The kitchen wall is coming down. The attic needs a real room. A plot is ready and the family wants a house that fits the land. Someone searches for an architect near them, opens your site, and decides in a few seconds whether they can enquire without guessing. Soft mood boards and a contact form buried under three menus do not count. They open the next practice that already says what to do next.
An architect website is not a brochure for people who already know your practice. It is the front desk when the build has a date — or when the renovation cannot wait another season.
That first screen has to answer:
- What you design — houses, renovations and extensions, interiors, or commercial — in the first sentence.
- The area you work in, named towns or regions, not “we take projects everywhere”.
- How to enquire: a number that works on a phone, a short form, or an email you actually answer.
- A few finished projects with a plain caption — type of work, place, year — so nobody guesses your scale wrong.
- A little proof you are real — your name, the town, a photo from a recent site, not a stock skyline from another country.
You do not need a long essay about every material. You need a page that lets someone with a plot or a renovation finish the first enquiry without hunting.
If your current site still makes them hunt for that, write to hello@merkwell.com. Say what a first enquiry must answer on the first screen. We can put the desk where they can find it.