* The calculations use average data for Russia

Once upon a time, the work of an engineer was considered low-paid and not at all prestigious. However, these days the situation has changed dramatically. Good specialists receive decent wages and are worth their weight in gold. However, sooner or later, many of them get tired of working for “someone else’s uncle”, and they think about opening their own design organization. In general, this business is considered profitable, but not easy, especially for beginners. Regardless of whether you have experience in this area or are just in the process of acquiring it, you should start by developing a detailed business plan that takes into account all expenses, determines the payback period and expected profit, and evaluates the prospects for its development.

Design organization is a profitable business

A project is a temporary undertaking that is intended to create unique products, services or results of such work. A project organization, in turn, is understood as an organization whose main activity is the implementation of projects. At the same time, its main expense item is personnel costs. Design organizations include research institutes, design bureaus, design institutes, software development companies and suppliers, design bureaus, auditing, evaluation and consulting companies, etc. In each of these cases, the result of the organization’s work is a specific project - a report or an article about research, technological, design or design documentation, a prototype, a report, an advertising campaign, etc. What unites all the companies, which are so different at first glance, is the fact that the main part of their expenses is the cost of maintaining a project team (although , for example, equipment costs can also be significant).

First you need to decide what specialization your office will have. This, in turn, depends on the types of design work you intend to do. Let's understand what types of work are performed by design organizations. This can be individual (control) and standard design or the development of individual solutions and regulatory documents. Individual design is the development of design and estimate documentation in a certain order established by SNiP 1.02.01-85: in one stage - detailed design or in two stages - design and working documentation. The design company has the right to conduct engineering surveys and control the quality of construction work; design in the construction sector (residential buildings, commercial real estate, etc.); design in the field of architecture; technological design. Do not forget that to carry out design activities you must obtain a license.

The profitability of this type of business can reach 20-30%.

Licensing of project activities

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The procedure for obtaining a license to carry out project activities depends on its scope. Of course, it is most profitable, of course, to draw up projects for geological exploration work, which are drawn up taking into account the complexity of their implementation, the protection of subsoil and the natural environment. But it is impossible to enter this market without vast experience and extensive connections, so let’s consider the procedure for licensing a construction business, which is also profitable and highly competitive, but still more “real” for a young design company. The construction industry includes the construction of wooden houses, finishing and repair work, the construction of new reinforced concrete structures, and design and survey activities themselves. According to the law, both legal entities and individual entrepreneurs (an individual registered with the tax office as a private entrepreneur) have the right to obtain a license to conduct this activity.

The types of licenses even within this area also differ. They can be issued for design, for survey, engineering and installation work, for the construction of structures from various materials... Since we are interested in design, we need to apply for a license for this type of activity to the State Committee for Construction and Housing and Communal Sector of the Russian Federation. The license consists of the permitting document itself and an annex with a list of works that the organization that received it can perform. If you are applying for a license for the first time, its maximum validity period will be three years. If you apply again, then in this case you will be able to apply for it for five years. For newcomers, there are also restrictions on certain activities. It is removed only after three to four months from the start of work.

After working for some time, you can apply to expand the list of types of licensed work. It is not so easy to complete all the documents. Let's start with the fact that your organization must meet fairly strict requirements, which relate to both staff and computer equipment and special programs for work. A minimum of two design specialists must be involved in any design work. Moreover, at least one of them must be a full-time employee of your company. Moreover, the total work experience in the specialty of this employee must be at least three years, which is confirmed by submitting a copy of his work record book. Computer equipment used to work on projects must meet all technical requirements. It goes without saying that all programs installed on your computers must be licensed.

The list of documents for obtaining a construction license includes a notarized copy of the Enterprise Registration Certificate; a notarized copy of the Charter of the enterprise; a notarized photocopy of the registration certificate of the Tax Inspectorate; a notarized copy of a certificate from the State Statistics Committee on the assignment of codes; a notarized copy of the constituent agreement (if any).

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If there have been changes in the constituent documents, then you will also need to provide a certificate of changes in them (notarized). In addition, the company's bank details will be required; actual address of the enterprise and contact telephone number of the management body; information about the qualifications of the enterprise (indicating the position, full name, education, work experience). To obtain qualification certificates, it is advisable to provide photocopies of diplomas and passports certified by the company seal. Do not forget also about the lease agreement for the office and the certificate of ownership (photocopy).

