- Start Up Cost:
- Franchise Type:
- Sector Type:
- Investment Type:
- Market:
- £950 + £10-15k licence fee
- Mobile
- Architecture Services
- Start-up
- B2C
£950 non refundable deposit
£10-15k location dependent licence fee for 5 years
Advertising levy £150 per month
Franchise fee 10% of turnover per month
Smart Business Model
Provides architecture as a product to the mass homeowner market in the UK
Resilience
In the Covid economy Pride Road Franchisees have continued to grow their practices, while one in five practices overall expect to shed employees
Local Impact
Our 155 territories are structured to be within 20 min drive of your home, so you can be active in your local community, and remain available for family commitments
Supported Architecture Practice
An alternative to both being employed and starting up on your own
Work/Life Balance
The tried and tested Pride Road Franchise model puts you in control of your career and your time
Risk Consciousness
Buying into an established business means that startup costs are lower and you are more likely to have access to high street bank lending
The Pride Road WAY: Making time for family life
Pride Road was created by mum of 3 Lisa Raynes, and family life is part of the DNA of the business model.
This means that each franchisee has control of their diary and can plan their working week around school and childcare commitments.
With your Franchise Business Plan in hand you know how many Concept Design Workshops you need to sell each month in order to meet your targets.
And built into those targets will be the time you want or need to take away from the business, secure in the knowledge that Pride Road automated systems will handle the pipeline of new work, and your trusted Pride Road network, local suppliers and franchisees, can cover your live projects.
Don’t forget that Pride Road customers are most likely to be families who have similar concerns about taking time off during school holidays – so it’s a win-win in terms of providing good customer service.
During Summer 2020 Magda relocated to Poland for two months and continued to run her business
Lisa regularly takes off the month of August for summer holidays. Longer-term breaks can be accommodated with notice & planning
Financial Rewards
It’s a numbers game! In your territory of 70,000 homes: 2 leads –> 1 prospect 2 prospects –> 1 workshop 4 workshops –> 1 project
Franchise: another way to be an architect + work/life balance.
It takes graft and commitment to train as an architect in the UK, and yet for women the potential of a rewarding career doesn’t usually play out. With the difficulty of maintaining your career at the same time as having a family, it’s not unusual for a promising career to grind to a halt. At least that was the experience of Pride Road Architects’ Founder, Lisa Raynes, who never imagined she’d open her own practice. Rather she realised that becoming a solo-practitioner was the only option for her to remain in the profession she loved after being made redundant for the second time, not long after giving birth. Let’s face it, those architects with caring responsibilities, especially those home-schooling during the 2020 lockdowns, face particular difficulties in balancing professional and home life.
So, the origin of Pride Road Architects is rooted in the refusal to accept that women architects need to put up with pay and career advancement disparities. It’s rooted in the recognition that women architects have the ambition and the appetite for their own practices, they also welcome being part of group, a ‘pride’ if you like. The Pride Road innovation though, is in the business model – a franchise architecture practice in a box that plays to the customer facing, designing strengths of an architect and wraps the business of being-in-business into proven systems and processes.
“I created Pride Road in order to share my knowledge and business model with any architects who would like to follow in my footsteps, to have a good income, take pride in their work and have a much better balance between home life and their profession. A balance that is attractive in the Covid economy to time-poor architects generally, not just to mums.“ Lisa Raynes, Pride Road Founder and RIBA Council Member 2015-2018
An architecture practice in a box.
The Pride Road Architects Business Model is innovative because it seamlessly delivers leads to Franchisees, and is very carefully structured to make sure that all design concepts are paid for. It’s based on 155 defined territories across the UK and each new practice comes with an integrated, multi touch point marketing strategy.
Every Franchisee undertakes a comprehensive and enjoyable onboarding programme in order to build rapport and maintain core quality standards across the business. The course includes everything from running a successful workshop to financial training and marketing automation. By the end, every Franchisee should have the knowledge and confidence to add to their professional qualifications and desire, to develop their territory into a thriving business.
Why Pride Road’s Franchise stacks up for parents
The Franchise concept is particularly attractive to mum architects, because it offers support and camaraderie with the independence of having your own practice. And the smart working model means that your business is shaped to your life – need to take time to collect kids from school? No problem. You can set your diary accordingly.
A Franchise architecture practice means that architects can jump straight into marketing their services, secure in the knowledge that there is brand recognition and strong digital assets. No need to re-invent the wheel by designing a brand, setting up a website, getting good google rankings. These things are part of your onboarding and training process, and backed by the central office of specialists and experts in business coaching, technicals, IT and marketing.
When starting up on your own you have to try and juggle all of these roles yourself, but, as part of the wider Pride Road brand with shared resources, you can relax knowing that these things are covered and that you have someone to refer to for questions and support when needed.
It’s about finding your tribe
“Joining Pride Road Architects is the perfect choice for me – a career I can really throw myself into, with the balance of having time for my family and my own life. I love the creativity, meeting new people and the support the company gives me.” Magda Haener, Pride Road Manchester South
Pride Road Franchisees value being part of a group of like-minded people, where you bring your whole self to work. The collective ‘pride’ means that absences can be supported, there is an infrastructure to support ongoing projects even if you are unavoidably absent. If we think about Pride Road as a club, this club is inclusive, collaborative and agile.
