Nothing like a bad day on a Job site. Excavator started digging a hole for a house and hit a field of boulders covered with fill with a mess of organics buried in it. When he did get down to something reasonable it was wet slimy clay. So now we have to figure out what the heck we are going to do. It is for an addition for a residence so now the price per square foot is going to skyrocket even before we are out of the ground. Owner is away so had to call them and give them the bad news. So now all I can do is wait for their return on Thursday to figure out where this project is headed. So far were 50% Boulders and 50% garbage fill.
Think I'm going to go kick empty beer cans for the rest of the evening.
it's funny, i have a series of clients, in various stages of development, and i am willing to be there for them, anytime they need - obviously within reason - they can call, anytime, and ask me questions; i feel like i'm cultivating relationships. the aor tells me, i'm too close to the client.
i like doing what i do, and how i do it; perhaps i'm an asshole. no, actually, i am.
beta are you referring to that thread by someone who's all butthurt over doing 15 minutes of free work for someone? Sheesh. My response was truly more restrained than I wanted it to be because I've recently read something John Green said about the dopamine rush we get from righteous indignation. I'm trying to avoid going for that rush because I know I want it.
Also when I was in private residential practice I prided myself on feeling like I would enjoy going out to dinner with any of my clients at any time - they were all people who I liked enough to not get petty over. If a potential client was someone I didn't feel that way about we often passed on the project, because the few times we took them on it was more trouble than it was worth.
I've just spent over an hour today responding to a fellow Canadian about grad-school entry requirements on another thread. I feel like I've done my good-deeds for the week.
I can justify wearing the ass-hole cape tomorrow... which will come-in handy since I have to remind my engineers to do their jobs.... no, we're not extending the deadline and re-issuing for construction a third time. eugh, is it friday yet?
Dealing w the tail end of CA - client is now going over the project with a magnifying glass and getting pissy about tiny issues. Feel like a fool taking them to the contractor as punch list items. I mean, seriously-a pinhole sized piece of paint missing on a 10'x20' wall=an issue?
Use words like "This conforms to standard levels of tolerance" or "Acceptable standard of quality" and stuff like that. It's ok to tell them that they're making a big deal out of something that even high-quality projects accept as what is possible within the realm of construction.
Going to have to get a copy of that dictionary, Miles. Good stuff.
I'm volunteering to help some students design and build some earthships and am super excited. Anyone have any experience with earthships they can share? Anyone ever built one?
I had a professor who specialized in Southwest Native American architecture, so she naturally dabbled in the earthship idea. From what I remember it is an extremely involved construction process involving almost as many hours securing the building materials as actually building. Are you going to involve other typical earthship components like composting toilets and rainwater cisterns?
Mr. Wiggin, yes, I should clarify we aren't building a home, we are starting with a farm accessory building but we also want to do a small classroom with toilets, water, and power too. It is for an after school camp that teaches permaculture, we eventually want to turn it into a full time project-based school.
Not directing this to tintt's project, but it brings to mind what architects think leaning-to-build means. Always squint when I read of Wright’s “students”….building his houses under the guise of “Self-discovery”. Learning-to build in the 21st Century means learning what it takes to get something built, learning estimating, scheduling and how to manage the construction…allowing students to pick a bad subcontractor and learning how to deal with that…ok to “help” so to learn what things weigh/what’s involved etc. but building hovels in the desert and making them sleep there misses the mark.
I feel like everything you're saying it right Carrera, except that I also believe those desert dwellings and building something with your own two hands has value. No that doesn't teach you to handle contractors, but it does teach you the level of detail required in your decisions and what the design decisions you make mean for the person building it and then for the person living in it.
carrera, good ideas, thanks. I will involve the students in estimating and scheduling and have them run the site and problem solve things that come up.
^ (Rationalist) Agree completely, but they don’t have to do the whole thing to get the gist…should be going into the ugly neighboring Scottsdale suburbs and transforming onions into orchids as community demonstration projects with subcontractors, reserving special small elements to build on their own….pay the subs to do mini seminars on what’s involved.
tintt.....will you pay your interns....or just figure it is and educational learning experience? I'm glad someone always paid me for my " School of Hard Knocks" experience. Yes I did apprentice into the profession....so I'm a real old turd.... but Donna knows that...
are these interns? it seems like tintt is volunteering and these are students?
i'm all for bashing exploitive worker practices, but can't we be reasonable? i mean are the same people against worker exploitation, also going to rally against prison slavery, because that's why the prison industrial complex has been so profitable, and why communities of color have been decimated; not having kids at camp building camp buildings.
Hi TC! been too long since I stopped by. The discussion regarding "building hovels in the desert" brings to mind this Student Works (shameless plug...)
Anyone in thread central have personal or immediate 2nd hand knowledge about starting a practice in Chicago? I don't really want to start a new thread, but would like some advice...
I am in a weird spot... approx. 6-8 months from a license, all tests passed (those CA/ PM hours are tough to come across) and currently looking at a storefront with an apartment above for a 2yr lease, primarily as a residence and workshop, but would use the storefront for gallery shows - art, furniture, end-of-year student shows, etc... - and as an office to deal with various signage, graphic design, etc side projects I have.
I know I can't start an "Architecture" practice until I get licensed, but I can start a design practice/ art gallery, etc... Wondering about if it is possible to convert one type of business into a Professional Services Corporation, or if I would have to re-start the business... trying to pick a name and market that allows me to seamlessly transition into professional practice, at least as a side-gig until business is good enough (taking single-family residential jobs and small installations/ public sculpture on the side is OK with my current employer).
