My dad founded Crawford Architecture back in 1987, and when he introduced me to the practice at 14 years old, I don't think either of us imagined that nearly 30 years later I'd be launching a software company.
For over 20 years, I've had the privilege of running the practice, initially with my dad, then on my own, before the company transitioned to shared ownership in 2025. During that time, I've had a front-row seat to everything that goes into running an architectural business.
I realised early on that what fascinated me most wasn't just the buildings the team created, it was the business behind them.
How could we work better? How could we become more efficient? How could we build better systems and processes? How could we give our architects more time to design, our technical team more time to deliver projects, and spend less time on administration?
The reality is that an architectural practice isn't just about delivering great buildings, it's also a business. Yet while architects spend years learning the profession, very few are ever taught how to run one.
The problem that never went away
That became my passion, and one area always stood out: the very beginning of every project.
A phone call. An email. A walk-in enquiry. We'd arrange a meeting and head out to site, often without enough information. Was it the right type of project? Was there a realistic budget? By the time we'd answered those questions, we'd already invested hours of valuable fee-earning time.
Meeting Barry
I've always believed that people work with people, and the best opportunities come from building relationships with the right people. Over 10 years ago, I met Barry Booth through a local networking group. Barry had been a client of Crawford Architecture and had also built his own home, so he understood the process from the inside.
Around three years ago, I asked Barry: "Can we build something that genuinely helps architectural practices run better?" Not another generic piece of software. Something built specifically for architecture practices.
That conversation became Pilotis.
Three years, and the first part of the vision
Since then, we've spent the last three years listening to leaders and teams, building, refining and challenging ourselves to create something that genuinely solves problems we've all accepted for too long.
Pilotis Forms is the first part of that vision, built specifically for architectural practices to capture enquiries, develop project briefs, manage specifications and create one trusted source of information for every project.
It's the start of a longer journey: helping architectural practices become more efficient, protect profitability, and spend more time doing what they do best.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing each of the forms we've created, why we built them, and the real problems they're designed to solve.
You can see what we've built so far on the Solutions Page.
