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Architecture Business Club with Jon Clayton

Architecture Business Club with Jon Clayton

By: Jon Clayton
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 Architecture Business Club is the podcast to help you build a build profitable, future-proof architecture practice that both you and your clients love! It’s an inclusive place (for ALL architecture business owners). So whether you’re an Architect, Architectural Technologist, or Architectural Designer…If you sell architectural services and want to improve the way you do things…This is THE podcast for you. I’m Jon Clayton, your show host, and a Chartered Architectural Technologist based in the UK. I’ve been in architecture for over two decades and ran my own micro practice for 10 years+. Each week you’ll hear from inspiring people from the world of architecture and business who share actionable tips to help you improve how you work, save time, or make more money. I’ll also share my own experiences running an architecture business in occasional solo episodes. We cover everything from mindset, money, business strategy, sales & marketing, productivity, systems & workflows, client experience, outsourcing, software, technology, and much more. Episodes are short, helpful & actionable. Expect interview episodes of around 30 to 40 minutes, and occasional solo episodes of up to 20 minutes. New episodes are released every other Thursday at 6am GMT / 2am EST. Welcome to the Club!Copyright 2026 Jon Clayton Art Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • What is Succession Planning & Why Does It Matter with Kevin Crawford | 120

    What is Succession Planning & Why Does It Matter with Kevin Crawford | 120
    Mar 26 2026
    Jon Clayton hosts Architecture Business Club with guest Kevin Crawford, an architecture practice leader with 20+ years’ experience who implemented a succession plan at Crawford Architecture via a transition to employee ownership. They define succession planning as future-proofing the business, protecting legacy, and ensuring continuity if the owner retires, can’t work, or dies, noting many practices delay it until it becomes urgent. Kevin shares how waiting until his father was around 70 created pressure and highlights why planning matters for owners, families, staff career paths, valuation, and avoiding rushed sales to the wrong buyer. They discuss that succession planning applies to all firms, including sole practitioners, and stress the need to take time away from day-to-day work, use structured planning (including ideas from the book “Traction”), clarify roles, communicate a shared vision, and maintain discipline.Today’s GuestKevin Crawford is an architecture practice leader with over 20 years of experience running and growing a practice, before putting a succession plan in place through a transition to employee ownership. Today, he’s the founder of Designing Success and co-founder of ASC and Pilotis, where he helps architecture practice leaders design better businesses — gaining more clarity, time and freedom, while strengthening the person behind the practice.—Episode Highlights00:00 Introduction00:46 Meet Kevin Crawford01:20 Why This Topic Now01:40 Defining Succession Planning02:15 Planning For Inevitability02:49 Family Firm Backstory03:58 New Ventures Plan From Day One04:33 Ostrich To Eagle Mindset05:18 Forced Change And Complexity05:39 Most Firms Delay This06:23 Reactive Industry Trap06:52 Hamster Wheel Workaholism07:27 Two Year Transition Journey08:03 Balancing Three Stakeholders08:29 Protecting The Legacy08:48 Choosing Employee Ownership09:36 Others Still Ignore It10:18 Why Succession Matters10:42 Time With Family Motivation12:34 Shared Vision And Culture Shift13:53 Risks Of Leaving It Late15:28 Is Succession Planning Relevant To Small Firms16:33 Buying Time To Plan20:25 Consequences Of Ignoring It22:36 Collaboration Over Competition24:24 Where To Start Today24:49 Frameworks And Reflection26:21 Discipline And Weekly Structure27:41 Key Takeaways29:26 Employee Ownership Realities30:31 Must Have Business Resource30:51 Project Management Game Changer32:02 Connect With Kevin—Key TakeawaysDon't put it off — start thinking about succession planning now.It's easy to say "I'll deal with it later," but Kevin learned the hard way that waiting too long makes everything harder. His dad was 70 before they started planning, and by then it was stressful for the whole family. Even if you're not ready to act right now, you should at least start thinking about what happens to your business when you're no longer running it.You need to make time to work on your business, not just in it.Kevin used to think working longer hours was the answer. He'd start at 4am and work until midnight. But that didn't help him plan for the future — it just kept him stuck on the hamster wheel. The real change came when he stepped away from the day-to-day and gave himself proper time to think. You need to block out time in your week to focus on the bigger picture, even if it's just a couple of hours on a Friday.Succession planning matters no matter how big or small your practice is.You might think this only applies to large firms, but Kevin says it's just as important for sole practitioners. If your business depends entirely on you, what happens if you can't work? Who looks after your projects and your clients? Having a plan in place protects you, your team, and the legacy you've built — whether you're a one-person studio or a team of twenty.—Subscribe on YouTube (for upcoming video episodes!) 📺Send a Voicemail to the show (we listen to every message!) 📢Connect with Kevin Crawford on LinkedIn 🤝Curious about podcasting? Click here to book a chat with Jon 🎧Follow or Connect with Jon on LinkedIn 🤝—👇 And if you enjoyed this episode…Please leave a 5-star review or rating wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
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    34 mins
  • Navigating Our 100+ Episodes: A Guide to Discovering Hidden Gems | 119

