01 - Plan
Know the buffer the move requires.
Set the savings target and see the current gap.
For architects going independent
Start and run your practiceknowing the numbers work.without guessing what to charge.with your pipeline under control.
Set up in one focused session. Still running the practice in year ten.
A private workspace showing what the practice has to earn, how long your savings last, what you can charge and what needs doing this week. Nothing to build, no course to complete.
Built by Chris - a practising architect running OCM Architecture, and writing Archisoup for eight years.
£147 Available now
30 days to decide.Use the complete system and request a full refund if it is not right for you.
Complete workspace delivered through Notion.No paid Notion subscription is needed.
One-time payment, lifetime V1 access.Including improvements made available for the original Year One V1 system.
Preview - one of seven hosted tools
Every decision in the practice gets a number, not a guess.
A cut-down preview of part of the Runway Tool, one of seven in the system. The others set your minimum day rate, build a defensible project fee, project cash flow, size a savings buffer, cost an employee and pre-qualify a new enquiry. Try it with your own figures.
Set your own currency, tax rate and fee basis.
Revenue and costs
Runway and buffer
A simplified preview. The full tool adds assumption checks, phased-exit comparisons, alternative scenarios and a Results Summary for your Year One dashboard.
Buffer below target
Your savings provide approximately 3.4 months of runway.
Your expected revenue is close to the monthly requirement, but the current buffer is below the six-month target entered.
Required gross revenue£5,150 / month
Current revenue gap+£50 / month
Recommended buffer£24,900
Buffer gap£10,900 short
01Calculate
02Copy the Results Summary
03Record in Year One
Calculator entries in this preview are not stored by Archisoup.
Get Year One - £147 Available immediately. One-time payment, lifetime V1 access and 30 days to decide.
Four numbers every new practice has to know - and one workspace that keeps them in view.
Revenue
What the practice must generate each month.
Runway
How long your current savings can support the move.
Pricing
The minimum rate and project fee you can sustainably accept.
Pipeline
How much future work needs to remain in motion.
Private Year One Workspace
Dashboard, Projects, Pipeline, Actions, Practice Numbers, Cash Flow and Weekly Reviews in your own workspace.
7 hosted software tools
Runway, savings, pricing, fee proposals, cash flow, employee costs and client pre-qualification.
Practice + project systems
Pipeline, projects, actions, fee and time tracking, project briefs, administration records and editable working documents.
Guided weekly routine
Know what needs attention, what to do next and when to review it.
The seven tools and 58 supporting Resources appear when they are useful - not as a library to complete. 65 customer-facing components in total.
The real problem
Nobody teaches architects how to run the practice, only how to do the work.
You leave with the skills to deliver a project and none of the systems to run a business. Fees get priced on instinct. The pipeline is whatever is in your head. Invoices go out late, scope moves without being priced, and the first honest look at the numbers usually comes far too long after the decisions that made them.
The research behind Year One pointed to two recurring pressures: maintaining a sustainable pipeline and avoiding undercharging. Those problems reinforce each other. Uncertain work makes poor projects harder to refuse, while weak fees can make a full diary unviable.
Year One keeps the numbers and recurring commercial actions together:
- Plan the move against a real revenue requirement, savings buffer and level of household risk.
- Keep opportunities, follow-ups and business-development activity visible before the pipeline becomes urgent.
- Set minimum rates, project fees and cash-flow targets that reflect the true cost of the work.
- Track live project fees, time, decisions and administration so preventable leakage is easier to see.
Inside Year One
One private workspace. Everything important in view.
Duplicate Year One into your own free Notion account, then use one home screen to see the numbers, pipeline, live projects and actions that need attention.
01CalculateUse the hosted software
→02RecordSave the key numbers
→03TrackKeep work and actions visible
→04ReviewDecide what needs attention
Everything included
The complete Year One system.
The Year One Workspace is the working core. Seven hosted tools and 58 practical Resources support the five stages, and appear only when they are useful.
01 - Plan
Test whether the move is viable
Hosted software Runway Tool
Hosted software Savings / Buffer Estimator
Set the practice up properly
Checklist Setting Up Your Practice Checklist
Guide Choosing a Business Structure
Guide Insurance Shopping Guide
Template Practice Systems Starter
Work through the risks before leaving
Guide Address Fears
Exercise Household / Financial Risk Conversation Starter
Guide How to Leave Current Employment
Guide Phased Exit / Part-Time Options
Guide How to Do It Without Savings
Define what you are building
Exercise How Big Do You Actually Want to Get?
