Permaculture Learning

When do we do a client questionnaire?

The client questionnaire is an important part of the survey.
(The step comes at the very beginning of your design process)

The client questionnaire is one of the most difficult parts of design for many people, since getting useful information out of our clients can often be a big challenge! So keep reading the rest of this article to get tips and tricks for how to do a successful client questionnaire.

I would always recommend doing your site survey and looking for your own information, before speaking to your client. That’s because their answers and opinions will shape the way you think about the project (and not always in a good way) So whether you are redesigning a piece of land, a house, or a business, make sure to take a good look around, before asking your client questions. That way you’ll be able to make some of your own conclusions before getting influenced too much by what they say to you!

What should we think about before doing a questionnaire?

Before doing the questionnaire, you’re going to want to plan your interview with your client carefully.

Ask yourself these questions:

• How long will the interview last? Make a clear agreement with your client about time limits. Then STICK to your agreement.
• What questions do you need to ask? Plan your interview well!
• Who will be in the room with you? Do you have someone who can take notes, so you can concentrate on listening to your client? Or could you record the conversation for later? Basically think about how you will document the interview.
• Is there actually more than one client – can you speak to them seperately so they don’t influence each other too much?
• How can you make your client feel most comfortable, and able to speak freely? Do you need to meet them a few times, or send them the questions in advance? Could you offer them some refreshments and help them to get settled in?
• Do you have a strategy for getting the conversation back on track if your client is losing focus, or talking about a different subject than you asked them about?

Client Questionnaire Template for Land based project.

What are your clients needs and wants?

• What is your overall vision for the project? Get as much detail as possible!
• Tell me about your goals! What outputs do you want from this place?
• How would you prioritise these goals? What is most/least important?
• What would they like to have in the future?
• Can you be even more specific about your goals? Exactly what, and by when?

Who is your client?

• Who uses the place?
• Ask each individual – who are you?
• How many people use the place?
• What are your values?
• What are their eating habits?
• What is their lifestyle and occupation?
• Do you have any barriers? Skills/Physical/Health/Emotional/Money
• Are there any cultural considerations to take into account?

How does your client feel about things as they are now?

• What are the current outputs/yields of the place as it is now?
• What do you particularly like about this place?
• What do you particularly dislike about this place? Where are you losing energy? What isn’t working?
• What things do you want to keep as they are now?
• Anything you want to get rid of, remove?
• Anything you want to change?
• How is this place used, and by who?
• Are there any big or unusual events that happen here once in a while?
• Do you know anything about the history of this place?

Questions about the site – from our survey

• Ask all the questions you noted in your survey. Maybe there were some things you weren’t sure about.
• Maybe this is the routes of underground utilities and pipes
• Are there any rules or regulations that you know about, that we need to take into account?
• What about the boundaries? What is going on over the fences, and in the local area?

Known Challenges

• Any known problems or challenges?
• Water, topography, neighbours, conflicts, planning permission, pollution, smells, unpleasant views, dust, climate etc.

Resources

• How much time do you have to implement the design?
• How much time do you have to maintain the new design?
• What skills could you bring to this project?
• What is the budget for this project?
• Are you interested in increasing the budget…does this design also need to generate money?
• What resources are there on-site that we can use?
• Do you know of any resources close by that we could use?

Other ideas from the client

• Have you already had some ideas about how to use or design this place?
• What made you think of these ideas? What needs do your ideas provide for? What reasons made you want to include these ideas?

Anything else…

This is the golden question! Giving your client time to speak freely about anything else they find important, will be of great help!

What is the next step after this questionnaire?

So now you have lots of information from your client!
Hopefully now you have some clear goals and already know which FUNCTIONS your design should provide. Is your design supposed to produce food? Or is it supposed to create beauty, or reduce waste? Make sure your clients goals are clear before moving onto the next step.

The next step is ANALYSIS of all this new information. It is the step where we make sense of the information we found in our survey and interview.

Remember you can always go back to your client throughout the design process and keep them involved in what’s going on. That will ensure the design is well suited to them, and reduce the risk of them feeling surpised.