The procedure for submitting documents involves several stages:

preparation of a package of documents;

payment of official fees;

submission of documents to the Federal Licensing Center;

obtaining a license.

After you submit a complete package of necessary documents for obtaining a license, an inspection is scheduled, and after two to three weeks the applicant receives either a positive or negative decision from the inspection.

However, the difficulty of obtaining a license for design work lies not only and not so much in meeting all the requirements for this type of activity. Although, by law, business activities related to the design of construction projects are subject to licensing, often in practice, obtaining the necessary permit turns out to be a very long and expensive process, for which you need to be prepared. If you do not have experience in obtaining a license, then it is better to seek help from a law firm that will take care of all the preparation and submission of documents.

Opening a design office

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A suitable organizational and legal form for conducting project activities is either an LLC (limited liability organization) or LLP (limited liability partnership) with a standard charter. LLP is a type of business organization created by agreement of legal entities or individuals by combining their contributions in cash or in kind. This option is easier to register, but has its pitfalls. Be sure to study all the details before submitting documents. Decide in advance on the tax regime. The most advantageous tax regime is based on a simplified declaration. You can register a company yourself, without resorting to the services of intermediaries. But it is advisable to first consult with a lawyer in order to choose the best option for you and insure yourself against possible problems in the future.

Even at the stage of obtaining a license, begin to look for a suitable location for your company’s office. Most entrepreneurs primarily consider premises in the city center. However, in large cities it is worth considering the option of renting an office in one of the developed “dormitory” areas. The main thing is the availability of nearby parking space and convenient transport interchange. In the city center, the cost of rent may be unreasonably high, and due to constant traffic jams during working hours, not all of your potential clients will find it convenient to get to your office. It is desirable that the office be spacious enough - from 50-60 sq. meters. It can be standard - divided into offices or organized according to the open space principle - with low partitions separating workstations, or without them at all in one room.

Focus on the reception area. Don't force your visitors to find free chairs and a place to sit. Place comfortable chairs or a sofa, provide a table where you can drink coffee or tea and discuss the future project with the customer. Perhaps in the past, design organizations were associated with government agencies. However, now they, like other companies operating in the service sector, have to fight for each client, constantly improving their level of service.

To set up an office, you will need to purchase (or rent) office equipment - a copy machine, fax machine, printers, telephones and computers, as well as furniture and office supplies. Ideally, you should also buy a projector and screen for making presentations and presenting the project to the customer. Do not forget about special literature and regulatory documents. Even if all this is freely available on the Internet, it doesn’t hurt to have paper copies that are more convenient to use.

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However, what comes first is not the interior of the office, the convenience of its location and equipment, but the qualifications of the personnel working in it. Very high demands are placed on the employees of the design organization. If you plan to engage in design activities in the field of construction, then the staff of even a small company will include a chief engineer, a chief architect and individual specialists in the project section. All your employees must have a specialized higher education and extensive work experience in their specialty (at least three years, and for managerial positions - 5-10 years). When hiring a chief architect, keep in mind that he must have a license issued by the Union of Architects. Before starting work, all your specialists must undergo pre-licensing training, confirmed by a qualification certificate.

Good, highly qualified employees with extensive experience are the key to your company’s success in the market. Finding them won't be easy. The only way to lure valuable specialists from other organizations is to offer them higher wages. Thus, it is the wage fund that will become the most significant expense item when opening a project company.

Promotion of the design organization

Of course, such services are not in mass demand, but they are still in great demand. When developing a marketing campaign, consider the specifics of this business. Conventional means of advertising will not work in this case. As a last resort, you can try placing print advertisements in specialized publications, if there are any in your city. But it’s still better to focus all your attention (and money) on promoting yourself on the Internet. Develop your website, fill it with feature articles, order its promotion in search engines from specialists. Groups on social networks, like traditional advertising, will not give you a large influx of customers, since they are not inhabited by your target audience.

As for word of mouth, recommendations, of course, play a big role in the project business. But, firstly, you should not count on them at the very beginning of your work, and, secondly, even later you still cannot do without investing in advertising, which must be taken into account when planning your expenses in the long term. However, this is not a reason not to care about the quality of your services and the good name of your company.

