Welcome to my new practice; Architect Croxley. The AAC asked me to contribute a weekly journal to this column so that I can share (blog!) the experience of starting up an architectural practice from scratch in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Hopefully something useful will come of it and my younger colleagues setting out on the same path might enjoy the company.

For many young architects in Africa the prospect of leaving a secure and safe job to enter the world of professional practice is something that may prove too attractive to ignore. After all, a true architect can only find expression in self employment and independence.

Or so I like to think.

This is not the first time that I set up practice. I have done it twice before - in the 70's, and the 80's. The difference this time is that I am doing it alone - with no partners or associates - and with twenty five years of wisdom under my mousepad .

My first partner was a crook. After five years of highly successful partnership I woke up one morning to find that he had stolen every last cent from our accounts and skipped the country with Kruger Rands in his socks. He died.

It was a big lesson in partnerships.

To salvage the practice I took in a new partner - a close friend and a trusted architect - but by then the economy had taken a deep dive and we practiced our way down the apartheid cul de sac. After five or so years we were stupid enough to take out a professional loan with the Trust Bank without reading the small print. Within six months they had shut us down and cleaned out all our properties. We lost our savings, our investments and our homes. 

It was a big lesson in banking ethics.

My partner joined his father on a cattle farm and I moved to Johannesburg - to get a job, pay my debts and raise two children.

Those were hard years, difficult times. South Africa was going trough its transition into democracy and the building industry was on its knees. Nobody was building anything…

It was no time to start a practice.

I got a job with a London practice with work in Africa and for ten years I moved around Southern Africa running a number of large projects in various countries. I worked in joint ventures with several local architectural practices, particularly in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. 

It was a big lesson in architecture in Africa.

After ten years of flirting with diarrhea, malaria, dysentery, cholera, black river fever and corrupt officials I was quite tired so I took a four year sabbatical to reconstitute the spirit and plan the future of my career. I discovered that I am not suited to the corporate environment and would rather sit under a banana tree and pick my nose than work in a large practice.

And so Architect Croxley came about …

This, my third practice, will be very different. For one thing South Africa is a completely different country from what it was twenty years ago and for another the practice of architecture in South Africa (and the world) has changed with the convergence of the new technologies. And we now have an economy… and a Nation.

Partnerships is not something I never want to do again. It is for the young, the under-financed and the insecure. Grown-up architects don't hunt in packs … they're solo artists.

I believe that banks, renting, marriage and partnerships are the greatest threats to a successful practice and should be either avoided altogether or treated with the utmost suspicion and attention in as far as they impact on the stability of the practice.

In as much as banks, landlords, marriage partners and business associates are the best components for a discordant practice there is one issue which overshadows them all and invariably leads to the acquisition of the former: practice overheads.

By far the biggest lesson that I have learned in my quarter century of building Africa is the issue of practice overheads. Reduce to Zero. The only good overhead is a negative overhead. Our societies, economies and politics are flimsy veils of stability frequently torn apart by events far beyond our control linked to global issues beyond our comprehension or interest. In this climate long term financial commitments like credit, loans, insurance policies and leases are nooses around one's neck and very dangerous products of multi-national capital.

It is easy to forget our place in a world so closely connected and networked by digital technology. Many people are not aware of the co-existent economies - frequently synergetic - which service one particular society or State and tend to venture or wander into worlds which observe different rules of engagement. 

It is much too easy to burn one's fingers …

It is with these concerns in mind that I formulated the five founding principles of my new practice;

1. No partners or associates at start up. 
2. No bank loans, credit or hire purchase of any form.
3. No family members in the practice. 
4. No Landlords. 
5. Zero Overheads. 

Of course principles such as these cannot be absolute. But they should be resolute. 

Not finding a partner was easy and credit is out of my reach, as I don't have a banking history. The way I see it the banks have history with me and that is enough.

I am a fundamental believer in Debit and I don't gamble with Credit. Having experienced first hand the insidious effects of chronic debt I no longer go near it. On a personal level I see banks simply as institutions that convert paper money into digital currency units which they channel between accounts. Nothing else. On a professional and business level I see banks as integral parts of the projects and developments which I engage but that is a completely different matter: my practice is personal. It is a private practice.

A private practice is not a business and should neither conform nor subjugate itself to corporate-style methodologies, rules of conduct and cost structures. To do so is to ignore the true nature of private practice and neglect to apply the appropriate founding systems which ensure sustainability and profitability. The practice of architecture in its totality is an extremely difficult endeavour without the added burden of business aspirations and complications which invariable benefit all but the practitioner.

