The most useful questions to ask a client are about how they live day to day, because that's where most of what they want for the house comes from. Below are 45 questions grouped by topic, a few follow-ups for when an answer opens something up, and a set of questions to ask each person in the household on their own.
A fixed list only gets you so far, because the best information comes from follow-ups that depend on each answer. That's why we built Formform as an adaptive interview. Everyone in the household gets their own link, and every question is written from the answer before it. Apply for the pilot to try it on your next project.
Start with these, since they set the limits for everything else.
Most of the brief comes from here, so ask about a real day, like last Tuesday.
Most people find it easier to say what annoys them about their home now than to describe what they want, so start there.
The answers affect where rooms go and how big the windows are.
These are awkward to ask in a meeting, which is why they get skipped so often.
People often stay in a house long after their situation changes, so ask about the next ten years too.
Leave these for later in the conversation. If style comes first, people tend to talk about pictures they like and much less about how they live.
Ask these separately, ideally in writing. The answers are often different from the ones you get with everyone in the room.
A fixed list asks every client the same thing. The useful information usually comes from the second or third question, the one you ask because of what they just said. Some follow-ups worth having ready:
For example, a client says, "I drink coffee in the morning." On a form, that's not worth writing down. Ask when, and the answer is 7:20, because that's when the winter sun clears the roof across the street and hits the kitchen counter. Now the counter's position matters, and so does which way the kitchen faces. Ask what else happens at that time, and you learn the street outside is noisy and that their daughter sits on the counter every morning while they make breakfast. That changes the window, the glass and the height of the handles.
In most first meetings one person does most of the talking and the other mostly agrees. The quieter one often has needs that never come up, like a home office they gave up on, a parent who might move in, or a strong opinion about an open kitchen they don't want to argue about in front of you.
When you have answers from each person, put them side by side and look for:
Write the differences into the brief, because settling them on site later costs a lot more.
How many questions should you ask a client? Enough to fill every section of the brief, which for a house is usually 30 to 50, plus the follow-ups. The follow-ups are where most of the useful answers come from, so leave room for them.
When should you interview the client? Before the first design meeting, after you've agreed to work together. Then the meeting can be spent on the answers.
Should you interview both partners? Yes, separately if you can. Answers given in front of a partner and an architect are often more agreeable than the real ones.
Why isn't a fixed client questionnaire enough? Because the most useful questions depend on the answer before them, and a fixed form asks everyone the same thing. It can't ask "at what time?" after someone says they drink coffee in the morning, and that's the kind of follow-up an adaptive interview asks.
What's the difference between client questions and a design brief? The questions collect what each person says. The brief is what you and the client agree the building has to do, written down and signed off. Our guide to writing a design brief covers that step, with an example.
Formform runs this kind of interview for you, follow-ups included. Everyone who will live in the house gets their own link and answers on their phone, in their own time, with no account to make. Each question is written from the answer before it, so the follow-ups happen even when you're not in the room. The answers reach you while the interview is still running, and Formform shows you where people in the household disagree. It then writes a brief from their words. Every point in it links back to what someone said, and you decide what goes in.
We're running a pilot for architects, interior designers and renovation contractors. Apply here and try it on your next project.
What a design brief in architecture is, what goes in it, how it differs from a client brief and a return brief, and a worked example for a family home where two partners want different things.
Why client expectations and reality drift apart on residential projects, and eight ways architects and interior designers can manage them from the first meeting, including when a couple wants different things.