Should Architect's Work for Free?

[Mike]

This is a BD article voicing two opinions

In my opinion we should never work for free all it is doing is de-valuing the profession and what we do best. Pro Bono work and Competitions are not working for free they are volunteering and experimenting and both choices for marketing purposes.

[mr_e]

That article doesn't make sense: both the for and against arguments are the same. The "yes" guy is saying architects should do competition and charity work for free. The "no" guy is saying that architects shouldn't work for free at all, but that doing competition and charity work for free is the exception to this rule.

At the end of the day, it's up to the individual practice to exercise their judgement. However, the profession needs to avoid a spiralling cycle of underselling itself to try to get business, especially in the current climate: the pay is already lower compared to other professions, so there's no point in making it worse.

The idea to start billing for phone calls (see the comments section) like lawyers do... don't know how well that would go down, but it's an interesting point.

[johnriley1uk]

The idea of working for free seems to be a reflection of that Terribly British thing that somehow it's immoral to make a profit. And if you do make a profit it's reluctantly OK as long as you don't do too well.

Everyone is entitled to make a living, so if you do work you are entitled to be paid for it. If you do more work than your colleague, then you should be paid more.

[Mike]

The idea of working for free seems to be a reflection of that Terribly British thing that somehow it's immoral to make a profit. And if you do make a profit it's reluctantly OK as long as you don't do too well.

This BBC Article supports that point very well. MP's believe that energy firms should be subject to a 'windfall tax' due to their high profits of £3.4bn and £4bn respectively for BP and Shell. This seems very unfair if you ask me. The message seems to be, do well and be punished, do badly and be supported (subsidies). What ever happened to a free market where you won or lost?

At the end of the day, the more profits these energy firms make the more tax the government gets anyway. End of. The giant energy companies know that they will have to change and adapt to keep reaping such profits and if they are not re-investing in greener technology they are pretty dumb and wont last much longer.