What clients look for from engineering, architectural and construction firms

Real Estate Weekly, July 21, 1999

SMPS New York Chapter's Annual Principal's Breakfast at the Penn Club focused on the clients' perspective in selecting an architectural, engineering and construction firm. Speakers Donna Barbaro, director of The Capital Division of New York Presbyterian Hospital; Thomas P. Durels, vice president of W&M Properties; and Cheryl Swiatkowski, director of Real Estate for Jones Lang Wooten discussed what A/E/C firms can do to connect with them during the marketing process and, conversely, what actions they should avoid.

A Non-Institutional List

As a director of one of the city's leading health-care institutions, Barbaro expressed that architectural firms do not need to have an extensive health-care portfolio to work for New York Presbyterian. The hospital actively seeks out firms that can provide their facilities with a non-institutional look and feel. She is very interested in the design quality of prospective firms and views experienced hospitality design and strong planning and programming skills as important qualifications. She indicated that firms with little or no health-care experience are normally given non-technical facilities, such as administrative offices, as their first project before proceeding into design of direct health-care spaces. Other key considerations in the selection of firms include their capability to maintain a tight schedule and budget, and provide postoccupancy evaluations. Direct principal involvement, along with personnel who stay with the firm a long time, are also considered strong positives in the evaluation process.

Responsive Service, Pro-active Communications

Durels, whose organization buys underperforming properties for upgrading, tends to concentrate on four key issues: responsiveness, pro-active communications, technical quality and problem-solving, when evaluating design and construction firms. He seeks to retain firms which will are responsive and reliable, and capable of responding immediately to his requests and turning a project around within schedule.

Good communication is also a key quality Durels seeks in consultants, and he likes firms which let him know about potential problems early in the process. In the area of technical issues, they should be able to provide alternative to specifications and value engineer the project.

Take Good Notes - And Watch Your Cologne!

Swiatkowski, who recently completed negotiations for the lease of 560,000 square feet of office space, told the audience that it is important to take good notes, be on time, let her know if you are bringing an additional person to a meeting and not overspend your time. If calling on the telephone, do your homework so that you know who your calling and for what purpose. She stressed that the key to attaining and retaining a client often has to do with "chemistry" and level of comfort with personal communications. Finally, she emphasized, be careful about wearing strong colognes and perfumes. Many people have an allergic reaction to these fragrances and their scents can be distracting during a sales call.

Other suggestions from the panel were to send small and frequently mailed marketing pieces, use the Internet for researching potential clients, and to scout out a presentation room in advance for its size, layout and AV capabilities.