The benefit of having a business culture where knowledge is shared and experience valued, is that issues are quickly identified and resolved. In 2020 Pride Road quickly pivoted from face-to-face to online delivery of services, and enabled the Franchisees to sustain their business with no loss of income.
Regular Franchise Development Days are a chance for everyone to get together (in person or remotely) and review how things have been going, any issues they’re having, and brainstorm ways to move forward. They are an effective way to bolster each other going forward, by connecting, sharing and enjoying each other’s company!
About Pride Road Franchise (founded 2016) is the innovative architectural practice franchise that helps trained architects start their own practices with the support of founder Lisa Raynes’s experience and brand. Through Pride Road, Lisa wants to give architects the skills, knowledge and resources needed to build their own successful architecture business, while campaigning to make the profession happier, healthier, more diverse and inclusive. www.prideroadfranchise.co.uk
About Lisa Raynes Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water…” Ten years ago, she was made redundant for the second time whilst on maternity leave. It’s the best thing that ever happened to her. She couldn’t get a job so, out of necessity, set up her own architectural practice.
Lisa decided to offer architectural services to homeowners – doing single and two-storey extensions. By concentrating on that sector and doing it well, she built a successful business. Systemising processes empowered her to launch her own franchise in 2016. Pride Road enables other female architects to return to the profession after having children. Lisa heads up Pride Road North Cheshire.
Pre-set up – tbc – on signing franchise agreement
You will need
Pride Road will set up the following
Training – 10 days Split over 1 month
Location will be Pride Road Central Office (PRCO), in Gatley, South Manchester usually 2-3 days a week for 4 weeks
The following training is an example timeline, items, people, locations may vary
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Ongoing support (indicative)
External Support
In addition external support will be provided.
A work day typically involve around children and we try and avoid rush-hour so client appointments could start at 9:30 or 10 am
The day is varied depending on what stage you’re up to in the business
In the set up stages, you will spend time predominantly networking and meeting referral partners
As you gain momentum, your day will be peppered with client facing Free initial consultations, and paid for Concept Design Workshops,
There will also be the odd site meeting, either a pre planning meeting or pre start meeting.
We do not draw on CAD, all of our design work is contained within Concept Design Workshops or site meetings, so you are not drawing through the night after the kids have gone to bed!
We will work with you to ensure your work calendar is kept within a working day – we do not work evenings or weekends, And our clients respect that. You get to do the fun part of architecture, the concept design work and by charging for our workshops, our clients value the work that we do!
Laura qualified as an architect 20 years ago and started her career in a large multinational practice followed by a small design led practice specialising in school design and later on at a local practice specialising in residential design but also designing dentist surgeries and old people’s homes.
Discovering Pride Road seemed an ideal opportunity to continue to work in architecture but fit work around what was an increasingly hectic schedule with 3 children at 3 different schools. With a keen interest in what makes a family home work well and desire to support Pride Road in its encouragement of women’s long term careers in architecture, Laura joined the franchise and heads up Pride Road New Forest & Bournemouth.
‘Being part of Pride Road is like having a power pack on your back. I enjoy working with other female architects where we can discuss cooking and sewing, the autonomy while feeling confident due to being part of a network.’ Says Laura
An ARB Architect specialising in residential architecture, Magda is a highly commended professional with a wealth of great projects behind her and has been singled out for her highly detailed work in the Manchester area.
Magda studied at Wroclaw University of Technology and completed her Architecture Diploma in 2005 and became a registered Architect in Poland in 2010 and in England in 2012. She speaks: Polish, Russian and German (not too fluent) and is a practising Buddhist and is a proud mum of two. Magda has headed up Pride Road Manchester South since 2017.
‘I like being a franchisee because the system we work with offers quick actions towards the clients. Our website attracts a lot of customers and is trusted by clients due to our many existing projects. ‘ says Magda.
Sandy was born to be an architect. Growing up around buildings in all stages of development with her DIY father, who sympathetically transformed their small London Victorian villa and her developer grandfather, who built much of Ruislip’s housing stock. Sandy was never far from the seeing someone’s dreams turned into designs. She was fascinated as much by the artistry as the science of building.
Sandy’s expertise and experience have been honed by working in a variety of sectors, from one man band and larger practices to housing associations and local councils. Across the 30 years of being in architecture she is most proud of the buildings that have stood the test of time - leading to a lockkeeper and his wife buying their cottage and continuing to live comfortably in the canal side cottage Sandy envisioned. She heads up Pride Road South Warwickshire.
Shuahra is an RIBA Chartered Architect, with several years of substantive experience under her belt. Her expertise lies in the residential sector, having managed projects from inception to completion. Her approach is focused on community and collaboration, with an appreciation that successful projects involve working with and for people. She has worked on a rich variety of projects from strategic housing and regeneration projects for developers, to bespoke residential extensions for home-owners. It is a source of delight and pride to design for homeowners and certainly heightens her sensitivity to the nature of such projects. Shuahra heads up Pride Road Sutton and Kingston.
'I enjoy the ongoing support the franchise offers with regular team meetings with other franchisees where we can benefit from each others experiences' says Shuahra
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