Hausman LLC

Are you an AEC firm looking for high-level advice about ground-level strategy and communications issues? Then you’ll want to check out our View from the Top column where we tackle the biggest challenges and lay out practical ways to rise above them. We do this because we know that the firm that appears in every publication and posts three times a day isn't always the firm everyone remembers. Take one of our columns, "Strategic Silence." Many firms operate like a content buffet, sending out project updates, team photos, and industry articles without much discrimination. In this piece, we make the case for the opposite habit: you need to score every planned communication before you share it, cluster your strongest material into the windows of time when clients are actually paying attention, and share your expertise bit by bit so prospects reach out to learn the rest. The spaces between your messages can carry as much weight as the messages themselves. Which reputation would you rather have, the firm that is always communicating no matter what or the firm that is solving its clients’ toughest problems? Read the full piece on our website. Link in the first comment. #AEC #architecture #architects #communications #strategy #messaging #thoughtleadership #marketing #PR #publicrelations #positioning

What would you ask the Doctor in the Haus? That's not rhetorical. Doctor in the Haus is an advice column that answers real reader questions about AEC communications, and the Doctor wants to hear what's got your firm stuck. Over the past few weeks, we've shared a few of her cases. A firm spinning its wheels on services instead of outcomes. A 53-year-old practice untangling what a brand refresh really means. A leadership team that agreed on growth but couldn't agree on a direction. Your question belongs in that lineup. Whether it's a big strategic crossroads or a nagging problem nobody at your firm has cracked, send it through the Doctor in the Haus form on our website. The Doctor may take your case in an upcoming column. The Doctor will see you now. Link to the latest blog in the comments below. #architecture #architects #AEC #design #strategy #positioning #branding #messaging #communications #thoughtleadership #marketing #PR #publicrelations #designinspiration

Dear Doctor, We keep losing pursuits to firms that aren't as good as we are. Better work, smarter team, clients who rave about us. We make the shortlist, then lose to portfolios that aren't even close. What are we missing? — Beaten by the B Team Oh, B Team. The Doctor is rooting for you. But here's what I'm hearing: your locker room is full of Pro Bowlers and you're finishing dead last in your division. Every February, you're home eating nachos while another team plays in the Super Bowl. You blame the refs. Maybe the refs do have it out for you. But the tape doesn't lie, so let's watch it. First, are you suiting up for every game on the schedule, preseason included? That's a Hail Mary, not a pursuit strategy. Pick the games worth putting on your helmet for. Second, look at what you promise clients. Responsiveness. Collaboration. Senior team from kickoff to closeout. Blah de blah. Your competitors said the exact same thing, because good service is the baseline, not the pitch. Clients hire the firm with a point of view. Third, you can have the best players in the league and still lose without a plan. Eleven guys running around willy nilly is not a team. The diagnosis? You don't have a talent problem, B. You have a strategy deficit. Now go lace up. The Doctor expects to see you in the playoffs. — The Doctor Check the comments for the link to the full blog! Haus Call: This month's house is the Alan I W Frank House in Pittsburgh by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, completed in 1940. Gropius and Breuer designed it as a total work of art, from the structure and furniture down to the fabrics and landscape. It is the largest house either architect ever built and one of the least known. Fun fact: The Doctor went to a birthday party there as a kid (and loved the indoor swimming pool especially). #architecture #architects #AEC #design #strategy #positioning #branding #messaging #communications #thoughtleadership #marketing #PR #publicrelations #designinspiration

Everyone at your firm agrees it's time to grow. Nobody agrees on what "grow" actually means. That was the exact situation for a reader who wrote to Doctor in the Haus, our advice column answering real communications questions from AEC firms. Some partners wanted a bigger team. Others were pushing new sectors. Still others had their eye on new geographies. Moving fast, but not necessarily moving forward. In "Growing Pains," the Doctor's prescription started with a harder question: what does success actually look like for your firm? More hires, new sectors, and new offices aren't a growth strategy. They're unconnected dots until each one ties back to a real business outcome. Her advice: align on one growth priority, build the case with real evidence, and communicate the plan clearly to your team and your market. If your firm is having its own version of that debate, the Doctor wants to hear about it. Send your question through the Doctor in the Haus form on our website, and she may take your case in an upcoming column. #architecture #architect #architects #AEC #strategy #positioning #branding #messaging #communications #thoughtleadership #marketing #PR #publicrelations

No firm starts construction before the drawings are done. But plenty of firms start pitching before they know what they want to say, then wonder why the coverage never turns into work. The good news? What looks like a press problem is usually a communications problem, and that one you can solve. Someone has to see your communications from 30,000 feet. Our latest View from the Top breaks down three moves that make press pay off, whether you're pitching an editor, entering an award, or chasing a speaking slot: 1- Get your story straight before you call anyone 2- Put one person in charge of your firm's story 3- Point coverage at the clients and markets you want to grow Get these right, and press stops being the plan and starts being the payoff. #AEC #architecture #engineering #construction #PR #publicrelations #communications #messaging #strategy #thoughtleadership #marketing #media #branding