    Navigating Our 100+ Episodes: A Guide to Discovering Hidden Gems | 119
    Mar 12 2026

    Jon Clayton marks Architecture Business Club’s 100+ episodes (nearing 120) and explains how new listeners can quickly find relevant content using newly added episode categories on architecturebusinessclub.com. He lists key themes including business strategy and growth, marketing and lead generation, personal brand, sales and pricing, systems and automations, mindset and wellbeing, career journeys, content/PR/podcasting, industry events, community, and team collaboration. Spotlighting the Business Strategy and Growth category, he highlights the most downloaded episode. He also recommends a lesser-known “hidden gem”, and shares his personal favourite.

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    Episode Highlights

    00:00 Why This Episode Exists

    00:50 The Back Catalogue Problem

    01:41 New Website Categories

    02:03 All Episode Themes Overview

    02:58 Why Categorising Matters

    04:00 Business Strategy & Growth Episodes

    04:16 Most Popular Business Strategy & Growth Episode

    06:28 Hidden Gem in Business Strategy & Growth

    08:50 Personal Favourite Of Mine

    11:59 Wrap Up

    —

    Key Takeaways

    You can break big goals into smaller parts

    Instead of planning your whole year at once, divide it into 90-day chunks. This makes it easier to see where you're going and change direction if you need to. It's like planning a road trip in stages rather than trying to map out everything at once.

    You will make mistakes, and that's okay

    When you run a business, you'll mess things up sometimes. You might waste money or make poor choices. The important thing is to learn from what went wrong and move forward. Don't be too hard on yourself about it.

    You need to create urgency to get people to buy

    If your service is available all the time, people will think they can buy it later and they'll forget about it. You should use special launches or limited-time offers to give people a reason to act now instead of putting it off.

    —

    Subscribe on YouTube (for upcoming video episodes!) 📺

    Send a Voicemail to the show (we listen to every message!) 📢

    Curious about podcasting? Click here to book a chat with Jon 🎧

    Follow or Connect with Jon on LinkedIn 🤝

    —

    👇 And if you enjoyed this episode…

    Please leave a 5-star review or rating wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
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    14 mins
  • How To Avoid Structural Issues In Home Extensions with Sam Dean | 118

