Welcome to Where it's AT | the Architectural Technology Podcast

Host Jon Clayton interviews AJ Fleet, a Chartered Architectural Technologist working across East Anglia. AJ describes growing up around the profession through his father’s practice, his current role balancing management, client conversations, and hands-on technical detailing, and a key challenge of struggling to say no to opportunities. He enjoys meeting people and solving complex project problems, and discusses differing personality strengths within practices and the challenge of moving from technical to management roles. AJ’s believes that most practices should charge higher fees and account for profit, supported by better internal transparency on hours and allowances. He highlights misconceptions about the breadth of Architectural Technology and recommends tools like Wisprflow voice dictation and Polycam LiDAR scans. He advocates talking to peers, apprenticeships and nurturing junior talent.

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AJ Fleet MCIAT

AJ (Adrian) Fleet MCIAT is a passionate Chartered Architectural Technologist working in a range of sectors across East Anglia. AJ's experience primarily focuses on the residential sector, working for both householders and developers and extends to the equine market, working with many of the key players in flat racing.

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00:00 Introduction

00:53 AJ's Early Roots in Architectural Technology

01:43 Growing Up Around Practice

02:22 Following Dad’s Footsteps

02:38 AJ's Typical Week Today

03:41 Hands On With Details

04:06 Working On vs In Business

04:45 Learning When To Say No

05:29 Approaching Work Challenges

06:48 What AJ Loves Most

08:00 Problem Solving Mindset

09:06 People Skills in the Industry

11:12 Playing to Team Strengths

12:48 The Case For Charging More

13:45 Profit and Pricing Reality

15:11 Talking Fees With the Team

17:53 Peer Support and Community

19:21 The Added Challenge For Sole Practitioners

20:32 Common Myth About Architectural Technology

23:20 AJ's Favourite Work App's

25:42 AJ's Main Takeaway

27:01 Architectural Technology Apprenticeships

28:10 Wrap Up

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Key Takeaways

Learn when to say no

AJ admits he has always struggled to turn down opportunities. He sees something promising and jumps straight in, which has sometimes worked against him. Over time, he has learned to step back and think about what saying yes really means — the time, the money, and whether the client is a good match. Not every opportunity is the right one, and sometimes it's better to pass it on to someone else.

Charge more — and don't forget profit

AJ believes most professionals in the industry are undercharging, sometimes by a lot. He points out that people often just multiply their hours by an hourly rate without properly thinking about profit. Profit is key in running a business, and if it isn't built into your fees, you could spend months working only to find out you've barely broken even. His advice: sit down, look at your real costs, review past projects, and be honest about whether your fees are high enough.

Talk to people — it's how you learn and grow

AJ's main takeaway from the conversation is simple: it's good to talk. If you don't talk to people, you won't get work. If you don't talk to people, you won't learn. He points out that sole practitioners in particular can end up sitting in an echo chamber with no one to bounce ideas off. Talking to other professionals — about fees, about technical problems, about how other businesses run — helps you spot what you're doing well and what you might want to change. Peer support, he says, is something you can't do without.

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Connect with AJ Fleet on LinkedIn

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Want to learn more about Architectural Technology, how to progress your career, or how to work with a Chartered AT? Head to architecturaltechnology.com to find out more

We welcome your feedback, so please keep in touch and email all feedback to [email protected]

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Podcast recorded and edited by: Jon Clayton [Podcasting]

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Disclaimer

The contents and views expressed by individuals in the Where it's AT podcast are their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the companies they work for, or CIAT (the Host). This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as advice.

The episode transcript is AI-generated. Typos or incorrect words may still be present.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: I'm Jon Clayton, Chartered Architectural Technologist,

and your host for this episode of "Where It's AT." We're joined by AJ Fleet.

AJ is a passionate Chartered Architectural Technologist working on a, a range of

sectors across East Anglia in the UK.

AJ's experience primarily focuses on the residential sector, working for both

householders and developers, and extends to the equine market, working with

many of the key players in flat racing.

In this episode, he'll tell us how he got into Architectural Technology,

talk about work challenges and the aspects of his work that he really

enjoys, plus share something he believes that you might not agree with.

AJ, thanks for joining us today.

