Case Study: Life Designs Architecture

Marketing & Advertising : Sales

Our independent architect who specializes in designing residential homes, Life Designs, has a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) list that includes:

Strengths:

ability to respond quickly to customer demands and changes
ability to make acceptable margins on small jobs, with low overhead
high-quality of work and experience
reputation for being affable, honest, and easy to work with
reputation for good value of services and prices
appeal to customers of working directly with the architect/principal

Weaknesses

very limited financial, personnel, and time resources
a limit of three to four projects at any given time
inability to sell and work on a project at the same time
not having a personal relationship with influential local business leaders
being known for a limited number of architectural design "styles"

Opportunities

a growing market for new homes and more upscale homeowners moving to the area, fostered by a growing local economy
a chance to contract with a local developer for an exclusive agreement
a chance to work with the university architectural design department as a visiting lecturer
a chance to relocate his office from his home to a co-op business office center, with shared secretaries, receptionist, conference rooms, and computers
the availability of hiring independent sales reps to work with residential owners, real estate firms, and contractors

Threats

a growing amount of advertising and business inroads by outside regional and national firms in the local area
new local zoning codes and state/federal legislation increasing the cost of new home and remodeling/addition work
increasing costs of building materials
a possible shortage of skilled building trade people in the area
a new competitor in the area specializing in residential home design, especially in his known "style" of design