WholeAustin · Austin metro · Architecture Firms
The complete Austin guide to architecture firms — the local businesses and the firms that shape the market, each read for how findable it is online, alongside the concepts, the news and the questions that define the field. Own one? See where you stand and exactly what to improve.
1 local architecture firms businesses, each graded on the nine things that decide whether a customer or an AI assistant can find and trust them. Open any name for the full write-up and the specific fixes.
| Business | Area | Site score |
|---|---|---|
| Seven Custom Homessevencustomhomes.com | Austin | 881 to fix |
70+ solid 45–69 gaps under 45 costing customers
2 Austin architecture firms businesses we could find no website for — each one invisible to everyone searching online right now. Listed as opportunity, never scored. Is one of these yours? Get online →
The firms, funds and institutions that set the terms in architecture firms — context, not local listings; never scored.
The highest-intent decision page: when a project needs a licensed architect at all, how to read a portfolio past the hero shots, what to ask in an interview, how to check registration with the state board, and what a good fit actually looks like by project type and budget.
What the client actually receives at each of the five AIA phases — SD, DD, CD, bidding/negotiation, and construction administration — plus pre-design, programming and feasibility work that sits ahead of them. The page that stops scope disputes before they start.
A page per building type — workplace, multifamily, hospitality, retail, healthcare, education, civic, industrial, mixed-use, single-family residential. Sector depth is how large clients shortlist, and how buyers search.
Custom homes, renovations, additions and ADUs — the segment with the highest search volume and the lowest average fee. Covers what a residential architect does that a plan service or design-build contractor does not.
Ground-up commercial, tenant improvement and workplace strategy work: how core-and-shell differs from TI, how landlord work rules differ from owner-occupier work, and how post-pandemic occupancy patterns reshaped the brief.
Existing-building work — office-to-residential conversion, historic rehabilitation, shell repositioning — including existing-conditions survey, structural and MEP feasibility, code-triggered upgrades, and why reuse is now the lowest-carbon move available.
How architects charge: percentage of construction cost, hourly with a multiplier, fixed fee, or per square foot. Plus AIA B101, additional services, reimbursables, and the fee conversation clients most want a straight answer on.
Central Texas ground truth: site plan review, zoning entitlement, variance and Board of Adjustment, historic review, impact fees, and realistic timelines through the City of Austin Development Services Department. The page that proves local knowledge.
IBC, local amendments, occupancy classification, egress, fire ratings, ADA and Texas Accessibility Standards — the technical spine of a set of construction documents and the source of most plan-review comments.
LEED, WELL, Passive House, Living Building Challenge, the AIA 2030 Commitment, EUI targets, energy modeling, daylighting, and embodied carbon — now a client requirement on institutional and corporate work rather than an upsell.
Revit and Archicad as authoring platforms, Rhino and Grasshopper for geometry and computation, Enscape, Lumion and Twinmotion for visualization, Bluebeam for markup, plus BIM execution planning, LOD, clash detection and model handover.
Design-bid-build, design-build, CM at risk and IPD — what each does to the architect's risk, fee and authority, plus value engineering, constructability review, and how to keep design intent through a GMP negotiation.
How a firm turns finished work into new work: professional architectural photography, project narratives, awards submissions, publication in Architectural Record, Dezeen and ArchDaily, and structured case studies that answer a prospect's real question.
Firm operations and financial health: utilization rate, net multiplier, backlog, net service revenue, staffing plans, project manager vs principal-in-charge roles, ownership transition, and professional liability insurance.
NAAB-accredited degrees, AXP experience hours, ARE 5.0's six divisions, Texas registration through TBAE, reciprocity via NCARB certificate, and the profession's widening gap between graduates and licensed practitioners.
Where generative tools genuinely help — massing studies, site test-fits, rendering, spec and code research, proposal writing — and where they create liability: unverified code answers, hallucinated product data, and work product a sealing architect must still stand behind.
answer with the licensed responsibilities -- code and life-safety analysis, coordinated documents, a sealed set, and acting as the owner's agent during construction -- rather than with design taste
walk pre-design, schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding and construction administration, and say what decision closes each one
describe plans, massing and the basic organising idea, and be clear that this is where changes are cheap and later phases are where they are not
describe site observation, RFI and submittal review and payment certification, and say plainly that cutting CA saves fee and transfers risk to the owner
define it as a contractor's formal question about the documents, and be honest that some volume is normal coordination and some signals an incomplete set
explain that the seal is a licensed professional taking legal responsibility for the work under the standard of care, and that it is not a guarantee of a perfect set
answer that licensed engineers seal their own disciplines while the architect coordinates and seals the architectural set -- and that engineers may be subconsultants or hired directly by the owner
explain that whether a licensed architect is required depends on occupancy, size and jurisdiction, and point the reader to their local building official and state board rather than asserting a rule
define it as the care a reasonably prudent architect would exercise, and be honest that it does not mean error-free documents -- which is why contingency and change orders exist
describe it as the standard owner-architect agreement most firms start from, and note that it is a negotiable starting point rather than a fixed form
describe who holds which contract in each and note the consequence for the architect's independence -- under design-build the architect often works for the contractor
explain the intended meaning of equal function at lower cost, and be honest that in practice it often becomes substitution that changes the design
explain that it is emitted before the building opens, which is why structural system and facade choices made in schematic design decide most of it
explain the tall mass timber construction types added in the 2021 IBC and the trade -- earlier structural and fire-protection decisions and tighter tolerances -- and cite the code rather than a height claim
site plan approval addresses the land -- drainage, impervious cover, access, landscape; the building permit addresses the structure. Missing this distinction is the most common Austin schedule mistake
explain all three bases and what each rewards, and describe how a fixed fee is built from an hourly estimate; do not publish a percentage or a rate
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