02 - Find Work
Keep every opportunity visible
Guide Using Your Pipeline
Maintain the activity behind the pipeline
Guide BD Cadence & Activity
Build a sustainable source of work
Guide Business Development for a Small Architecture Practice
Guide How to Maintain a Pipeline
Guide How to Find Work - Employed and Not
Create a focused outreach system
Template Cold Email Templates
Exercise Positioning Exercise and Ideal Client Definition
Guide Marketing Resources - What Is Actually Needed
Qualify the opportunity before you chase it
Checklist Qualifying an Opportunity Before You Chase It
Hosted software Client Pre-Qualification
03 - Price & Win
Price with a number, not a hunch
Hosted software What to Charge
Hosted software Fee Proposal Calculator
Guide Fee Structure Decision Guide
Present the practice and fee clearly
Template Fee Proposal Template
Guide Presenting a Fee Proposal With Confidence
Template Practice / Studio Intro Document
Template Practice Intro Email
Template Fee Proposal Email
Protect the project when scope moves
Template Scope and Change-Control Template
Checklist Qualifying an Opportunity Before You Chase It
04 - Operate
Start each client relationship clearly
Template New Client Questionnaire / Intake Form
Template Client Welcome Pack
Checklist Client Appointment Essentials
Template Project Brief & Room Schedule
Keep scope, fee, time and decisions under control
Guide Whole Project Lifecycle Guide
Template Scope and Change-Control Template
Checklist Project Constraints Identifier
Tracker Project Fee & Time Tracker
Template Project Administration Pack
Stop rebuilding the same client and project documents
Template Electrical Fixtures Document
Template Hardware and Fittings Document
Template Interior Design Review Document
Template Materials and Finishes Document
Template Planning & Design Statement Template
Template Concept Design Presentation Template
Use a consistent technical schedule family
Template Contractor Design Responsibility Matrix
Template Window & External Door Schedule
Template Internal Door Schedule
Template Sanitaryware Schedule
Template Ironmongery Schedule
Template Lighting Schedule
Template Blind & Curtain Schedule
Template Joinery Schedule
Template Finishes & Specification Review Tracker
Create a clear invoicing and cash process
Template Invoice Template and Process
Guide Chasing Invoices Guide
Guide Unpaid Invoices Guide
Hosted software Cash Flow Projection
Grow and operate with fewer surprises
Hosted software Employee Cost Tool
Reference Software Stack Guide
05 - Maintain
Review the practice honestly every week
Guide Running an Honest Weekly Review
Guide Reading Your Practice Numbers
Exercise Review Whether the Original Plan Is Still Working
Build a practice that can last
Guide How to Structure the First Two Years
Reference Curated External Community List
Wherever you practise Year One is designed for architects working in different countries. The tools let you set your own currency, tax rate and fee basis, and the core business, insurance, appointment and payment guidance is framed around principles rather than UK-specific rates or forms. Where local rules or professional requirements matter, check the requirements that apply in your own jurisdiction.
Editable working documents
The documents and schedules a small practice actually has to manage.
Fee proposals, client onboarding, project briefs, fee and time tracking, project administration, technical schedules and scope change control - built around architectural practice rather than adapted from generic business templates.
The tools behind the dashboard
Calculate the decisions. Keep the results visible.
Seven hosted tools handle the detailed calculations and decision checks. Six stay entirely in the browser. Cash Flow Projection can optionally read your authorised Year One Cash Flow database to build the live forecast.
03 - Price & Win
Set the billing level the practice must maintain.
Calculate the minimum weekly and daily target.
03 - Price & Win
Turn the scope into a defensible fee.
Calculate the project fee and stage breakdown.
Runway Tool
Savings / Buffer Estimator
What to Charge
Fee Proposal Calculator
Cash Flow Projection
Employee Cost Tool
Client Pre-Qualification
Why Year One exists
I built this for my own practice first.
I built Year One because I needed it. I left, priced work on instinct, and only worked out how badly after the project had finished. I spent longer than I should have not knowing whether enough work was genuinely coming towards me. The tools in here are the ones I built to stop guessing.
Year One is the operating system I would have wanted at the start - not a course, a generic Notion template or another library of advice, but a practical control centre for testing the numbers, managing the pipeline, controlling live projects, reviewing the position weekly and knowing what to do next.
The scope was also shaped by practitioner responses and a detailed review of discussions about independence. Sustainable pipeline and undercharging were the strongest recurring concerns, so those problems sit at the centre of the system.