Welcome to the

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Hi, Jon.

Thanks very much for having me

Jon Clayton MCIAT: You're very welcome.

It's a pleasure to have you here.

AJ, could we rewind and sort of start back at the very beginning?

How did you first hear about Architectural Technology and becoming

an Architectural Technologist?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: So if I'm completely honest, uh, I can't remember

when the first time was, uh, just because I've always known

about Architectural Technology ever since I was born, basically.

The reason being that my dad's an Architectural Technologist, Chartered

Architectural Technologist, and it's just been in the family for some time.

Um, so my first memories really are being in the trenches of an extension, uh, that

we carried out at home and, and seeing my dad drawing, uh, on a drawing board.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Oh, wow.

Well, so you've really followed in your father's footsteps.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Yeah.

Uh, yeah, almost entirely really, um, which has been, uh, the subject

of, uh, debate over the years, but it seems to have turned out okay.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: were you exposed to that sort of architecture office

environment from a very young age then?

Were you kind of involved or sort of, visiting the office and things, you know,

even perhaps before you left school?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: My dad's office was always connected to the house.

Um, so it was, i-it, it was life, uh, essentially.

I could nip in and see him on the odd occasion, see what he was up to, um,

then get hurried out of the office if something important was going on.

Um, a-and then, uh, the office moved then started to employ people.

So, uh, essentially saw the growth from essentially working from his

dining table, um, all, all the way up to where we are now, really.

So yeah, I've been, uh, indoctrinated.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: How do you think y- that your, your dad feels about this,

um, about you following in his footsteps?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: My dad doesn't say a lot but when he does say it, he means it.

And, and, uh, he's quite often, you know, just give me a nod

or, you know, "Well done.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: I'm sure he's very proud of you, AJ.

Fast-forwarding a little bit to present day then, could you tell

us about your typical sort of work week, um, as an Architectural

Technologist at your practice?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: So the practice has grown quite significantly over the years.

Um, there's now, uh, nine of us, I think it is, might be 10.

A typical week for me, uh, at the moment is, is kind of

management of that situation.

But I really enjoy talking to people as well, so th- you know, you could almost

say that sales was a big part of my role.

Talking to new clients, talking to existing clients, et cetera.

But I, I definitely still get involved at the coalface.

Um, and I wanna get-- you know, I wanna understand the nitty-gritty and, and

why, why certain things are being done the way they're being done, and what

the changes in legislation are really.

So it's a really varied week: management new clients and, and exposure to detail.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Yeah, so quite a varied role then.

Juggling those management responsibilities and as you say,

still being at the coalface.

So you, you're not afraid to be hands-on with some detailing

still and, and designing on

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Definitely not.

Definitely not.

Um, you know, we've had a, a, an interesting situation this week, um,

which has been a n- not a typical approach to damp-proof course,

which I know sounds incredibly dull.

But to get into the depths of the regulations and understanding

exactly why and where things need to go, that, I, I love that.

I, you know, I'm very, very detail-orientated.

I wanna be able to justify everything that I've done and make

sure I'm doing it the right way.

Um, so yeah, I, I, I love being in there.

Uh, it's a bit of a crossroad, I guess, in terms of my career currently

because whilst I love that side of things there's an argument that says

the size we are now, I probably should be working on the business a little

bit more than I am in the business.

And that is a balance to be had, uh, which at the moment I'm just about

wrestling on the right side of.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Yeah, absolutely.

That is certainly a challenge in that sort of position where you're, you know,

managing other team members as well and, um, obviously an integral part of,

of the business, aside from, you know, still having that desire to still keep

your, your hand in and, um, you know, work on the, the projects themselves.

I mean, that's just one of the challenges, isn't it, really?

But professionally, I mean, what would you say would be, you know, maybe one

of your biggest challenges or struggles?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: This has dawned on me over the years really, that I have a

real issue with saying no which has quite often been to my detriment.

You know, I see an opportunity and it's like: Yeah, right.

Let's, let's grab that and go with it.

Um, so I guess a, a big challenge there is, is just saying no to people really.

You know, sometimes you need to step back and, and consider all the

implications of what you're saying yes to.

Sometimes the opportunity's not right.

