How to hire an architect in Pakistan from abroad

Hiring an architect while you're standing on the plot is hard enough. Hiring one from a different continent, through a phone screen and a shared drive of renders, is a different exercise entirely — and it's the one most overseas Pakistanis are actually stuck doing. Here's what's worth checking before you commit a deposit.

Start with individual PEC registration, not just a nice website

A firm can be PEC registered as a company while the person actually drawing your house isn't a registered architect at all. Ask for the individual's registration status with the Pakistan Engineering Council directly, not just a firm logo on a homepage — PEC maintains this as the statutory register for exactly this reason. The Institute of Architects Pakistan is the other credential worth asking about; IAP membership signals the architect is active in the professional body that sets design and ethics standards for the discipline in Pakistan.

Evaluate the portfolio for buildability, not just renders

A polished render tells you almost nothing about whether a design gets built as drawn. Ask to see a project from concept sketch through to a completed, occupied building — ideally with photos of the finished space next to the original concept. If an architect can only show renders and never a photograph of a real handover, that's the question to keep asking.

Set the review cadence before you sign, not after

Working across a time difference means design reviews, structural sign-offs, and site walk-throughs all have to happen on a schedule that doesn't depend on you being awake at 3am local time. Ask specifically: how often will you see updated drawings, in what format, and who is the one person accountable for answering your questions in a reasonable window — not a rotating cast of junior staff.

Ask how they coordinate structural and MEP, not just architecture

An architect who hands your concept to a separate structural engineer and a separate MEP consultant — each working from a different set of assumptions — has reintroduced the coordination gap that hiring "one architect" was supposed to avoid. Ask whether structural and MEP design happen inside the same team, on the same coordinated model, or get thrown over a wall to whoever's free that month.

"The clients who call us from abroad aren't asking if we can draw a nice house. They're asking who answers the phone when something needs a decision at 9pm their time." — Hassan Gondal, Principal Architect

A short list to actually ask before you pay a deposit

1. Can I see your individual PEC registration number, not just the firm's?
2. Can you show me a finished project, not just a rendered one?
3. Who is my single point of contact, and what's their response-time commitment?
4. Is structural and MEP design done in-house, on one coordinated model?
5. How will I actually see site progress — dated photos, video, or a live model?

We've written before about what that remote relationship looks like once a project is actually running — see a practical guide for overseas Pakistanis building back home for the financing and oversight side of it. If you're weighing a project from abroad right now, our about page covers how the practice is structured, or you can get in touch with what you've got so far.

External references: Pakistan Engineering Council, Institute of Architects Pakistan