Let me give you an example.

The single most expensive capital expenditure item on the list of a start-up is Autodesk's Revit software along with the mandatory Microsoft operating system. A single license will set me back around R60,000 (US$10,000) There are very economic CAD/3D options available on the market - some very good - but Revit is the only system that interests me. It is the best solution for my style of practice and thinking. (I have been using AutoCAD on a regular basis for over 15 years and my old trusted and licensed R14 still does the job for me - until Revit arrives.)

And that is only the software. For a single productive "CAD" workstation and a plotter I need to spend around R40,000 for a total cost of some R100,000 (US$16,000). The price of a small house or car. That is for my personal workstation and the only license I will acquire. Anyone I hire to draw must arrive with their own software license. (I expect an employee to have both a valid driver's license for our practice vehicle as well as a valid software license for the CAD or 3D system that they use.)

In my opinion, buying a whole bunch of "seats" for the practice is complete nonsense. Each individual must bring his own compatible software tools, be proficient and licensed in them and sign an agreement to that effect. I subscribe to the concept that an architect's workstation requires two terminals: a dedicated CAD machine (owned by the employee and normally a laptop) and a resident ADMIN machine - both networked to a central practice server. I will address the issue of architectural work systems in later ponderings - for now it's back to basics…

In my case, Revit is the most expensive item on a very short list. It is a biggie. Sixteen thousand dollars might not be a lot in the US or Europe but in Africa it is a huge chunk; half my net annual income of the first year in practice.

So how does one acquire Revit without credit or ready cash?

You don't.

The very last thing you want to do is take out a second mortgage on the house and plunder the family trust to buy the whole shebang in one day. That is a really stupid option but that is the option a lot of corporate type entities will attempt to sell as the shiny path to architectural magnificence, ticky tacky fame and profound wealth. The old rule "Never stake personal or family assets against practice interests" applies in its entirety.

If you have a parent or relative that cares for you and has the means to provide capital assets, you should favour software licenses over a new car… Studio productivity is more important that flashy mobility.

My Revit acquisition rule is simple: save the money until you can buy it cash or do without it. You can buy excellent CAD software for $75 and live a happy life. You can also download a Donkey or a Mule, log on to the P2P Freeneets on your Telkom broadband and have the latest fully cracked version of Revit running happily on your PC under an hour. Software theft is that simple. So are the rewards, which seldom include a happy life.

Then there is the useful option: the client pays - one way or another. This of course can only happen once one acquires a client and project of worth that can guarantee the repayments on a credit purchase of capital equipment with minimum personal risk and the costs of financing the deal built in to the package. Commonly known as borrowing against future earnings. Not a great option but works for established practices. For start-ups it is an indulgence of note. 

'Start the practice with humble tools in a humble mood and you will go far' my father said. 'You have no option, anyway …'

If you view your practice as a business you may be tempted to make the business decision to buy expensive software as an asset to increase productivity. If you view your practice as your way of life you know that you will have to make another plan …

The difference is simple: a business can fail but a way of life is for keeps. By turning your way of life into a business you run the risk of losing both - ending up with neither a way of life nor a business and the added humiliation of having to go find a job to pay for the software licenses that you don't need anymore.

Been there…

So it is with a completely anal approach to corporate financing that I open my doors to the world and go into practice.

True to form (and just like in the Reality TV shows) wake up call number one arrived before I had time to set up the studio and the work systems- which have become a work in progress. 

In the haste to begin earning fees I made my first mistake. I opened my doors to the public and acquired a walk-in client - the worst type. (I can confidently say that I have yet to meet a walk-in that did not end up costing me money.)

Suddenly setting up an efficient Client Screening & Selection system coupled to a simple but effective Client/Architect Agreement became more important that acquiring furniture for the studio or applying fresh white paint to the walls.

A good private architect will seek out his clients and acquire commissions through a trusted viable socio-economic personal network of culturally or financially compatible people, in his own time and at his own pace. A building contract - the core of practical architecture - is a fully fledged battle against time and money and the architect is the responsible general - it should be taken really seriously and not without some trepidation.

A good general will pick his battles and chose his battlefields. A careless general will be ambushed and side tracked at will and random and will frequently engage the enemy on alien ground.

Chose your clients - do not allow clients to chose you. I wish that somebody had told me that twenty five years ago… 

Never, never, never, never take in a bad client. Never! (No exceptions - ever!)

And so I add, somewhat belatedly, a further founding principle: no walk-ins.

• Next week I will ponder on the subject of Client Acquisition and Working Environment. What comes first? The Client or the Studio?