Sometimes maybe, you know, you could pass it on to somebody else.

Uh, but that, that's definitely a challenge that I've wrestled with and,

and continue to wrestle with as well.

I think it would be, um, r- remiss of me to say that I, I don't do that anymore.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: How have you approached overcoming that challenge?

Have you found anything that's worked for you to help you be more self-disciplined

to say no to these opportunities.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: So I've been doing this unbelievably, I can't believe it when I

say this, but for 20, over 20 years now.

And th-there's been challenging jobs, there's been, there's been fantastic jobs.

Uh, a-and it's just been about kind of identifying what went right with that,

what went wrong with that, and trying to understand if that potential issue is

presenting itself at the early stages.

Uh, you know, you go and meet a client, you, um, you wanna make sure that,

that you, you're a good match for them.

Uh, because ultimately that relationship is gonna be the foundation of a, of

a building project, and generally speaking, hundreds and hundreds of

thousands of pounds of expenditure.

So I think it's very much about self-reflection and, and understanding

where you fit, the kind of client that you fit with, and, uh, uh,

and just making sure that is the opportunity you wanna go for.

The difficulty is that you then balance that against the fact that you're

operating a practice that has got turnover requirements, cash flow requirements, um,

a-and, and just th-the balance of that.

But that's the beauty of business.

It seems to be going fine at the moment.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Well, that's good to hear.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Yeah.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Well, you've shared some of your challenges there.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: it, it sounds like a cliché really, or it is a cliché.

I, I, uh, I don't really feel like I go to work.

Like I said, this has been my life for forever.

I was first drawing on a computer at eight years old.

I, I don't know any different really in terms of, uh, a, a career.

So there are many things that I enjoy about it.

You know, the whole-- I'd very, very rarely go home having had

a bad or mediocre day really.

Um, but what I do really enjoy is talking to new people, different people, working

out what people's challenges are, working out how we can possibly fit into that

and maybe assist with the challenge.

Once you've got hold of that opportunity and, and you're working

on the project with, with your client, it's then working out how

to, how to solve the problems really.

It's, it's problem-solving at the end of the day.

Um, and that might be problem-solving from how do we finance this project,

or it might be problem-solving, how do we fix this DPC issue, uh, where

somebody's gone a little bit off-piste and, and now we need to bring it back in.

Um, so there's lots of challenges and, and that, that for me is, is the fun

part of the job in combination with meeting a whole plethora of people.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: I think that problem-solving aspect of the

role that really appeals to a lot of people that, um, are working

in Architectural Technology.

I mean, I think we are, genuine problem solvers.

I mean, that's a big part of what we do, isn't it?

That there's, there's so many problems and challenges to overcome even on,

um, you know, like a typical, even a small scale domestic project, there

can be some real hurdles to overcome.

And yeah, I think Architectural Technologists generally do tend

to excel at that sort of thing.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: It's, uh, projects are incredibly complex now.

They're, they're multifaceted.

Sometimes it's incredibly difficult to actually describe an issue to a client

because you have to go so far back and explain maybe 10 different things that

then converge in- into one to then, to then present what the issue is and then

present an, a solution to that issue.

So, you know, Architectural Technology is so broad, um, and, and, and just

trying to, to bring all of that together is often quite difficult.

That's the kind of situation I thrive on.

So that's probably what has, uh, made this, uh, career

relatively successful so far.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: And you also mentioned that you enjoy meeting new

people and interacting with people.

Do you think that that's unusual in this industry or do you think

that's a common trait of people working in Architectural Technology?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: I'm trying to think really how to answer that because to

a certain extent it's fundamental.

If you don't talk to people, you will not get work.

We've been really fortunate in so much as very rarely have we had to

kind of network, uh, uh, because the business has been in operation

for, uh, nearly 40 years now.

You know, there's, there's a word-of-mouth element to it.

Um, that doesn't mean that we can't or, or we don't network.

We know that's still a really key part of it, but you must talk to people

in order to sustain the business.

On the flip side of that, I rightly or wrongly think that the industry attracts

a certain kind of person, which is al- often quite detail-orientated, and maybe

they like to really get into that detail.

