Create a design office: the steps to follow

Do you want to create a design office to showcase your expertise and build a team of professionals?

linkfre explains in this article the steps to follow in order to create your design office.

What is a design office?

If you have not yet arrived at the stage where you plan to create a design office, you surely have other questions on this subject. But don’t worry, before explaining how to create a design office, we explain what it is.

A design office is a firm whose purpose is to carry out expertise and interpret data . In addition, the design offices assist and advise customers in their decision-making.

These expertises and interpretations of data are very often carried out by technicians and engineers. The design offices touch on many areas, thus, there are thermal, structural, geotechnical design offices, etc.

There is no need for a diploma or training to create a consulting firm, however, the consulting firm is supposed to have expertise in a field. As a result, the business creator generally has a qualification or a diploma.

Types of design offices

Design offices often have very specific skills. Most of the time they work for the construction industry. Thus, there are design offices specializing in the following issues:

• Thermal: they will therefore look for ways to reduce energy consumption,
• Geotechnics: the object of the study here will be the distribution and transmission of loads in the ground,
• Sanitation: treatment of drinking water, disposal of human excreta and waste water etc.
• Building structure: the design offices will analyze the structure of the dwellings to ensure that there are no problems, that they comply with regulations, etc.
• Acoustics: the objective is to solve noise problems, by carrying out acoustic measurements and analyses, particularly in the environmental, industrial and building fields.
• Sealing: these design offices take care of the airtightness of buildings and dwellings.
• Civil engineering: this concerns the creation of roads , buildings , bridges , tunnels and other types of development.

There are still other types of design offices in different fields such as: industry, IT, the environment, urban planning, etc.

The steps to follow to create a design office

There are several steps to follow to create a design office, we have gathered them for you just below.

Make a business plan

This is the basis for the creation of your design office to be a success. The business plan will allow you to create your strategy so that your project is sustainable.

You will need to address many topics to best structure your business plan and thus get off on the right track:

• Who is your target and in which sector of activity do you want to work?
• Is there demand, and if so, how much? Who are the competitors ?
• Who are the customers ? What is their profile ? Where do they come from ?
• What are your skills ? Do you have experience in the field?
• What is your marketing strategy ? Your communication strategy ? What channels do you want to be on?
• What are your needs and resources ?

These are just some of the questions you will need to answer, and this step will allow you to get a first glimpse of the potential of your project.

Establish your provisional budget

The provisional budget, to summarize, is a document which lists all the inflows and outflows of money planned for your company over the next 3 years.

For revenue, this will be your projected turnover. Then, for expenses, the list is longer, and it includes among others: rent, internet provider, raw materials, salaries, etc.

Carry out a skills assessment

Even if it is not compulsory to have diplomas or qualifications to create a design office, the creator of the company must have expertise in the field in question.

Indeed, insurance firms have requirements, thus, it will generally be required to have at least 7 years of experience for a bac + 2 , and 5 years of experience for a bac + 5 .

Register the company

To do this, you will have to define your legal status, choose your tax system and your health insurance fund. Then, you will have to apply for registration at the Court Registry.

Take out a ten-year insurance contract

This insurance will allow you to be covered in the event of damage affecting the construction after having received the work to be carried out. As the name says, you will be covered for 10 years . This insurance must also be accompanied by professional indemnity insurance.