger when faced for the first time.

Most of the firms we interviewed dealt with their first-timer fears by identifying mentors they could consult. Several added partners to share the burden. All had solid firm experience before they ventured out on their own. Yes, it's scary out there, but not one architect regretted the decision to fly solo. It was and still is, they insist, the best decision they've ever made.

year one benjamin ames, associate aia amestudio alexandria, va.

web site: www.amestudio.com

staff: 3 (principal, project architect, intern)

years in business: 1

projected revenue for 2003: $125,000

projects on the boards: 8

completed projects: 5

project types: residential additions, renovations, new homes

awards: Honor Award, Excellence in Architecture. AIA Chesapeake Bay Chapter: Kitten McD. Herlong Memorial Design Award, AIA Northern Virginia Chapter; Habitat for Humanity Housing Design Award, Virginia Foundation for Architecture: AIA Adams Award of Merit: Dean's Thesis Prize, University of Maryland

experience: Browne, Worrall, & Johnson Architects, Baltimore; Design International, Baltimore; I leery International, Atlanta: BTAV Architectes, Paris; Thierry Melot Architectes, Paris; Norman Smith Archtitecture, Washington, D.C.; SBCH Architects, Atlanta; HNTB Architecture, Washington, D.C.; Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, Alexandria, Va.

education: Georgia Institute of Technology, B.S. in Architecture 1989; University of Maryland, M.Arch. 1992

affiliations: AIA

Five years ago, Benjamin Ames was working on airport projects at Washington, D.C.-based HNTB Architecture. Moonlighting on houses, however, introduced him to the detail-oriented and client driven work that constitutes a residential practice. It sold him on the specialty. "It was really appealing to work on these at night because it was such a contrast with the stuff I was doing during the day" says the 36 year-old architect. The experience caused him to abandon the commercial track and turn to an accomplished residential practice, Robert M. Gurney, FAIA. Ames signed on as a subcontractor to Gurney, who became his professional mentor, and sublet space in Gurney's offices for his personal work. Two years later, he launched Amestudio.

Architecture school did nothing to prepare him for the realities of running his own firm, he says. But working with Gurney, who has a thriving high-design practice, did. It was Gurney who taught him about time management, making sound business decisions, and the importance of having good product resources--from getting specs off the Web to having a wide variety of material samples to show clients. "It helped both in my understanding as an architect and as someone responsible for running a business," he says.

Although he has his own practice, Ames is not yet a fully licensed architect (he has taken and passed five parts of the Architect Registration Examination). He claims it's the biggest mistake he's made so far. He's up-front about the issue with his clients, and it hasn't lost him business. "When I do new homes, typically they're smaller, modest-sized homes, and when I do additions, a registered architect's stamp is not required to get a permit." Ames says. He uses a licensed structural engineer on every project and is researching liability insurance to minimize his exposure.

Amestudio's one room office is typical of a young practice on a budget. "We're proudly furnished by Ikea," Ames says. "The only luxury I have in my office is my flat-screen monitor and my Aeron chair." His office, in Alexandria, Va., is in Gurney's former building, which is also home to the AIA Northern Virginia Chapter. Gurney's new office is only a stone's throw away, and the two men still talk frequently. Another up-and-coming architect and Gurney crony, David Jameson, is just down the street. And Virginia Tech's architecture school, a block away, is a handy source of interns and a budding creative community.