And quite often talking to people is just a distraction, and actually

we just wanna make sure that this is done to, to the best of our ability

and we're doing it exactly right.

So I, I think there's, um, there's a couple of personality types that come into

it, and ultimately that probably defines the trajectory of everybody's career.

So some people might be absolutely fine, um, doing the detail stuff.

Uh, others might actually not be satisfied by that and want to go off

and, and tr- and change into more of a, a, a management, networking kind of

business, uh, evolution kind of role.

Um, so I think it attracts all kinds of people.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: I'm sort of drawing on my own experience of working

previously in some larger practices.

There were team members that, very rarely they would be client-facing, that

they would primarily be, you know, in the office at the computer or at their

desk solving technical design problems.

But they weren't you know, maybe not as comfortable being in front of people.

Um, but then there were other members of the team that were quite comfortable

with that, and they did tend to be more kind of client-facing and had

a slightly different skill set.

And I suppose that as you say, that depending on what you're comfortable

with, which way you're wired, what type of personality you've got, you

hope that that would be recognised in your practice and that you can sort of

play to your strengths, whether that is being more of a people person and

maybe being brought through maybe into a management position versus somebody

that is absolutely amazing at all the technical details, but maybe isn't

quite as good with being client-facing.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: I mean, yeah, you took the words, the words right

out of my mouth there really.

You have to play to p-people's strengths.

Especially here in the office, that becomes very evident that, you know,

certain people have got certain skills you can kind of nurture.

The approach that we take here is that we really want everybody that

works here to have a really great understanding of the overall process.

But the more complex these projects become, it, the, the more impossible it

becomes to keep abreast of everything.

So you do have to pick out people's certain skills, uh, and, and allow them

to kind of explore them a little bit further and decide if that is actually

somewhere where they want to go really.

And ultimately, uh, y-you know, you've probably seen it yourself, sometimes

you can end up with somebody that's a fantastic Technologist, they get to a

point in their career by whereby arguably their next move is to go to management,

but they're not suited to that role.

You know, that, that isn't their strength.

And sometimes, um, I mean, we've been very fortunate we haven't seen it here,

but s-sometimes if you get put into that position, actually it's almost, uh, it's

almost kind of, um, going backwards.

You know, you have to, you have to learn that skill again.

Um, so yeah, th-this, uh, horses for courses you might say.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: AJ, I've got a question here that I, I'm really curious to see

how you're going to answer this one.

So what's one thing that you believe strongly that your

peers might disagree with?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: I, I guess maybe one of the strongest things of one of my,

uh, one of my pet subjects is fees.

And it's difficult for everybody, really, really difficult for everybody.

But I, I, I think probably the one thing that my peers might disagree with is that

they should be charging more, uh, and, uh, and, and in some cases significantly more.

I won't go around naming figures because they can be taken out

of context really quite quickly.

But, you see some fee proposals and you think, "Crikey, there's no way that that

can be delivered for the money." And then, and then you really scratch your

head and you're like, "Well, am I right?

Have, have I got this wrong?" Um, and, and then you go back and you, and you

do an analysis and you think, "No, no, this, this is right, basically." Um,

so I think the one thing that, um, my peers may disagree with is that they

should definitely be charging more.

And the other word that some would agree with, some wouldn't, is probably profit.

You know, profit is a really, really, really key, It's the fundamental

point of business, basically.

And it, and it-- and if you're not allowing for that within your fee

proposals, which some people don't, some people just look at their hourly

rate and, and they're like, "Okay, it's gonna take 10 hours. I'm gonna

times that by my hourly rate here."

A- and then w- it throws out the figure, and that's absolutely fine.

And what they haven't really considered is, is the profit

that's associated with, with that.

Um, I could probably do a whole podcast episode on, on how I

feel about fees, Jon, really.

But ultimately, uh, take your time analyze what you're charging, really

sit down and understand what your costs are, really understand what

your time allowances are for things.

Look back at previous projects.

Um, you know, I might be sat here, uh, uh, just because I'm saying

these things doesn't mean that I've got a full handle on it.

You know, it's really hard.

Really, really hard.

Especially in markets like they are at the moment.

Um, where do you place yourself?

Uh, how do I ensure that I've still got the c- the turnover coming in every month?

