Lisa Raynes: a day in the life of an architect franchisor

Lisa Raynes is a domestic architect and the franchisor of Pride Road Architects – a brand that aims to offer franchisees flexibility

The typical day

Lisa lives in Gatley, South Manchester with her husband, three children, two dogs, one cat, and for a short time last year – a Ukrainian family.

While working from home, Lisa strikes a balance between architectural jobs which see her in client meetings, drawing, and making visits to properties, alongside franchising tasks, which include recruitment, operational development and franchisee support.

Lisa: I set up on my own in 2010 after having my third child. I was made redundant after the financial crash because 50% of all architects lost their jobs, so I had to set up on my own out of necessity.

I realised that architecture is particularly difficult for women because there’s a long-hours work culture. We’re usually the first people to go in a recession because of part-time and flexible working.

Now, a full-day concept design workshop at Pride Road is five and a half hours, so it fits with school.

At 6.45, I wake up and have a quick shower and then take the dogs for a walk. It’s nice to be out and have a bit of fresh air. At around 8.00, I like to clear the kitchen just to have some control over my environment.

I work from home so I’m usually at my desk and ticking off some of the stuff on my to-do list before I start meetings. That might be paying bills, responding to a quick email, or doing a bit of social media marketing.

I’m still working as an architect, so my room is covered in drawings that I need to process and send over. Because we’re a franchise, we’ve got a very formulaic way of working in terms of process. We have a one-hour online consultation with our clients to take a brief and then we offer a paid piece of work, which is a hand-drawn concept design workshop.

We do extensions and loft and garage conversions, so we go to a client’s house for half a day, which is three and half hours and usually equates to £450. A month later we have a follow-up meeting to see what’s right.

I also have franchise tasks. We’re just developing the CRM a little bit more to make improvements for everybody. I go through stages of nurture and growth – I’m currently in a recruitment stage. I’m at the start of planning 2024’s calendar and we’ve got plans.

My future ambition is growth, growth, growth! I love it when all the franchisees meet up because there’s just so much energy in the room and we often have CPDs and we’ll just throw really challenging questions at the suppliers.

After a long day, I usually start cooking tea for the kids (I’ve got three kids) or I might take the dogs for a walk. If it’s a particularly busy time of year then I might have some evening appointments with clients.

Today one of my franchisees is on her way to see me. She’s going to be staying over and we’re going to be hanging out, which is nice.

A pride of architects

Pride Road Architecture faces different challenges to the ‘typical’ franchise. Franchisees must be qualified architects, which immediately narrows the recruitment pool.

However, Lisa has been able to attract four franchisees, and has ambitions to grow this further, with her positive focus on empowering those who need to work outside nine-to-five. In fact, the idea of a pride of lionesses provided inspiration for the brand name.

My potential franchisees are architects, so I attend a lot of architect events. My perfect franchisee is any architect who, after spending a minimum of seven years training to qualify, now struggles to find a better kind of work-life balance, especially around family demands.

The word architect is a protected term. You have to be fully qualified in the UK to practice. I’ve been affected by Brexit because before we recognised European architects in this country and now we don’t. For one of my franchisees Magda, she qualified in Poland and was actually my pilot franchisee – she wouldn’t be able to do that same journey today.

I just love developing confidence in women – teaching them how to ‘do business’. The confidence is amazing. We learn together because you’ve always got to learn in our industry to be on top of legislation.

Get to know…

Lisa is a positive force, creating a more inclusive space for architects in the industry, while also adding a more specialist option within franchising.

Anything you can’t work without?
Coffee

What’s your greatest fear?
Seaweed

What’s your current state of mind?
Positive, we’ve just gone through a recruitment drive.

Where would you most like to retire?
We’ve got a canal boat, so we want to spend three years on the boat travelling around.

Your favourite possession is?
Air pods

What qualities do you most admire in yourself?
Confidence, resilience, and problem-solving.

What quality do you value most in your friends?
Loyalty and the ability to make me laugh.

What talent would you most like to possess?
To be able to sing

What’s your favourite meal?
Eggs royale

Guilty pleasure?
Married at First Sight

A film you watch over and over is…
I don’t watch films over and over again.

Your favourite song is…
‘I Am Woman’ by Helen Reddy