Referrals, yes. Kickbacks, no. The difference is written down — and we keep it that way

In every market on earth, business travels through people who know people — and in every market there is a right way and a wrong way to pay for it. This page is the right way, stated openly. If you learn of a project early — a corporate office being fitted out, a hotel renovating, a firm taking a new floor — that knowledge has commercial value, and we pay for it: a referral fee agreed up front, in writing, due only when the project closes and the money is collected.

Referring asks almost nothing: an email, a call or a WhatsApp message with the three lines that matter — what is being furnished, where, when, and who the right contact is. Then we agree terms, in person or online, and sign a short written agreement before anyone approaches the client. No quota, no territory, no employment: quoting, specification, shipping and documentation are run by the team in San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy. The client pays nothing extra: the fee comes out of our own margin, like any other cost of selling.

Now the line, drawn in full transparency, because it is the whole point. A referral fee goes to the person who opens a door. A kickback goes to the person who controls it — the one who can approve the purchase for their own employer or client. We pay the first and never the second, on any project, at any size; and no government or public-sector work, ever. If you are the architect specifying the project, your professional ethics come first: for you there is the trade programme, on terms you can disclose to your client.

FAQ

Who typically refers projects in practice?
Usually someone standing next to the project rather than inside our trade: a project management consultant who has seen the brief, a fit-out contractor working on another package, a property adviser once the lease is signed, a friend of the promoter. Two doors stay shut regardless of size: anyone who influences or approves the purchase on behalf of their own organisation, and any government or public-sector work.
How is the fee fixed, and when is it actually paid?
The amount is settled case by case before we contact anyone, and it goes into a short written agreement with the tax treatment and any withholding that applies here written into it. Payment follows the money, not the order: once the client has paid us, you are paid. No advance, no retainer, and no obligation on either side if the project never happens.
Why does the client not mind the fee existing?
Because the client's price does not move. The fee is paid out of our own margin — the budget any competitor spends on agents, exhibitions and advertising — so the quotation is the same whether an introduction happened or not. We can say that sentence in front of the client, which is the test we apply to the whole arrangement.
I am the architect on the project — can I take the fee?
The Council of Architecture's code settles that question before we do. If the project carries your stamp, use the trade channel: published terms, technical backup, drawings and certificates that can sit openly in your client's file. An introduction fee only fits a project you are not professionally involved in — and if the two overlap even slightly, take the trade channel.
Is this a job advertisement in disguise?
No. Nobody is being hired, there is no territory and there is no commission-only role behind this — that experiment is years old and it worked for nobody. The arrangement is one project at a time: you hear about something before the tender goes out, Italy handles the commercial side, the payment follows the client's remittance. A job enquiry gets a reply too, just a different one.

Introducing a project: five steps from message to payment

A short route, written down at each stage so nobody has to remember what was agreed.

Send the three lines that matter
A single message does it — mail, call or WhatsApp — with four things: the building, the city, roughly when, and a name to approach. Nothing else is needed from you; the background work is ours.
We check the name and record the date
If that project is already open with us, you hear it immediately and the matter ends there. If it is not, it goes on file under your name with the date attached, and the confirmation comes back to you in writing whichever way it went.
Terms are signed before anyone moves
Terms first, approach second. A short call, then a written agreement covering the fee, the conditions and the tax side. We do not contact the client until it is signed.
The team sells
Our office in San Benedetto del Tronto takes it from there: quotation, specification, samples, shipping and the documents for import. You are told how it is going without having to run it.
The fee follows the result
The fee is released once the client's payment has cleared, on the terms agreed. Introduce one project well and the second is quicker, because by then the paperwork is already in place.