Melbourne BoSP – Strategies for winning work

Building relationships was central to the discussion on strategies for winning work at the recent Business of Small Practice (BoSP) forum event in Melbourne – the fourth in the event series run by the ACA in Victoria. Kieran Benson opened the event and has written an excellent recap.

The fourth Victorian BoSP event was held on 26 August 2025, within the warmth and comfort of Signature Flooring’s showroom above Flinders Lane, thankfully well out of the dreary Melbourne evening. As event host and sponsors, Signature Flooring provided an anecdote of their own engagement with First Nations suppliers as a method to both give back and win work, framing the discussion to follow.

Our panel of industry experts included:

• Jessie Fowler – Founding Director and Architect at Fowler and Ward, representing the residential side of architecture;
• Patrick Cooney – Director of Sales at Milieu Property, who spoke about multi-res projects and what Milieu seeks in the architects they work with;
• Louise Tozer – Director of Capital Works at RMIT, discussing the details of the tendering process across both open and select tenders; and
• Mat Foley – Founding Director and Architect at Content Studio, as well as BoSP committee member, leading the discussion and sharing his experience across education projects.

Moderated by Mat Foley, the discussion highlighted each panellist’s experiences and strategies for securing work. Representing differing building typologies within the construction industry, the speakers provided professional insights and compelling anecdotes – whether as architects describing how they win projects, or as client-side professionals explaining how they choose which architects to engage.

Jessie spoke to the evolving nature of lead generation and how Fowler and Ward has grown over time. Initially, personal relationships led to projects, which as the practice developed, gave way to professional and peer relationships to provide leads instead. The practice now prides itself on the approachable nature demonstrated in their work, helping to generate leads.

Patrick described how Milieu Projects selects architects whose values and professionalism are reflected in all aspects of their work, from their website and social media posts to their delivered projects. As a registered B-Corp, Milieu Projects has a longstanding relationship with architects whose ethics align with theirs, to ensure delivery of quality multi-res housing projects.

Louise revealed some fascinating insights into the importance of flexibility in practices working within the bureaucracy of large organisations such as RMIT. Practices should be clear and concise in responding to RFT’s, tailoring tender responses to the client and project, while highlighting the practice’s point of difference. RMIT considers previous relationships with tenderers, such as on smaller projects, alongside their qualitative tender assessments.

At Content Studio, Mat shared how a small, pro bono cubby house project born of a personal connection at a local kindergarten led to a full kindergarten build as the relationship evolved into a professional one – this eventually led to school projects with the VSBA. A poignant anecdote about how small work can lead to large was echoed by comments from our other speakers.

As always, our panellists’ time and effort in contributing to the BoSP forum is greatly appreciated.

Some key takeaways from the event include:

• Be aware of the importance of personal, professional and/or peer relationships in generating project leads. Consider what partnerships you can undertake with larger (or smaller) practices.
• Don’t be afraid of taking on smaller projects (including pro bono work), which may lead to bigger opportunities in the future.
• Engage as widely as you can with publications, tender panels, awards, etc.
• Be professional in all aspects of your work, and your practice.
• Ensure that the values your practice stands for are reflected in your actions.
• Consider that if you are not ISO certified for aspects of tenders, it’s still worth demonstrating that you understand and meet the spirit of the certification – that may suffice.
• Be concise and on topic in your RFT responses.

My main learning from the conversation on strategies for winning work, was that everything is cumulative. Start small, engage professionally, and build up from there.

Kieran Benson is a registered architect and is proud to serve as Chair of the ACA’s Business of Small Practice (BoSP) committee in Victoria.

Photos: Lewis Catalano
Host venue: Signature Flooring