Apartment building, Montevideo; architect unknown
Voices we're listening to...
Communities within our country and around the world have been ignored and disenfranchised for far too long. It is past the time that we should be listening rather than hearing, witnessing rather than ignoring, and involving rather than administering-to. We support the efforts of the groups below and encourage you to do the same for those leaders and motivators that resonate with you.
However, the saying "Charity is no substitute for justice withheld" attributed to Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine of Hippo) should not be forgotten. Therefore, our staff are empowered to spearhead their own initiatives and they are moving farther along than the business alone can, connecting with our colleagues and clients, professors and fellow students, making valuable decisions and setting action plans well on the way to reality.
However, the saying "Charity is no substitute for justice withheld" attributed to Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine of Hippo) should not be forgotten. Therefore, our staff are empowered to spearhead their own initiatives and they are moving farther along than the business alone can, connecting with our colleagues and clients, professors and fellow students, making valuable decisions and setting action plans well on the way to reality.
Corporate Member of the National Organization of Minority Architects [website]
Contributor and employee matching gifts to the Human Rights Campaign [website]
Contributor and employee matching gifts to the Southern Poverty Law Center [website]
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Contributor to Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility [website]
Contributor and employee matching gifts to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund [website]
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Contributor and employee matching gifts to Color of Change [website]
Contributor and employee matching gifts to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society [website]
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Supporting our profession and communities...
We support local community groups and outlets for creativity, growth, education, diversity, health and happiness and respect the value certain national organizations provide to improving our lives and those of our neighbors and communities across the country. The organizations below are important arbiters of such qualities, and we support them on a regular, annual or employee matching basis.
Regular staff attendance at the biennial AIA Oregon Design Conference [website]
Regular attendance at the biennial AIA California Monterey Design Conference [website]
Firm and individual members of the U.S. Green Building Council [website]
Supporter and attendee of ForWARD | AIA Portland, The Forum for Women in Architecture and Related Design, and their Future Vision symposium [article]
Annual supporter of the University of Miami's School of Architecture [website]
Sponsor of Northwest Academy's Annual Gala 2018 and 2019 [website]
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Annual member of the Design Museum Portland [website]
Contributor to Lift UP [website]
Silver sponsor of the Construction Specifications Institute Portland's 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Industry Forums [website]
Annual member of the Construction Specifications Institute [website]
Annual member of the Portland Japanese Garden [website], supporting the recently completed expansion designed by Kengo Kuma
Annual member of the Northwest Film Institute [website], featuring the annual Northwest Film Festival
Member of Portland Materials Transparency Collaborative (PMTC) [website]
Past sponsor of the Metro Montessori Middle School 2016 and 2017 yearbooks [website]
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Annual member of the Architecture Foundation of Oregon
Multiple members of the American Institute of Architects [website]
Small Business Member of the Portland Business Alliance [website]
Member of the Portland Art Museum [website]
Monthly donor to the Wikipedia Foundation [website]
Member of Healthy Materials Collaborative (HMC) [website]
Sponsor of the Sunstone Montessori School's 2017 Fundraising Gala [website] (along with our client, LSW Architects of Vancouver [website])
Member of Specifications Consultants in Independent Practice [website]
Supporter of Elders in Action's advocacy efforts 2017 and 2018
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Supporting those who help us...
Thank you to all our manufacturers' product representatives and various disciplines' consultants for their help over the years. We frequently request, receive, and strive to implement information and recommendations these colleagues provide.
I always look forward to working with you and everyone in your firm. It's really nice to see the
continued success and growth of M.Thrailkill.Architect. ~ Scott Martin, Tremco
continued success and growth of M.Thrailkill.Architect. ~ Scott Martin, Tremco
For a list of manufacturer's representatives for the regions we are working in, go to our Sources page.
Helping businesses like mine...
I learned a lot since that evening in late 2014 when I decided I could start my own firm, and I now have several years of steady growth and expansion. My team and I also made many mistakes, and we've had some tough breaks along the way as well! Now that we have been going strong for several years, I'm happy to share some of the useful shortcuts and hard-fought lessons to help others.
First of all, before you even start the company, find a bookkeeper or at least start using an accounting program like QuickBooks from the very beginning! There is no substitute for regular logging of expenses and receivables from day one. I even rejected the standard expense categories my bookkeeper liked, and insisted on using the same categories as the tax form, which made tax filing much simpler. This site may kill you, but if you can come through alive you might do okay.
Second, consider seeking a mentor, either someone you know who has started and managed successful businesses (not Uncle ______) or through groups like SCORE. A mentor can help you decide if the things I suggest below are actually good ideas or not!
Third, determine from the beginning the right business structure for your company. Figuring that out and not having to change in the first year or two will save a lot of headache. As an example, changing from a sole-proprietorship to a single-member limited liability company (as I did) requires opening a new bank account using a new Federal employer identification number, and changing that is a real hassle! Here is a link to the State of Oregon's website for business entity selection.
