For architecture firms with projects to lead

Virtual assistants for architects

Give your principals more room for design and client decisions. An assistant can organize pursuits, prepare project records and keep the next request moving. Knows The Drill recruits and prepares your assistant for your firm's workflow before handoff.

Find your assistant

Keep the project context out of your principals' inboxes.

A proposal needs current project examples. A client is asking which document to review. The next meeting depends on a consultant response that lives in someone else's email. Your team needs the information assembled before it can do the professional work.

Build a role around the coordination between those moments: current records, clear requests and a visible next action. Your architects keep ownership of design and the decisions behind each issue.

The work to hand off

Give each pursuit and project a reliable working file.

Assemble proposal materials

Gather the firm profile, approved project examples, team biographies and submission requirements for a pursuit. Track missing inputs and place the current draft where the principal can review it.

What you get back: A proposal packet with required items and open inputs identified

Maintain project and issue records

Organize documents by project, source, issue date and status using your naming rules. Record what the project lead identifies as current and preserve the history of earlier issues.

What you get back: A document index that points the team to the intended version

Coordinate client and consultant meetings

Collect agenda items, arrange attendance and distribute the material the project lead selects. Capture confirmed actions and follow up with the person responsible for each input.

What you get back: A meeting packet and action log with named owners

Prepare time and billing inputs

Gather timesheet reminders, project references and supporting records for the person who reviews invoices. Flag missing project codes or documents before they become another round of internal questions.

What you get back: An organized billing input packet for review

Illustrative workflow

Build a proposal packet your principal can review

Use one live pursuit to agree which materials an assistant gathers and who decides what the firm submits.

Read the request

Assistant preparesList the stated submission date, required sections and supplied instructions.

Your principal decidesWhether to pursue and who owns the response.

Gather materials

Assistant preparesPull approved biographies and project examples into the pursuit folder.

Your principal decidesWhich people, experience and project approach to feature.

Check the packet

Assistant preparesCompare the draft against the requested sections and list missing inputs.

Your principal decidesHow to resolve gaps or departures from the request.

Prepare submission

Assistant preparesPresent the final file set, version and submission details for sign-off.

Your principal decidesThe content, fee and authorization to submit.

Illustrative example — not a client record

A pursuit packet readiness sheet

Use this illustrative proposal request to define the information your principal wants in one place.

Pursuit: Example entryCommunity center feasibility proposal.; What to provide or checkName the opportunity and the firm's response owner.
Required materials: Example entryTeam biographies, two relevant project examples and a proposed approach.; What to provide or checkCopy the requirements from the request.
Ready for review: Example entryCurrent biographies and the two selected project summaries are assembled.; What to provide or checkDistinguish gathered materials from approved submission content.
Open input: Example entryThe principal's approach narrative is still needed.; What to provide or checkName the specific missing item and its owner.
Next action: Example entryPrincipal reviews the assembled packet and supplies the narrative before submission.; What to provide or checkIdentify the review step that moves the pursuit forward.

Ready to hand over when: Each requested item has a location or a named missing-input owner, and the principal's next review is clear.

Download the blank template (CSV)

No email required. The file includes field names and guidance, with blank spaces for your own inputs. Use it to describe the work during matching; keep private client information out of an initial inquiry.

Shape the role around the workload

Where would an assistant fit in your practice?

A useful fit when

Principals repeatedly collect proposal materials and chase inputs themselves.
Project teams need a consistent owner for document indexes and meeting follow-up.

Discuss the setup first

You need someone to create or alter technical drawings, specifications or models.
Your project records lack an agreed owner who can identify the current approved issue.

Managed support provides a dedicated, full-time assistant. Direct-hire responsibilities, hours and employment terms are agreed during matching.

Keep design authority with your project leaders.

Your assistant can make the record easier to use without becoming the source of professional design decisions.

Architects retain design, code interpretation, professional advice and responsibility for issued work.
CAD, BIM, specifications or specialist software work requires a separate skills discussion; it is not implied by project coordination.
Your firm identifies approved versions, submission authority and what may be shared with each recipient.

Start with one pursuit and one active project.

01A recent proposal request and the materials your firm normally includes.
02Your project folders, naming rules and method for identifying current issues.
03The people who approve design material, fees, submissions and client messages.
04Your meeting rhythm and the coordination tasks that repeatedly interrupt project work.

Recruit. Prepare. Hand over.

Recruited for you. Trained for your industry.

First, we discuss your niche and the work you want your assistant to own. Then we recruit and prepare them in depth for the industry and responsibilities agreed with you before handoff. The matching conversation defines the skills, tools and preparation time your role needs.

We assess English fluency, practical problem-solving and independent judgment, so your assistant can work through the next step and recognize when to bring you in.

Choose the support behind your hire.

Managed assistant

A dedicated, full-time assistant through our service, with ongoing support from our team. One monthly fee.

Explore managed support

Direct hire

We recruit and train an assistant for you to hire directly into your team. You manage the day-to-day. One placement fee.

Explore direct hiring

The examples on these pages are a starting point. Bring the broader range of work you want covered to the matching call. We agree responsibilities, preparation time, working hours, fees and terms before you start.

Before you bring someone on

Can an assistant help with RFQs and architecture proposals?: Yes. Gathering approved firm materials, tracking requirements and coordinating contributors are practical responsibilities. Your principal chooses the approach, team, fee and final response. Share a recent RFQ so we can scope the actual preparation work.
Will the assistant know our design software?: Tell us which tools the role uses and what they would do in them. Folder organization and record updates are different from editing a model or drawing. We discuss required skills during matching and prepare the assistant for the agreed workflow before handoff.
Can they help us control drawing versions?: They can maintain an index and distribute the version your project lead designates. Your firm must define issue status, access and who authorizes release. The assistant does not determine whether a drawing is technically ready to issue.
Can one assistant support several project architects?: Yes, when the workload, access and priorities fit one role. Agree a request route and someone who can settle conflicting deadlines. A shared action list helps each project lead see what is waiting.
Do we need a full operations manual first?: No. A pursuit folder, an active project folder and a few examples of recurring requests are a useful starting point. We use those to define responsibilities and the preparation needed before the assistant joins your workflow.

Keep your architects focused on the work only they can do.

Bring us the proposal prep, document questions and follow-up that keep finding their way back to your project leaders. We will help shape a role around that work.

Find your assistant

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