Search · Associates · Advisory
Your architecture partner.
On our count there are around 4,490 architects working in New Zealand. We know more than 1,300 of them, and seventy-six have worked for us.
Pay benchmark · Collada Architect Survey 2026
How does your pay compare?
See where you sit against 423 NZ architects. Free, anonymous, no email needed.
- Median architect base salary
- $190k
- Median contract rate
- $155/h
- Architects in the survey
- 423
What we know, and what we have done
Our own count, to the best of our knowledge, from public information and many years of conversations. Last updated November 2026.
Trusted by
Three ways we work
Nineteen senior placements, seventy-six associates engaged →Search
Executive and leadership search
You need a leader. Head of Architecture, Chief Architect, principals and discipline leads. We know who is good and who is ready to move, and we score on capability, not title.
How this works→Associates
Assignments and squads
You need the architecture done on a project. One architect on assignment, a squad with a lead, or a few days a month. Named people, engaged as a vendor rather than through a panel.
How this works→Advisory
Review, assurance and interim leadership
You need a senior view on the practice itself. Review, interim architecture leadership, assurance on decisions, and capability assessment against the industry frameworks.
How this works→You will meet the person who does the work. There is no substitution.
Everyone has been through it. One architect is in the pitch and a different one arrives on day one. It happens because a firm has its own people to keep busy.
Our associates are independent. They keep their own name and their own reputation, and they take an assignment because it suits them. We put a name in front of you, that person does the work, and if they are not available we say so rather than sending someone else.
The Architecture Collective
Fifty events, and the room most of this market has been in.
We started the Collective because there was nowhere for architects in New Zealand to talk to each other honestly. Nothing is ever pitched there. It is also the reason we know this market rather than a list of it.
Writing
Twenty-five pieces published →
My kids have aged me a bit since this photo.
You will be dealing with me.
Collada is small on purpose. I have spent four years meeting the architects in this country, one at a time, and I run the Collective. When you call, I answer, and I will tell you honestly whether we can help.