The design business is highly competitive. The cost of advertising and promoting your services will be the second largest expense item (after payroll). Let's be honest: even if you have the best specialists working for you, you still cannot do without connections. Many companies have special employees whose responsibilities include developing and maintaining such connections with senior officials.

Another important factor is the cost of your services. Analyze prices for similar services from your direct competitors. It is not worth lowering your prices to the detriment of your own benefit. This is not the best way to compete, which is not beneficial to all market participants, except, perhaps, the customers themselves. But if you charge high prices for your services, you must be able to justify them so that your clients agree to pay more and get better results.

Expenses and income of the design organization

The main expenses that will be required to open your own design office consist of the following items: rent of premises (from 40 thousand rubles per month) selection and search of personnel - from 10 thousand rubles (cost of services of specialists in the field of personnel selection, posting of vacancies on specialized sites); remuneration of specialists – from 100 thousand rubles per month (the exact amount depends on the region, state, and qualifications of employees); purchase of necessary equipment – ​​from 100 thousand rubles; expenses for processing the necessary documents for work – from 70 thousand rubles; marketing expenses – from 20 thousand rubles per month. Although design belongs to the service sector, due to the high cost of the services of good specialists, without whom this business cannot be done, as well as additional costs not listed above, but inevitable if you are counting on large orders, to open such an organization you will need large starting capital. For this reason, the partnership option is most often used, when participants contribute their funds in exchange for a certain share of future profits.

Anastasia

I would like to start designing residential and public buildings, but this question scares me: “Where can I find a customer?”

Denis

How much do you want for your work?

Misha

Anastasia, we are wrestling with this question ourselves :-). It has become especially “fun” since this fall. Even the prospective Customers

decided to "wait". Our approach: Professionalism, sophistication, mobility, accessibility. But you don’t always need to follow the lead of the Customer or Contractor. Good luck, colleague!

Anastasia

Denis, please tell me what exactly interests you? Such issues are discussed in person and at a meeting! I can assure you that the company’s services are not expensive!

Anastasia

Mikhail, tell me the name of your company and what city are you located in? If it's not a secret, of course? And how do you reach the customer, or does he find you?

Edward

It has now become more difficult to find customers for design and survey work. Our design organization is in a similar situation. Construction funding has dropped sharply. Try to promote the organization’s advertising more actively, participate in forums, exhibitions, and conferences. Find budget sources, participate in tenders :-), and, finally, the main thing is to do the work efficiently and on time: often new customers are found through your old customers. Good luck

Oleg

I agree with Edward. The main thing is to do your job with the utmost quality. We have no problems with our customers, although we have never given any advertising or PR. Our advertising is our job.

And another question. Designing what? What sections? Architecture, engineering? Each area has its own specifics.

Michael

I see two types of designers in life.

The first ones, sitting in a good office, receive good money for the order, which is, as I assume, a form of bribe for the necessary subsequent approvals and permits.

The second are those to whom the first send the received technical specifications for design. Moreover, the former are not able to understand what the latter will write. The second ones are far from being the best, but, apparently, the cheapest on the market. A normal designer does not fit into this scheme. I look with surprise at Luzhkov’s construction projects. Despite all the obviousness of his interests, I must admit that the project team working for him consists of people capable and willing to work. I've never come across anything like this. A little jealous. The chain supermarkets had to do a lot of design work. I don't take Auchan and Perekrestok. Small cheap “Pyaterochka”, “Kopeyka”, “Avoski”, they must develop despite the crisis.

Tatiana

through friends

Edward

I agree, but this is an option

Alexander

Anastasia Martynyuk The answer is for you personally. I don’t know in what area exactly are you a specialist, a designer or an architect? But I can advise a sensible thing: move away from this region, absolutely seriously and without jokes. If you are still in Krasnodar! All the advice that you have been given or will be given for "G". Krasnodar are completely useless, I worked there for about 8 years. Therefore, I know first-hand about the system of distribution of objects, and as for the private sector, even if you turn inside out, outdo Gaudi (if you are an architect) and are generally “bent up” at work, working for days and days, you will not earn money normal for life. There the approach is completely different. Everyone wants it for free, or very, very cheap, but the amount of work is maximum! Well, the Kuban customer doesn’t understand what the designer needs to pay for, but plumbers or tilers, yes, and the work is visible (in meters), and you can touch it! And here are some “pieces of paper” “pictures”, what do these designers want, why should they pay them money?