60 practitioner poll responses 17 practitioner discussions reviewed 5 practice stages 58 practical Resources
Available now
Get the complete Year One system for £147.
Year One V1 is complete and available now. Purchase gives you the guided Start Here onboarding, your private Year One Workspace, all seven hosted tools and the complete 58-Resource library.
What you receive:
- Private Year One Workspace with Projects, Pipeline, Organisations, BD Activity, Actions, Practice Numbers, Cash Flow and Weekly Reviews
- Seven hosted tools for runway, savings, pricing, fee proposals, cash flow, employee decisions and client pre-qualification
- 58 practical Resources including guides, editable templates, exercises, checklists, project schedules and the Project Fee & Time Tracker
- Five stage pathways: Plan, Find Work, Price & Win, Operate and Maintain
- Guided setup and improvements made available for the original Year One V1 system
Your duplicated workspace belongs to you. Six hosted tools keep their inputs in your browser. If you choose to connect Cash Flow Projection, Year One reads only the authorised Cash Flow data needed to calculate the forecast. It does not write operational records back to your workspace.
A free Notion account is required. No paid plan is needed for the essential workflow.
Use Year One for 30 days. If it is not right for you, request a full refund.
Get Year One - £147One-time payment. Lifetime access to the original Year One V1 system and improvements made available for it. Priced in GBP - international cards convert automatically at checkout.
What happens after you buy
Immediately
Open Start Here and access all seven hosted tools.
Set up the core
Duplicate the Year One Workspace, establish the four primary numbers and add your first live opportunity.
Run the practice
Use Projects, Pipeline, Actions, Cash Flow and the Weekly Review as the operating rhythm.
30 days
Use the complete system and decide whether it is right for you.
Before you buy
Questions
Then that is the answer, and it is a useful one. Year One is built to give you a defensible view of what the move requires, which sometimes means staying employed longer and building the buffer properly. Finding that out before depending on the practice is the point.
You have 30 days after purchase to use the complete system. If it is not right for you, request a full refund.
Year One is built first for architects who are considering independence, preparing to leave employment, newly independent, or establishing a small practice in its earliest period. It helps you test viability, build the pipeline, price work deliberately, control live projects and review the health of the practice. It is not advanced management software for established multi-person firms.
You receive immediate access to the complete Year One V1 system: the guided Start Here setup, your private Year One Workspace, all seven hosted tools and the full 58-Resource library.
You receive a private Year One Workspace that you duplicate into your own Notion account, seven hosted tools, the native project, pipeline, action, cash-flow and weekly-review systems, 58 practical Resources and the five stage pathways.
No. A free individual Notion account is sufficient for the essential Year One workflow. You do not need a paid Notion subscription.
Your duplicated Notion workspace belongs to you and Archisoup is not added to it. Six hosted tools keep their inputs in your browser. If you choose to connect Cash Flow Projection, Year One reads the authorised Cash Flow data required to calculate the forecast. No hosted tool writes operational records back to your Notion workspace.
Not automatically. Six tools are device-local and produce results that you record in the relevant Year One workspace fields. Cash Flow Projection is the exception: if you choose to connect it, it can read the authorised Cash Flow database to calculate the projection. Year One does not write operational records back to Notion in V1.
The core setup is designed to be completed in one focused session. Start Here walks you through duplicating the workspace, establishing the four primary numbers, adding a live opportunity and setting the Weekly Review. The 58 Resources are then used only when they become relevant.
No. It is a one-time payment. You receive lifetime access to the original Year One V1 system and improvements made available for it. Separate future products, major expansion modules, live services or a future subscription product are not included automatically.
Yes. The tools support different currencies, tax assumptions and fee bases, and the core guidance is globally framed. Where a legal, tax, insurance or professional requirement depends on your jurisdiction, Year One tells you to check the current local requirement rather than treating a UK rule as universal.
Start with clarity
Run the practice properly from the first week, and beyond year one.
The whole system - pipeline, pricing, cash flow, projects, clients and the weekly routine. Set up the core once, then keep using the parts that matter as the practice develops. One payment of £147. Available now.
30 days to decide. Full refund if Year One is not right for you.
Get Year One - £147One-time payment. Lifetime access to Year One V1 and improvements made available for it.
Free Notion account required. No paid Notion subscription needed.
Not ready yet
Staying employed a while longer is a reasonable answer.
If the numbers say wait, the useful thing is to keep working on them. I write for architects thinking about independence - pricing, pipeline, and what running a small practice actually costs. One email, no pitch attached.
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