AJ's telling me I should be putting my fees up, but actually I haven't

got any projects for next month, so maybe I'll drop my fee down.

Uh, it's, it's really hard.

Really hard.

Um, but my major thing that they would disagree with is the fees

need to go up, and I don't think I've ever spoken to one person who I

don't believe the fee should go up.

Maybe one.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Obviously if you are, um, em-employed within a practice or

you're not selling architectural services, y-you're not kind of like the, you know,

running your own practice, then, you know, maybe you don't think about fees so much.

I mean, having said that, it, it's really useful actually for employers

to, I think, be more open with their employees about what fees are allowed on

projects because that was a rare thing.

I, I'm not sure really that any places that I worked was that open

with it, that said, "Look, guys, you know we've, we've got this, this

is our allowance for this project.

These are how many hours we've allowed for it.

And i-is that realistic before we put this proposal out?

And, um, and if so, you know, can we, can we aim to try and work within this?"

Because otherwise there's that s- you know, that scope creep or the hourly

rate is eroded if you, if you're charging on an hourly rate or day rate basis.

So that's one thing I would say from like an employee-employer perspective

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Yeah.

I think that's really, really key.

It's a conversation that we've had here in, in the practice for some time, it's

something along the lines of, you know, maybe we should really… Let, let's look

at the profit and loss for the month.

Let's look at the profit and loss for the quarter.

Let's understand where the holes are, where the, where the money's

going, where we've made money.

So now we really do try and sit down, um, let people understand the

hours associated with a project.

At the moment, I must admit, I haven't brought myself to a position

where we actually discuss fees.

Although having said that, everybody knows what their hourly rate is and

they, they know the hours allocated to it and, and generally speaking it,

it's, it's relatively easy to work out.

But that's definitely something that we're working on.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, a- as you say, there's, there's always room for improvement

with these things, um, even for established practices.

I think another thing is just that my own experience when I left uh,

p- I was employed in a practice and then I went up and, and for a number

of years I'd, I ran my own practice.

I sort of struggled to know what I should charge.

That wasn't clear to me, and I think that there was this like y-

you sort of stick to what you know.

And I think that's the case certainly like sole practitioners.

They might think, "Well, this is what I got charged out at, at the other

practice, so maybe I should start by charging out at the same kind of rate."

Or m- maybe they might think, "Well, I'd like to take this much of a

wage, so if I sort of allow a little bit on top of that, then that's

enough." But it could be so wildly

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Could be wildly wrong.

And it's dangerous, you know.

Ultimately, you could spend months working only to realise months down the line that

actually it was wrong in the first place.

Um, so it, it really is, really is tricky.

I mean, the, the WhatsApp group that I'm part-- I said that I'm part

of a WhatsApp group with several Architectural Technologists in, and

this conversation comes up all the time.

Um, you know, how much should we charge for this?

How much would you charge for this?

And the difficulty there is that everybody's situation is different.

So it's not necessarily kind of y- uh, s-somebody, uh, couldn't

ask me, " Okay, we've got this development of 10 houses over here.

Um, how much would you charge?"

Because that is, you can't do it like that.

It's impossible to, to, to respond.

You have to really take a look at the site, all of the constraints.

Th-there's so many things that feed into it.

But I, I think one of the good things is to talk to other practitioners.

You know, there are plenty of people out there that are willing to have a

very, very open conversation about fees.

I, I, I, you know, I'd be happy f- to talk to anybody that came to me.

One of the things that fascinates me the most, um, a-about, about my role and,

and, and the job is I am fascinated by the way that other businesses operate.

How do they do that?

You know, h-how is this part done?

What happens if this occurs?

Y- uh, that, that-- I just love conversations with people that are

doing the same thing, and it might be a slightly different area that they

operate in, but their experience over there might feed into my experience

over here, and it all kind of just comes together to, to, to really

inform where you should potentially be.

And you might find things and you think, "Crikey, I'm doing this terribly.

I should change this," or maybe, "I'm-- actually, I'm doing all

right here." Because there, there's a, there's a real especially for

sole practitioners, you know.

You sit in an echo chamber, uh, quite often and, and often,

you know, you might feel that.

