Starting an Architecture Firm in Finland: Need Advice

[samirbhowmik]

Hi everyone on this forum,

I plan to start an architecture firm in Finland. I am a licensed architect in the United States and also in India. My wife is from Finland. finland does not require a license to practice architecture but does require the Structural Engineer and Job supervisors to be licensed & domicile in Finland. My projects would be both in Finland and USA.

I was wondering if Architects need to register a firm Or can they practice with a reciprocal license?

do I need to start a business entity(tmi,oy)? can a US registered company like llc/pllc. would be allowed to practice in Finland? What is the easiest process to this?

I would really appreciate it if someone can inform me about the steps involved. I have read through all the posts, but none of them pertain to my situation.

Thanks so much.

[Rosamunda]

Just out of curiosity... have you done any market research? Do you have some kind of niche expertise?

Finns are rather proud of their own home-grown architects

Did you already look at this website:

http://www.enterprisefinland.fi/liston/ ... =3874&l=en

http://www.prh.fi/en/kaupparekisteri/yr ... luvat.html

[samirbhowmik]

Thanks Penelope!

No, we haven't done any market research. Should we ? and how?

We are both architects and hoping to combine our skills & knowledge and cultural backgrounds to come up with interesting solutions. We have extensive experience(8+years) in residential/commercial & hospitality design. Our approach is towards a more universal vocabulary in architecture.
We are very hands-on,use innovative and bold approaches, do customized design and take on few projects to keep the quality of design standards high. I think we are right now, strong on restaurant design, residential & office design.

i know that Finns are very proud of their home-grown architects. My wife is a home grown architect! I am not. I think a good design works well, regardless of nationality and origin(or thats what we think).

Thanks for the links. I have looked through them. I am as yet undecided whether I should form a OY or just TMI, since we will be using a name for the firm and not for any individual.

[Rosamunda]

The easiest solution would be for you to make an appointment with the TE Keskus. They give advice to foreigners who wish to set up businesses in Finland.

[Sunyl]

Hi Samirbhowmik.

Can you please send me update at this moment. I am also an architect and have been living with my finnish wife in finland since christmas 07. I have been searching for the possible ways of finding an architect job and have applied to many firms but were of no use. Somebody suggested that i should have my own company so that i can get work more easily and thus have been searching about opening an architectural company. But i am still not sure about it. So can you please notify me about what you did since june 07?

best regards