"Our partners want to refresh our brand, and I'm not sure what that really means." A reader at a 53-year-old architecture firm brought that question to Doctor in the Haus, our advice column for real AEC communications questions. She'd heard the word branding plenty, but wasn't sure what a refresh required, or whether a new logo and website were even the right place to start. That's a real question, and in "Ready, Set, Logo!" it got a real answer. The Doctor walked her through what a brand refresh actually involves, and how to decide what to tackle first. Wondering where to begin or what to prioritize at your firm? Send your question through the Doctor in the Haus form on our website, and the Doctor may take your case in an upcoming column. #AEC #architecture #architects #branding #positioning #messaging #communications #marketing #strategy #thoughtleadership #PR #publicrelations

You probably have a communications challenge that nobody in your firm has cracked yet. Now there's a simple place to find a remedy. Doctor in the Haus is our advice column answering tough strategy and communications questions from AEC firms. You can send your biggest questions through our website—the branding headaches, messaging challenges, and the strategy dilemmas that keep you up at night. Take one recent case. The principal of a mid-sized firm wrote in describing her firm as stuck on a hamster wheel of services, running faster and faster and getting nowhere. The Doctor's prescription, in "Turn That Frown Upside Down," was simple: Stop leading with what the firm does. Start showing the outcomes you produce. Good work is the baseline, not the end game. Sound familiar? The Doctor isn't judging, she’s solving. Have a question of your own? Visit our website and send it in to the Doctor in the Haus. #architecture #architect #architects #AEC #strategy #positioning #branding #messaging #communications #thoughtleadership #marketing #PR #publicrelations

Dear Doctor, We post on LinkedIn and Instagram regularly, but we can't tell whether any of it does a thing for us. The posts go out, and then we're just praying for feedback. — Posting and Praying My dear Posting, the Doctor feels your social pains. What you're describing is karaoke night. You've got the mic, you're giving it everything you've got, and everyone in the bar is watching TikTok on their phones. Here's the thing. Your firm probably has a perfectly decent content calendar. Project photos, event photos, firm announcements, twice a week, right on schedule. But posting the latest and greatest is not the same as having something to say. BIG diff. Look at your last caption. If it opens with "Excited to share our newly completed," that post is about you. A photo of a building is about you. What that building solved for the people who paid for it is about them, and they are the ones you want reading. The 'script: post what you know and what actually matters to your clients. Everything else is fluff, and the Doctor likes her marshmallows in a treat, not in a feed. The diagnosis? You don't have a posting problem, Posting. You have a strategy problem. Now go forth and build your influence! — The Doctor Check the comments for the link to the full blog! Haus Call: In keeping with our theme of Doctor in the Haus, we’re featuring one of our favorite houses with each post. Pictured here is the Eames House (aka Case Study House No. 8) by Charles and Ray Eames, completed in 1949. Part of the Case Study House program, the Eames House was one of two dozen prototypes designed to solve the post-war housing crisis using industrial materials and techniques. Ultimately, the program’s ambition was greater than its output. #architecture #architects #AEC #design #strategy #positioning #branding #messaging #communications #thoughtleadership #marketing #PR #publicrelations #designinspiration  

Most firms would never let a drawing leave the office half-finished. But their words often go out that way, in press releases, proposals, and posts where the work looks sharp but the writing falls flat. The good news? Clear communication is not a talent you were born with. It's a set of habits you can build. Our latest View from the Top breaks down five habits that make the difference, whether you're pitching an editor, writing a proposal, or posting on social on a Tuesday: 1- Decide what you stand for before you say anything 2- Trade jargon for words a human can understand 3- Lead with the why, not the what 4- Grab people with great visuals, not just text 5- Start a conversation instead of giving a speech Get these five right, and your firm's reputation grows as steadily as the work it produces. Read more on our blog: https://lnkd.in/empP7aYb #AEC #architecture #architects #architect #construction #engineering #strategy #communications #thoughtleadership #messaging #branding #positioning #marketing #PR #publicrelations #media

The hardest thing to write in an AIA Fellowship submission isn't the exhibits or the sponsor letters. It's 35 words in your summary statement. Your summary statement is the very first part of your portfolio. In one or two sentences, you sum up your entire impact on the profession, about 85% shorter than the bio on your website. Pascal said it best: “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” Here's what most people miss. The zinger isn't just a sentence. It unlocks your whole FAIA portfolio. It sets up your argument, and the rest of the portfolio is the proof. You're not writing a sentence. You're writing a table of contents. When I help architects with their submissions, I start here, because that one sentence sets the tone for everything the jury reads after it. And getting it right means passing four tests. It has to be PERSONAL, so it could only be about you. It has to be POINTED, one sharp claim instead of your whole CV. It has to be backed by PROOF, because saying you did the work is one thing and bringing the receipts is another. And last, it has to be PERSUASIVE, with a single center of gravity that grabs the jury and holds their attention. Most people dread writing it. I'd argue it's the best exercise there is for taking stock of your career and your influence. If you or someone you know is going up for Fellowship, send them my way. Helping people find their zinger is one of my favorite things to do.