I, I feel that sometimes if I'm working remotely, um, there's

nobody to turn around and talk to.

You have to talk to other people, and that probably comes back to the point

that I made about the-- one of my favorite parts of the job is, is talking to, to

various people, because you don't get work if you don't talk to people, and you

don't learn if you don't talk to people.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: I've found generally that most Architectural Technologists

that I've spoken to have j- in the vast majority have been very open to

talking about all sorts of different matters, whether that's kind of business

and fees related or to just give you some non-judgmental advice on a, on

a detail or something that you might not be sure about because there's

so much that we need to know and

I- I mean, it's impossible really to be able to know everything and

retain everything inside your head.

So, you know, you're often relying on kind of we should rely on d- uh, on

each other and support each other, you know, whether that's to get a bit of,

help with the business or help with a

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

There's, uh, there's nothing like peer support.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Okay then, so AJ, what's one thing that you wish more people

understood about Architectural Technology?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: I would say really that I wish they understood how broad it is,

you know, from a layman's perspective.

And I, I work a lot in the domestic market, so ultimately, uh, a typical

job for us may well be, uh, somebody comes to us for a self-build, or it

might be that actually, you know, we, we work on a whole range of schemes.

It might be a kitchen extension on the back of a, a terraced

house, or it could well be a £15 million, uh, e- equine development.

It could be a £20 million residential development.

You know, there's a huge broad range of what we do.

But quite often it's like, "I need a set of plans."

And it's like, okay, th- you know, we can do the plans as part of it, but

that isn't the whole job, basically.

And it's impossible to explain it to everybody because you know, go- going

back to something I said earlier, you would just be there forever trying to

explain how these 10 things then feed into delivering a building project.

So, so that is, is, is really important.

Yeah, uh, just how broad it is really.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: I think that's probably is a really big misconception, isn't it?

That the general public they, you know, when they think about what anybody does

within architecture and Architectural Technology, so we could also include

architects in this as well, or other architectural designers as well as

Architectural Technologists, that the, the public perception is often that, isn't it?

Particularly for, um, somebody that's never done a renovation before,

that, well, those professionals just, they just draw plans.

That's kind of what they do.

And it's like, well, there's so much more to it, isn't there?

As you say, it's, it's such a broad range.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Yeah.

And I also think it's really important for people to understand that, you know,

Architecture Technology fundamentally is rooted in the science of Architecture.

You know, how does something go together?

How do we make sure it doesn't fall down?

How do we keep it warm?

How do we keep it safe in a fire?

Those types of things.

But also, they, the, you know, the, the, a Chartered Architectural Technologist

is, is qualified to carry a project right the way through from inception all the

way through to completion and handover.

A-a-and quite often it may well be a conversation along the lines of, "Ah,

all right, so, uh, you're a, you're a Technologist," or typically they

say, "Ah, so you're a technician.

Um, so you, you, you just do the, you know, you do the details." It's like,

"Well, yeah, we can absolutely do the details, and we'll do them really well,

but we can also take your project all the way from the start all the way

through to the end and successfully as well." So y-you know, it's just making

sure that they understand that if they need, uh, a solution or if they n- they

need an architectural service, Chartered Architectural Technologists can deliver

it from the beginning to the end.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Absolutely.

Yep.

More people need to know that.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: They absolutely do.

Shout it from the roofs.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: AJ, just a quick question for you now.

Do you have a favorite piece of tech?

So this could be something that you use at, at work or, or maybe even personally.

Do you have anything, um, at all?

Maybe a gadget or an app or a piece of

software that you like to use?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: I, I love tech.

You know, I think it's inherent in, in the profession basically, you know.

If, if you're interested in Architecture Technology, you're probably interested

in a piece of technology over here and how does that work, et cetera.

So that naturally leads me to look at absolutely everything.

You know, "God, I've gotta get a drone over here," or maybe

I've gotta get this new piece of surveying equipment over here.

There's loads of technology that I use.

I guess if I was to pick out something that's had a real impact on me in the

last few months it's, it's probably something as simple as, uh, I'm

using this app at the moment called Whisperflow, uh, which is an AI app,

which I, I know it gets really boring when anybody turns to the subject o- all AI.

