Architect practice finance: loans for architectural firms

Architectural fees are usually tied to work stages, often following the RIBA Plan of Work, and billed as each stage is completed. That creates pressures most businesses do not face:

• Front-loaded work: concept and design stages absorb a lot of staff time before the first significant fee is paid.
• Projects that stall: planning delays, client funding problems or a failed planning application can pause or end a job, leaving later-stage fees unbilled.
• Mixed client base: private householders, developers, contractors and public bodies all pay on different terms, and larger clients can pay slowly.
• High fixed costs: salaries, design and BIM software subscriptions, studio rent and the annual professional indemnity premium are due whatever the pipeline looks like.
• Few hard assets: a practice's value lies in its people, reputation and pipeline, not property or machinery.

Lenders familiar with the sector understand this pattern and look closely at the pipeline, not just last year's accounts.

Practices most likely to qualify have ARB-registered principals, current PII cover, at least a year or two of filed accounts, a visible pipeline of secured commissions and fee income that is not reliant on one client. Lenders look at:

• Pipeline: secured commissions, their stages and expected billing dates
• Client spread: whether one developer or project dominates fee income
• Accounts: filed accounts plus current management figures and debtor ageing
• Bank statements: how the account copes between fee stages
• Credit history: of the practice and its directors, partners or members
• Registration and PII: ARB registration of the principals and current PII cover

Unsecured lending usually needs personal guarantees from the principals. Lenders are more cautious where income depends on a few large projects that could stall.

An unsecured loan or PII premium finance for an established practice typically takes from a few days to two weeks from application to funds, provided accounts, bank statements and a pipeline summary are ready. Revolving credit and invoice finance usually take a little longer, often two to three weeks, because the lender reviews debtor ageing and how stage invoices are raised. Practice acquisitions, partner buy-ins and premises purchases take longest, commonly two to three months, as they involve due diligence on the target's fee income, legal documents and, for property, a valuation. Out-of-date management accounts and a pipeline that is hard to evidence are the most common causes of delay in this sector.

Most architect loans are unsecured against property, but lenders usually ask the principals for personal guarantees, and a limited company may also be asked for a debenture over its assets. For an LLP, members typically guarantee the facility individually. Other products carry their own security: workstations, plotters and survey kit are secured by the asset finance agreement, invoice finance takes an assignment of the practice's debtor book, and PII premium finance is underpinned by the policy itself. Buying premises or a larger practice acquisition usually involves a legal charge over property and sometimes deferred payments to the seller. Our guides to personal guarantees and buying an architecture practice cover these points in more depth.