    How To Avoid Structural Issues In Home Extensions with Sam Dean | 118
    Feb 26 2026
    Architecture Business Club host Jon Clayton interviews structural engineer Sam Dean of Porthouse Dean about common structural design pitfalls in home extensions and how to avoid spiraling costs. They discuss ground conditions as a major uncertainty (especially clay), the influence of nearby large trees and desiccation, and the use of low-cost desktop geological reports based on British Geological Survey borehole data to flag risk. They cover ceiling downstands and why beam position is often a cost-and-aesthetics decision between homeowner, architect, and builder, with installation complexity increasing when first-floor joists run into the beam. Sam explains cantilever “rules of thumb” and how corner bifold-door cantilevers can drive up steel and foundation demands, sometimes requiring columns and large foundations due to uplift forces. They address adding an extra storey and the case for trial holes. They also highlight risks of building onto existing, undocumented steelwork from previous extensions, which can force intrusive investigation or replacement when later loft conversions are planned. Sam explains how the architectural design can affect structural costs and outlines what to expect from a good structural engineering service. They touch on AI-generated architectural information, Sam’s launch of an AI review service, and he shares the software tool his business can’t work without.Today’s GuestSam Dean. He started out as a materials scientist and structural engineer, spent a year in the nuclear industry, then teamed up with his friend Chris Porthouse to start PorthouseDean structural engineering. Sam then got hooked on building business systems and automations - to cut out the boring stuff and let his team do better work. When he’s not solving process problems – he’s cycling to work, playing and watching football, or baking crusty bread and homemade pizzas.—Episode Highlights00:00 Introduction00:39 Introducing Sam Dean01:38 Managing Risk with Groundworks03:08 The Clay Problem04:08 Trees Near Extensions: The Hidden Foundation Cost Driver04:30 When Is a Site Investigation Worth It? Practical Triggers05:10 Low-Cost Desktop Geology Reports: A Smart Early Warning05:49 Designers Missing Key Site Info (Like Trees)06:59 Case Study: The 20m Oak That Shows Up Too Late07:55 Using Maps + Clay Likelihood to Spot Risk Early08:48 Removed Trees Still Matter: Clay Desiccation Explained10:32 Ceiling Downstands vs Flush Beams: Set Expectations Early11:33 “Where Do I Put the Beam?” Why Engineers Don’t Always Decide12:13 Joist Direction Changes Everything (and Can Add Thousands)13:01 Goalpost Frames & Rear Wall Openings: What’s Cost-Neutral?14:00 Builder vs Client vs Architect: Who’s Steering the Decision?14:37 Protecting the Homeowner: Budget Trade-Offs in Plain English15:36 When Architects Aren’t On Site: How Design Intent Gets Lost18:06 Roles, Responsibility & the Principal Designer Confusion19:38 Why Small Projects Are So Cost-Driven (and Getting Worse)21:07 Cantilevers 101: The Rule of Thumb That Saves Your Budget23:12 Corner Bifolds + Floating Roofs: The Cantilever Trap25:23 Engineering Workarounds: Columns, Anchors & Uplift Forces27:34 Adding a Storey: Foundation Reality Checks29:32 Building on Existing Steelwork: The Missing Calculations Problem33:37 Prevention Playbook: Trial Holes, Checks, and Lightweight Options36:46 Quick Wins to Avoid Spiraling Costs (Wind Posts, Pillars, Layout)41:45 What Great Structural Engineering Service Looks Like46:49 The Rise of AI48:55 The One Piece of Software Sam Can't Live Without50:18 Final Thoughts—Key TakeawaysCheck the Ground Early to Avoid Big SurprisesLearn what's under the ground before you start building. Clay soil can be a big problem. If there are large trees near your building site (especially within 20 metres), they can make the situation worse. The tree roots dry out the clay, which means you might need to dig much deeper foundations. This can cost thousands extra. Even if you remove a tree, the clay takes about three years to go back to normal. You can get a cheap report to check if clay is likely on your site or dig trial holes, which can help you plan ahead.Think About Where Beams Go Before You BuildHelp your client decide if they want the steel beam to show below the ceiling or to hide it inside the ceiling. If you hide it and the floor joists run into the beam, the builder may need to cut the joists and fix them to the side of the beam. This may cost more money. You should talk about this early with your client and builder. It's a trade-off between how it looks and how much it’ll cost.Plan Cantilevers Carefully to Keep Costs DownA cantilever is when part of your building sticks out without support underneath. There's a simple rule of thumb: if you want one metre sticking out, you need two metres anchored back inside the building. If you don't follow this rule, you might need heavier, more expensive beams. Corner bifold doors...
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    52 mins
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