Fourth, once you determine your business structure, now is the time to set-up accounts with the state departments of revenue and labor, to be sure you've got correct payroll tax filing and unemployment insurance requirements squared away. Once you've got several employees, you might also find a payroll processor to make sure you're collecting withholding taxes and filing correctly as well. This might be the time to determine the best way to engage labor, as contractors or employees. I took the employee route by the second year, based on how we were working.
Fifth, write a good contract for use with you clients, or better yet, find a good lawyer familiar with architecture practice to write it for you. After I had a good one written, I continued updating it over the years, often tweaking it based on feedback I got from my clients. I even amended it to make it usable as a stand alone (its original intention) or as an appendix to an AIA agreement. While you're in contract mode, drafting a standard proposal letter and creating a fee development tool (a spreadsheet or in QuickBooks) would be good.
Sixth, find a good tax accountant. Word of mouth here is the best method, but pay attention to how your new accountant operates when its NOT tax season. You want someone who tells YOU about about new tax law changes, rather than you telling them (such as transit taxes, or the new CAT here in Oregon). Often it seemed my prior accountants (yes, multiple!) should have told me what was coming before I needed to ask them whether it applied to my company.
Seventh (and only now) its time to make a serious website; if you made one earlier, hopefully it was simple. Architects rarely win work through their websites, but they do help lure talent, and unless you're suddenly wildly busy you won't need talent ...yet. At some point a good website can confirm your seriousness to potential clients, but it won't bring in the work; that's done by word-of-mouth and marketing leg work.
Eighth, you might need to determine how your tax structure may evolve, such as switching from a sole-proprietorship or a single-member LLC to a corporation or S-Corp. You probably don't need to do this right away, but once you start making more than you were as an employee at your last firm it might be time the tax accountant you hired brought this up...
Ninth, once you start growing you should have ready standard forms for recruiting, hiring, reviewing, and releasing (either resigning or firing). Having standard forms from the beginning, even if they evolve over time as you learn, will help immensely if an unemployment claim comes in.
Tenth? Employment handbooks? Operations manuals? Mission and Vision statements? I'll get to these -- Let's hope you'll need them!
First of all, before you even start the company, find a bookkeeper or at least start using an accounting program like QuickBooks from the very beginning! There is no substitute for regular logging of expenses and receivables from day one. I even rejected the standard expense categories my bookkeeper liked, and insisted on using the same categories as the tax form, which made tax filing much simpler. This site may kill you, but if you can come through alive you might do okay.
Second, consider seeking a mentor, either someone you know who has started and managed successful businesses (not Uncle ______) or through groups like SCORE. A mentor can help you decide if the things I suggest below are actually good ideas or not!
Third, determine from the beginning the right business structure for your company. Figuring that out and not having to change in the first year or two will save a lot of headache. As an example, changing from a sole-proprietorship to a single-member limited liability company (as I did) requires opening a new bank account using a new Federal employer identification number, and changing that is a real hassle! Here is a link to the State of Oregon's website for business entity selection.
Fourth, once you determine your business structure, now is the time to set-up accounts with the state departments of revenue and labor, to be sure you've got correct payroll tax filing and unemployment insurance requirements squared away. Once you've got several employees, you might also find a payroll processor to make sure you're collecting withholding taxes and filing correctly as well. This might be the time to determine the best way to engage labor, as contractors or employees. I took the employee route by the second year, based on how we were working.
Fifth, write a good contract for use with you clients, or better yet, find a good lawyer familiar with architecture practice to write it for you. After I had a good one written, I continued updating it over the years, often tweaking it based on feedback I got from my clients. I even amended it to make it usable as a stand alone (its original intention) or as an appendix to an AIA agreement. While you're in contract mode, drafting a standard proposal letter and creating a fee development tool (a spreadsheet or in QuickBooks) would be good.
Sixth, find a good tax accountant. Word of mouth here is the best method, but pay attention to how your new accountant operates when its NOT tax season. You want someone who tells YOU about about new tax law changes, rather than you telling them (such as transit taxes, or the new CAT here in Oregon). Often it seemed my prior accountants (yes, multiple!) should have told me what was coming before I needed to ask them whether it applied to my company.
Seventh (and only now) its time to make a serious website; if you made one earlier, hopefully it was simple. Architects rarely win work through their websites, but they do help lure talent, and unless you're suddenly wildly busy you won't need talent ...yet. At some point a good website can confirm your seriousness to potential clients, but it won't bring in the work; that's done by word-of-mouth and marketing leg work.
Eighth, you might need to determine how your tax structure may evolve, such as switching from a sole-proprietorship or a single-member LLC to a corporation or S-Corp. You probably don't need to do this right away, but once you start making more than you were as an employee at your last firm it might be time the tax accountant you hired brought this up...
Ninth, once you start growing you should have ready standard forms for recruiting, hiring, reviewing, and releasing (either resigning or firing). Having standard forms from the beginning, even if they evolve over time as you learn, will help immensely if an unemployment claim comes in.
Tenth? Employment handbooks? Operations manuals? Mission and Vision statements? I'll get to these -- Let's hope you'll need them!