An architecture practice runs three fleets that pretend to be one: an IT fleet of CAD workstations and laptops, a studio fleet of plotters, VR headsets, and the samples wall, and a site fleet of laser measures, cameras, and hi-vis that leaves the building every week. Each fails in its own way, and the drawer of client and site keys fails worst of all. This guide covers keeping all of it accounted for without a process the design team will ignore.
What you will learn
- Three fleets, one studio
- What to track in a practice
- Treat every site visit as a checkout
- Shared studio kit and the key safe
- Getting started
- FAQ
Three fleets, one studio
Each fleet loses things differently:
- The IT fleet drifts at the edges. Workstations stay put, but laptops follow hybrid work home, and at offboarding nobody is sure which dongles went with whom.
- The studio fleet suffers from shared custody. The VR headset was “around” until the morning of the client presentation; the plotter’s recurring fault lives in five memories and no log.
- The site fleet evaporates quietly. The laser measure that went to a measured survey in February is in a coat pocket, a car boot, or the site cabin - discovered on the morning someone needs it.
The common factor: handovers happen socially - a shout across the studio - and social handovers leave no record. An asset agent can find the laptops, but not the laser measure or the key to the Mill Lane site.
What to track in a practice
| Asset group | Where it lives | How it moves | Approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workstations and laptops | Desks and homes | Rarely; at joins and leaves | Assign to the person |
| Plotter and studio printers | The print corner | Never | Assign to the studio; log every fault |
| VR headsets and presentation kit | A cupboard | Weekly, for pitches | Shared pool with checkouts |
| Site kit: laser measures, cameras, PPE | The kit shelf | Constantly | Check out per visit, check in on return |
| Samples and product samples | The library wall | Borrowed to desks | Sign out high-value sets only |
| Keys, access cards, fobs | The key safe | Per project and per person | Checkout per person; audit monthly |
Software deserves its own line: CAD and visualisation seats are among the practice’s largest recurring costs; tracked next to the workstations, one offboarding checklist recovers the laptop and frees the seat. The IT asset inventory checklist covers the fields worth recording.
Treat every site visit as a checkout
Site kit is the highest-churn fleet, and the fix costs ten seconds at the door:
- The architect heading out scans the kit - laser measure, camera, hard hat - and it is checked out to them for the visit.
- On return, a scan checks it back in, with a glance at condition; the drop onto concrete gets noted while it is still remembered.
- The overdue list, reviewed weekly, is the difference between “in Daniel’s car since Tuesday” and “gone since February”.
Tip: label the case as well as the instrument. Laser measures and cameras live in their cases, and the case is what gets picked up, lent, and left behind - a label on both means either can be scanned.
Shared studio kit and the key safe
VR headsets and presentation kit work best as a small shared pool - checked out to a person with controllers, cables, and chargers counted as part of the kit, so its state is known the day before a pitch, not during it.
The plotter never moves, which is exactly why its problems hide. Give it an asset record and report every fault against it - the jam, the banding, the third service call - so repair-or-replace is read off a history, not argued from memory.
The key safe deserves the strictest rule in the studio: every key, card, and fob is checked out to a named person, never to a drawer, with the safe audited monthly. The custody log is an audit trail the practice hopes never to need and is very glad to have.
The samples library is the exception: most of it should not be tracked at all. Sign out only the valuable and the borrowed - full sets, discontinued finishes, supplier loans - and keep the rest as a curated wall with a physical count once or twice a year.
Getting started
- Register the site kit and the key safe first. Highest risk, smallest count - one afternoon covers both.
- Label items and cases with printed QR labels, then put the scan-out habit at the studio door.
- Add the shared pool - headsets, presentation kit - and start checking it out per use.
- Fold in the IT fleet at the next natural moment - a joiner, a leaver, a hardware refresh.
- Audit the key safe monthly; a five-minute job that earns its keep the first time a key is questioned.
This is the shape AMPthilly is built around: one register for the workstations, the site kit, the headsets, and the keys, with checkouts and due dates for everything that leaves the building. A printed QR label scanned with a phone camera opens the asset in the browser - no app - where kit is checked in and out and faults reported, and every handover lands in a permanent audit history. The free plan covers 3 users and 25 assets, no card required - enough for the site kit and the key safe; see pricing for the whole practice.
FAQ
How do architecture firms keep track of equipment? By movement pattern: laptops to people, the plotter to the studio, headsets and site kit to shared pools with checkouts, every key to a named person.
How should a design studio manage shared VR headsets? As a shared pool - checked out per person, accessories counted as part of the kit.
What site visit kit should be tracked? Laser measures, cameras, tablets, and PPE - checked out per visit at the door and checked in on return.
How do you manage a material samples library? Sign out only the valuable and the loaned; curate the rest as a library with a periodic tidy.
Should client and site keys be in the asset register? Yes - checked out per person, never to a drawer, with the safe audited monthly.
The takeaway
A studio needs the right habit per fleet, not one policy for everything. Assign the IT kit to people, log the plotter’s faults, check the headsets out per person, scan the site kit at the door, and never let a client’s key live anonymously in a drawer. None takes a minute, and together they keep the practice’s attention on the work - not on the whereabouts of a laser measure.