A developer planning a mixed-use scheme, a couple looking to build a family home, a logistics company that needs an engineering firm for a new warehouse: before meeting anyone, they all start by searching for an architect online, or by asking an AI assistant who is worth talking to. The firms that appear at that moment get the first meetings and the chance to pitch. The rest never make the shortlist.
That makes choosing a visibility partner a strategic decision for an architecture practice. And one question is asked far too rarely before signing: does this partner also work for your direct competitors?
The conflict of interest nobody mentions
When a client searches for an architect in their city, or asks an AI assistant to recommend a reliable structural engineering firm, only a few positions really count. The first names get most of the attention. If your partner serves three competing practices in the same city, chasing the same kinds of projects, they are in an impossible position: they cannot put all three at the top.
In practice, one of the three will be favoured, deliberately or not. Perhaps the one paying most, perhaps the one who signed first, perhaps the one whose case is easiest. Nothing tells you it will be yours, and you would have no way of finding out from the reports you receive, which will naturally present your own results in the best possible light.
What you risk by sharing a partner
Your strategic information
To do the job properly, a visibility partner needs to know your practice in depth: the projects you are chasing, your specialisms, the clients you want, the frameworks and tenders you are targeting, the areas where you want to grow. That is sensitive information. Handing it to someone who also serves your closest rival is a risk few principals would accept in any other part of the business.
A blurred position
If three practices get the same approach, they start to look alike online. The client comparing them no longer sees a clear difference. Yet architects are chosen precisely for what sets them apart: design language, portfolio, sector experience, the way they run a project from brief to completion.
Divided attention
A partner's time and focus are finite. When they serve several competitors, every judgment call favours someone. You will never really know whether an opportunity was pursued for you or for the firm across town.
Our guide on what happens when a competitor shows up before you shows what that situation costs in practice.
Two levels of protection with Traffic Engine
Limited seats
Kolonell limits each sector to 3 standard seats per area. Each seat has its own positioning, so the practices served are not fighting over exactly the same clients: one might focus on residential, another on commercial and public buildings, a third on engineering and technical studies. That rule sharply reduces the conflict of interest without eliminating it, since you still share the sector with two other firms. Our guide on why a serious provider limits clients per sector and area explains the reasoning.
Sector exclusivity
The second level goes further. With Momentum Exclusive or Flood Exclusive, your sector is locked: no other architecture or engineering firm in your area is served by Kolonell for the whole of your 12-month commitment. You no longer have to wonder who else your partner is working for. In your vertical, they work for you alone.
There is one strict condition: the option is only available while the sector is empty in your area. As soon as the first standard seat is signed, exclusivity is withdrawn. It is decided early, or not at all, which is why the question deserves a place in your first conversation with any provider rather than your last.
What exclusivity is worth, in numbers
Momentum Exclusive costs €3,900 a month and Flood Exclusive €5,900 a month, with the same one-off €1,500 setup as the other plans. Over the first year that comes to €48,300 for Momentum Exclusive and €72,300 for Flood Exclusive, against €24,300 for standard Momentum.
To judge whether the premium is justified, think in projects. A single commission for a building or a public facility can generate fees well above the gap between the two plans. If your area is contested and each project is worth a lot, locking the sector means the searches that matter will not benefit any rival served by the same partner. The payback calculator on the page helps you run that math with your own figures.
Questions to put to any provider
- Do you already work for an architecture or engineering firm in my city?
- How many clients from my sector do you accept in the same area?
- Do you offer exclusivity, and on what written terms?
- What happens if a competitor approaches you during our contract?
A provider who sidesteps these questions has already answered them. Our guide on what architecture firms should ask before a 12-month deal completes the list.
Your next step
Traffic Engine is the Kolonell offer that makes your practice visible when a client searches for an architect or engineering firm, on Google and in the answers AI assistants give. The Visibility Audit at €690, deducted from the setup if you start within 30 days, shows where you stand and whether exclusivity makes sense in your area. The first thing to check is simple: is your sector still empty? See the offer and check whether exclusivity is still available in your area.