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Master practical budgeting strategies to eliminate cost overruns, protect your profit margins, and deliver successful design projects on schedule.
Effective cost management is essential to the success and profitability of every design practice. While project fees determine revenue, understanding the true cost of delivering design services is critical to maintaining financial performance, making informed business decisions, and ensuring projects remain commercially viable. Yet many architects rely on intuition or software outputs without fully understanding how project costs are estimated and managed.
This practical course introduces simple, effective tools for estimating and managing design project costs. Participants will learn how to use a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to identify project activities, estimate resource requirements, and develop realistic cost estimates that support better project planning and financial management. The session provides a practical foundation for improving cost awareness and strengthening commercial decision-making across architectural practice.
Key Topics Discussed:
Architect, B.Arch., MDE, OAA, PMP
Donald Ardiel is an architect, educator, and project manager. Following 30 years in architectural practice, Don assumed the positions of Director of Practice Support and the Director of Syllabus at the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada from 2016 to 2020. Following retirement from the RAIC, Don has provided project management education for design professionals to national and international clients. Don is the editor of A Guide to Determining Appropriate Fees for the Services of an Architect 2nd Edition, and editor-in-chief of the Canadian Handbook of Practice for Architects 3rd Edition. In addition to architectural practice, Don has been an instructor and workshop leader in project and practice management for 30 years. As an education consultant, he has provided curriculum development and instructional design services to post-secondary institutions and professional associations. He continues his commitment to the architectural profession through his active volunteer work with the Ontario Association of Architects, Canadian Architectural Certification Board’s Broadly Experienced Foreign Architect Program, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Syllabus Program. Don received a Bachelor of Architecture from Carleton University in 1987 and a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University in 2008. Don has been a member of the Project Management Institute since 1992 and certified Project Management Professional since 2008. Don is an active board member of the United Church of Canada’s children’s camp, Camp Kee-Mo-Kee in Komoka, Ontario.