15 Years, 2300 Projects: What We've Learned About Client Trust

Fifteen years is long enough to observe patterns. After more than 2,300 projects, the single most consistent predictor of a successful outcome — more than budget, more than timeline, more than the complexity of the brief — is trust.

Trust is built in the unglamorous moments. It is built when we tell a client that the material they have fallen in love with is not right for their application. It is built when we absorb a cost rather than pass it on because we made an error. It is built when we are reachable on a Saturday morning when a client has a concern about their site.

We have clients who have returned to us four and five times. Their children call us when they move into their first homes. We have become, in some sense, part of the fabric of their lives — which is an extraordinary privilege that we take seriously.

The promise has never changed: Deliver What You Promise. Not what sounds good in a presentation. Not what photographs well. What actually works, for the actual human beings who will live in the space, every single day.