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Tidewater Studio
Tidewater Studio
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Architecture
Raising fees by a third without losing a single client.
Tidewater priced by the hour and competed on cost. We repackaged its work into three fixed-scope offers and rehearsed the conversation with every partner before the first renewal.
+33%
Average project fee
0
Clients lost
+12 pts
Proposal win rate
Tidewater’s work won awards; its fees didn’t reflect it. Every proposal was an hourly estimate, every estimate was negotiated down, and the partners were sure that raising prices would cost them the two clients who made up 40% of revenue.
Priced the outcome
A delayed planning approval cost clients more than Tidewater’s entire fee. That reframed every conversation that followed.
Packaged the work
Three fixed-scope offers with clear inclusions and a short, honest list of exclusions.
Rehearsed the conversation
Every partner practised the renewal conversation twice with us before having it with a client.
The average project fee rose from $120k to $160k across the next eleven proposals, and the win rate went up, not down. Both large clients renewed. One asked why they hadn’t been offered fixed fees years ago.
What they kept, and what they stopped.
“Nora talked us out of a rebrand. It was the most valuable thing anyone told us that year.”
ES
Elena Sousa
Founder, Tidewater Studio
Tidewater Studio
Decision record
Three fixed-scope offers
Kept
Price the outcome, not the hours
Kept
Partners rehearse every renewal
Kept
Hourly estimates
Not now
Discounting to win competitive bids
Not now
Unscoped ‘small changes’
Not now
Sample