Michael

Your first million.

Today in Russia, if you really want to make money, you can make money, and not indulge yourself with illusions about “money loss” while lying on your bed or sitting at the computer, only in the area that is in demand. The question immediately arises: what is relevant today? Where and how - you ask. I’ll say right away: I don’t think that you can earn enough money (well, everyone has their own “ceiling”, and the concept of “money” too) by selling ice cream (unless you have your own factory for its production, otherwise it’s not a business, but just resale), organization of “hotels” for pets, organization of various dubious (in terms of payback) “productions”, such as: production of candles, calendar cards, etc. We will take a swing at the leading area in terms of production: Construction! So, let's get down to business!

Design company.
Conditions: You have a computer, Internet access, e-mail, you know what Word and Excel are, you can speak technically competently. The latter is necessary, since, in the end, you can hire a hungry student from a technical university, preferably with a specialization in construction. This concludes the preparatory period, let's get down to action!

Now we need a Customer! I won’t say it’s easy to find a Customer, but you can find one if you want. There are several ways, here is one of them: go to the government procurement website and see who won this or that design tender (auction). Don't be alarmed by numbers with many zeros! You haven’t grown up to them yet! Look within 2-3 million rubles. Find several companies that have won a particular design tender. Now you need to call them and offer your subcontracting services for a nominal cost, while telling and describing what orders you have completed and what you can do. Believe me - you can do ANYTHING! (but more on that later).

The fact is that not all design firms have a full staff of employees, and there is a situation where there is no one to do any section of the design documentation, that is, there is no specialist. And you have to look for a specialist outside. This is where you come in with your proposal. Having discussed all the issues with the General Contractor, namely: which section is being given to you, the deadlines for completion, discussing working issues, such as registration, etc.

You leave to do your work. It is worth noting that government orders for design are usually issued in early spring or winter, rarely in autumn. This is done so that the company that undertakes to do the project can complete the work by the beginning of the construction season, that is, by the summer.

It is not a fact that you will find a company that will give you an order right away. In this case, there is a second option to find a job: in any locality, the administration has an architecture department. You have a direct route there. Typically, civil servants who are prohibited from having a side income open a “home company” within their department. Most likely, your administration also has such a company.

There is a lot of design work in the architecture department, believe me! This is how it turns out that they give the work to themselves, do it during working hours, and have a good income. But here’s the problem: they can’t handle all the work. Well, since you can do everything (more on this in the second stage, I will explain why you can do everything), then go ahead!

The third option, finding an order, already requires a small investment. Place advertisements in print media stating that you provide residential building design services. A small digression: by law, any design organization is required to have membership in an SRO (this is something like a license to carry out a certain type of work), but there is a small loophole with which this law can be circumvented. The fact is that when constructing buildings (private houses, for example) with up to three floors inclusive, design documentation as such is not required. That is, it is not subject to special verification.
With the help of this loophole we will design houses for individuals, for cash. True, you will also have to fork out for an A3 printer (about 11 thousand rubles) to print finished projects. This is how you can find a job using all three methods of finding customers. Well, now let’s get straight to doing the work, using the example of what you were given to earn from a subcontract.

Let's move on to the second stage. At the second stage, you go to the Internet, look for forums on our topics, register on these forums and place an advertisement for freelancers. Believe me: offers will not keep you waiting long.
Several applications will arrive on the first day. You negotiate the conditions under which they agree to work, choose the most profitable for you, issue the technical specifications received from the General Contractor and wait. Depending on the scope of work, the time frame is up to a week, especially if the section is quite large, then preliminary sketches are carried out, requiring approval from the General Contractor.
Your freelancer will send you intermediate versions of the work, you show these results and agree with your customer. You should not present the results of your work, even preliminary ones, in AutoCAD file format. Ask them to be sent to you in pdf format. This will make it easier for both your mercenary and you.

Well, the task is finally completed. They pay you, and you, in turn, pay your virtual employee. Usually, depending on the object and the volume of work performed (number of completed sections), the amount that remains in the bottom line can reach 100-150 thousand rubles. This is only from one object, and who is stopping you from running another object in parallel?! Over time, having gained experience and having already opened your own company with a current account, you will be able to take on the General Contracting yourself, but that’s another story.

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