Notes for owners · Websites and conversion
Website design for architects: key features every architecture website must have
A client choosing an architect wants a project like his own, the fee model and who he will deal with, which most practice sites withhold.
The GullySales team · Updated 15 Sept 2026 · 6 min read
Rules for this trade differ by state and professional body, and they change. Check the current position with your own council or adviser before you act on anything here.
On this page
An architecture website has one job: move a client from browsing to an introductory meeting. That client is deciding on three things you can put on a page. Whether you have done a project like his, in his typology and roughly his size. What working with you involves, in scope, stages and fees. And who he will actually deal with. Most practice websites show beautiful images, hide all three, and leave the enquiry to a contact form with a message box.
How does a client actually choose an architect?
Rarely from a search alone. Usually through a referral from a past client, a contractor, a project management consultant or a developer, followed by a careful look at your website before the first call.
That look is a filter, not a discovery. He is checking whether you match his project. A client building a 3,000 square foot house on a site in south Bengaluru is looking for houses of roughly that size. A promoter building a small factory is looking for industrial work and for evidence that you handle approvals. A retail brand is looking for fit-out speed.
The decision is also slow and multi-person. A husband and wife, sometimes with parents funding part of it. A promoter with a partner and a contractor's opinion. Weeks pass between the first look and the first meeting, so the site has to work when you are not in the room.
What every architecture website must have
- A project index that can be filtered by typology: residential, apartments, interiors, commercial, industrial, institutional, hospitality
- A page per project with location, built-up area, year of completion, client type, scope you handled, and whether you did execution or design only
- Built work shown before unbuilt renders, with renders labelled as such
- Drawings alongside photographs, because clients and contractors both read plans
- A scope and process page: concept, design development, good for construction drawings, tendering, site supervision, and where your responsibility ends
- A fee model page stating how you charge and giving an honest range
- A page for the principal architect with qualification, Council of Architecture registration, years in practice and the kind of work he handles personally
- Named contact details, a direct phone number, and a WhatsApp option
- An enquiry form asking site location, plot or built-up area, budget band, stage, and timeline, in five fields
- Pages that load quickly on a phone, because the portfolio is browsed on the way home from the site
Work through that list against your current site. Most practices have the first three and none of the rest.
Why the enquiry form matters more than the portfolio
A contact form with name, email and message produces two kinds of enquiry: a vendor selling something, and a client whose message says please share your charges. Neither is a conversation you can prepare for.
Five fields change that. Where is the site. How large, in plot area or built-up area. What budget band for construction. What stage are you at, meaning land bought, drawings needed, or ready to start. When do you want to begin.
Now the first call is useful. You know whether the project fits your practice, whether the budget is realistic for the area, and what to prepare. You can also answer in an hour rather than a day. That speed matters, because a client who has just decided to build is contacting three practices that evening.
What to put on a project page, and what to leave out
| Include | Why | Leave out |
|---|---|---|
| Typology, location and built-up area | The client is looking for a project like his | Poetic descriptions of light and volume |
| Year of completion | Recent work signals an active practice | Undated projects from an unclear period |
| Scope you handled | Design only, or design plus execution, changes everything | Vague words like conceptualised |
| Client type and brief in two lines | Lets the reader recognise himself | Client names without written permission |
| Photographs of the built result | Proof it was finished | Renders presented as photographs |
| One or two plans or sections | Clients and contractors both read drawings | Twenty images with no plan |
| A note on a constraint you solved | Setback, slope, approval, budget, or a narrow site | Awards listed with no context |
That constraint line is the most persuasive thing on the page. A client with a 30 by 40 site on a slope in a locality with a specific setback rule wants to see that you have solved exactly that before.
What this looks like for a small practice
For example, imagine a nine-person practice in Bengaluru doing individual houses, a few apartment projects and occasional interiors. The figures below are illustrative. Enquiries come from past clients and two contractors. The website is a grid of forty images with no captions and a contact form.
The rebuild is not a redesign, it is documentation. Fourteen projects written up properly, each with typology, locality, built-up area, year, scope and two plans. The residential ones grouped by size band so a client with a 2,400 square foot house sees three like his.
A process page spells out the five stages and what the client has to decide at each one. The most common reason a project stalls is a client who did not know a decision was due.
A fee page states that the practice charges per square foot of built-up area for design and drawings, with site supervision quoted separately. For example, a residential band of ₹60 to ₹120 per square foot, marked as indicative. What matters is that the client stops guessing and the practice stops fielding calls it cannot serve.
Then the five-field enquiry form, the principal's page with his Council of Architecture registration, and a direct number.
What to do next
Open your website on a phone and try to answer four questions as a stranger: have they done a project like mine, what will this cost me roughly, what exactly do they do, and who will I be dealing with. Whichever question you cannot answer in two minutes is your first piece of work, and for most practices it is the fee model. Fix that page before you touch the portfolio again.