But honestly, the technology in that product is unbelievable.

It's so straightforward as well.

It's one of those products that is what voice dictation on a phone should be.

Ultimately, what happens is you talk into your phone or your computer and

you're dictating to it, but it picks up all of what you've said, and it

will identify if you've made any mistakes, and it will correct it.

uh, you know, I cannot convey how much of an impact this has had

on, on my productivity really, because, you know, my typing's okay.

It's absolutely fine, but I can nail an email in no time at

all, and it is near on perfect.

So yeah, it-- that, that is absolutely fantastic at the moment.

Uh, I'm also using things, uh, like LiDAR scanning just, just on my phone, just

as a very quick reference to, oh, what happened in that room over there, or I

missed this socket i-in this location, or actually there's a beam over here.

Didn't take a picture because inevitably you never take enough photographs.

So if you've got a LiDAR scan, so I use Polycam on my phone that's fantastic too.

Uh, all very app-based I'm, I'm thinking, but, uh, y-yeah, there's,

there's lots and lots of, um, lots and lots of other technology that we use.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Mm. Couple of great recommendations there.

I'm gonna make a note of those, AJ, and check those out.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Everything comes as a subscription though, so

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's the thing.

You've got to be careful that you don't have too many subscriptions

that you're paying for.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: yeah

Jon Clayton MCIAT: AJ, we'll try and wrap things up now.

So what, what's the main thing that you would like the listeners to take away

from this conversation we're having today?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Probably just to talk to each other, Jon, in all honesty.

Rewind 25, 30 years, I probably wouldn't have spoken… I, I

would certainly wouldn't have been on this podcast, Jon, you know.

But as, uh, as you get older, a-as you mature quite often you end up just

being a little bit more confident, basically, and that leads to conversations

which lead to other conversations.

It's good to talk.

That, that's probably the line that I would take, um, from this.

Uh, I'm, I'm not gonna leave this opportunity, though,

to say increase your fees.

Um, but o-other than, uh, yeah, ta-takeaway from this is good to talk.

And, and to that point, I'd also say if, if anyone, uh, if I've,

triggered anybody in anything that I've said, then get in touch.

I'd, I'd love to chat about things, anything.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Oh, that's a really nice offer.

We've spoken before, AJ, and I can vouch to everybody that you'll have

a great chat if you contact AJ.

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Just, just trying to stop me talking might be a problem, but, um,

Jon Clayton MCIAT: Yeah, that's usually the thing.

We both like to talk though, so it's perfect, um, you know, having a

conversation on the podcast, you know?

Uh, it's great if you like to talk.

Is there anything else that you wanted to add, AJ?

Is there anything that we haven't already covered that you wanted to mention?

AJ Fleet MCIAT: Really, I mean, uh, I probably guess the other thing is,

you know, as a, as a practice, we're really into nurturing junior talent.

have this job.

A lot of my friends all kind of rib me because, you know, "Oh, you got

your job because your dad gave you a job." But ultimately uh, we've

always nurtured young people that are interested, that want to learn and

understand it and work their way through.

So, if we haven't discussed anything, it would be apprenticeships and just

encouraging any practices out there to explore the opportunities with that.

t- because it's just a really good way of bringing new talent in, and there are so

many kids out there that are interested.

Uh, uh, and once you kind of make it known that you're interested, that you

get some really, really good people.

Um, I've got a great relationship with local, uh, colleges here.

Simon Ward at, uh, Cambridge Regional College, who runs a course there.

Uh, y- it's just, it's good to talk again, isn't it?

We come back to that point.

But yeah, uh, if you haven't checked out apprenticeships, I'd

definitely look at apprenticeships for Architecture Technology.

Jon Clayton MCIAT: That's, um, that's a great place to

leave things, I think, today.

Uh, and I'm also a huge fan of apprenticeships as well.

AJ, just thank you so much for being a speaker on the show.

Really appreciate you sharing some of your experiences and, um,

yeah, thank you so much for your

AJ Fleet MCIAT: No problem at all, Jon.

Thanks very much for the opportunity.

It's been, uh, it's been quite fun.

I'd encourage anyone to, uh, get in touch to do their own.