Home › How We're Different
Fixed-Fee A&E Consulting: How Next Phase A&E Differs
Fixed-fee A&E consulting is one of four things setting Next Phase A&E apart from other advisors. We work only with architecture, engineering, commercial interior design and specialty design consulting firms, use your own project phase names, and finish when your staff runs the process.
Most owners have tried something already. The accountant keeps the books, the software vendor installs a platform, and the coach gives general advice, but pricing, billing and approvals still land on the owner.
Request a meeting. We'll show you where Next Phase A&E fits alongside the advisors you already have, and where it does not.
Four Ways Next Phase A&E Differs
Each difference shows up in your written proposal before you sign.
Design firms only: Rodney works only with owner-led architecture, engineering, commercial interior design and specialty design consulting firms, so the examples, measures and phase names match your practice. See business consulting for architecture and engineering firms, or go straight to the architecture firm business consultant or engineering business consultant page.
Your project phase names: The Next Phase Method runs Pre-Design through Post-Occupancy, built on the sequence in AIA Document B101.
Fixed fees for a written scope: Your proposal states the scope, exclusions, your responsibilities and the fixed fee before work begins. We never bill hourly, and Pre-Design carries no fee. The first paid phase is the A&E firm diagnostic.
A staff-run finish: Construction Documents ends when your staff completes and explains one full cycle with only minor clarification. Post-Occupancy proves the system worked, re-measuring your numbers 90 days after your staff takes over.
How We Compare With a Fractional CFO for A&E Firms and Other Advisors
Provider
What they do well
Where Next Phase A&E differs
CPAs, bookkeepers and fractional CFOs
Keep books, taxes and financial statements accurate
Works from those records to build pricing methods, project reports and procedures, alongside your accounting advisor
Software vendors and implementers
Install and configure a platform
Starts with the process and owner decisions, then helps you choose tools through a scored comparison with no vendor agenda
Larger A&E consulting firms
Strategy, mergers and enterprise change
Takes bounded operating assignments for small firms, with Rodney on every engagement, and refers larger work back
Valuation and M&A advisors
Value firms, structure deals and represent buyers or sellers
Gets the firm ready before the valuation with clean records, written procedures and trained backups, then hands off to them
General business coaches
Broad guidance across many industries
Serves design firms only and uses project-phase language
Peer groups and roundtables
Shared lessons from other firm owners
Builds and installs the system inside your firm, with your own data and staff
Other providers do other jobs well, and Next Phase A&E works alongside them.
Rodney's view comes from his own firm: "We were growing fast and profitable, and consultants still pitched us a rescue. We needed systems to keep up with growth. Software was the same. We never wanted bells and whistles, only the basics, done well, giving us the numbers we run the firm on."
Start Here
Take the 7-Minute Firm Health Check to see where your firm still depends on you, or request a meeting. Learn more about Rodney McNabb.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a fractional CFO for my A&E firm or a business consultant?
Often both, for different jobs. A fractional CFO for A&E firms keeps books, taxes and financial statements accurate. Next Phase A&E works from those records to build pricing methods, project reports and procedures, and agrees WIP definitions with your accounting advisor.
Can Next Phase A&E work alongside my CPA or fractional CFO?
Yes. We work from the records they keep and agree WIP definitions with them before building any report.
Does Next Phase A&E sell or resell software?
No. When your new system needs an outside tool, you receive a scored vendor comparison and a recommendation with no vendor agenda. We disclose any referral relationship.
What happens if the scope changes?
The fixed fee covers the scope in your written proposal. New work becomes a new written proposal before it starts, so you approve every change in cost.
Why does Next Phase A&E use project phase names?
Pre-Design through Post-Occupancy follow the stages your firm already uses. Each phase has a clear start and finish, so you know what you are buying.
Do we need Schematic Design if we already know our problem?
Yes. The problem you see is often a symptom of a different cause. Slow collections often trace back to billing lag. Blown project budgets often trace back to fees set too low at the proposal stage. Schematic Design confirms the cause through your records and team interviews, so the fixes we build in Design Development solve the right problem. A focused problem leads to a focused diagnostic, scoped to your firm's size.