I have a contract for SD on a residence in another state, and am talking to another couple about one here in Illinois, and although I do lots of other design work, I want my primary focus to be architecture.
Any advice? Carrera, you seem to be the ne plus ultra of architect businesspeople...
Arch - Still got a hankering to restart in the old bakery in my old childhood neighborhood and call the practice “The Bakery”…..put in the old counters and give free over-the-counter neighborhood design advice…free donuts & coffee every day, be the neighborhood architect (help get facade grants etc.)….my last office had an art gallery in it and we did monthly invite party/shows…would combine both…..bring in the elites for the art and show off the neighborhood projects…don’t think for a minute that I couldn’t turn that into $$.
(The bakery has a large space in back that I’d turn into a woodshop and flip houses (Onions to Orchids) in the neighborhood)
If the storefront is affordable I say go for it. I'd still love to have a space I could occasionally use as an art gallery/exhibition/community space.
If Illinois is the same as Indiana, you'd want to start a regular non-professional sole-practitioner business now, then either shutter it and open a new professional corporation when you're licensed, or you may be able to convert the sole prop into a PC (LLC, S-corp, what have you) later. Talk to either an accountant or a lawyer about it. Also, I didn't get E&O insurance until I did a public job that required it; for smaller residential you likely don't need it, but with a shop you will want to have regular business liability insurance - so if someone trips and falls while at a gallery opening you are covered!
It seems like the sole-proprietor route is more popular here in the midwest. I need to find a good business lawyer.
I already have a quote for business liability - there is even a special category for business operating by appointment / special events only - really not too expensive.
The storefront is maybe 3-400/ month more than I would be spending anyways, and there is no way I could find another place to set up all my tools either. I figure $3600 over a year is well worth it, even if I don't make any money and it is just an educational experience.
I didn't know about that special rate for appointment-only businesses, excellent! I say go for it. The attitude of using it to learn, not necessarily profit, is an excellent one.
We saw Antman this weekend. Highly recommend. It's very funny and cute and great for the kids. Also has a few architecture-centric jokes, like Antman running through a model and those crazy views of the built world when you're really, really small - I always loved those as a kid.
For Marvel fans, I really enjoyed this, much more so than Age of Ultron, which IMO had a very weak narrative, lots of explosions, and was basically a half-hearted bridge to the next movie, which I hope will be better. I also thought Guardians of the Galaxy was too explosion-heavy in the last third. But Antman was delightful.
All the project types are empty and the about page is like something by Koz's PR firm. Google turned up a few things including previous threads here including Gifted Architects & High Intellectual Needs.
- at first, I couldn't be an "architect" because my reciprocity was very slow. I used this time to network and advertise myself in a fairly generic way. I could have been taking on residential projects, but none came in.
- a few months later, I was licensed and started as a sole prop. I did this for about a year.
- I then incorporated (S-corp / prof services corp). To do this, I had to start a new business. I used a very similar name, so it wasn't confusing for the clients. Very few of them even noticed. I did start a brand new bank account so the finances were not commingled. Once I was stable with the new business, I closed the old one. There was a bit of confusion with transferring $ from one biz to the other, and transferring jobs from one to another. I had to cancel some invoices for the sole prop and write new ones for the s-corp.
Once this pain was over, I was in biz as an S-corp. my CPA was very helpful through the process.
If I had to do it over again, I would have incorporated immediately.
As you have probably realized, a biz lawyer can probably help with the correct direction for you.
Can anybody tell me why is it that news reports of groundbreaking ceremonies, or other important milestones of a project that are reported on hardly, if ever mention the architecture firm that designed the facility? Unless it's exemplar of some type of failure of course...
Mr_Wiggin I've been asking myself that for 30 years. Every architectural rendering about a new building is labelled in the newspaper as "artist rendering". Ugh.
^^^Miles, I had many classmates go literally insane over a particular studio or assignment, many never recovered and had to continue living as schizophrenics. But they do have Facebook and navigate the inter-webs like anybody else, you just have to identify them and not fall for their craziness.
Thread Central
It's Friday and I'm signing my life away for a new condo, moving tomorrow.
just to get this thread back in front of the line.
you'll thank me....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCY-JDyGL1c&feature=youtu.be
^ thanks, curt. Very fucking cool. Just wish it was longer.
best response ever:
"Oh quick, who is going to give away their knowledge and time for free first?!
Don't delay...act now...your full ego and empty bank account awaits."
everybody on these forums should think about this one as we devalue ourselves into oblivion.
Nothing like a bad day on a Job site. Excavator started digging a hole for a house and hit a field of boulders covered with fill with a mess of organics buried in it. When he did get down to something reasonable it was wet slimy clay. So now we have to figure out what the heck we are going to do. It is for an addition for a residence so now the price per square foot is going to skyrocket even before we are out of the ground. Owner is away so had to call them and give them the bad news. So now all I can do is wait for their return on Thursday to figure out where this project is headed. So far were 50% Boulders and 50% garbage fill.
Think I'm going to go kick empty beer cans for the rest of the evening.
snooker, that is rough. What kind of footings were planned?
Ugh, sorry to hear, snook. Maybe there's a castoff treasure somewhere in that garbage fill that would finance the new footings?
it's funny, i have a series of clients, in various stages of development, and i am willing to be there for them, anytime they need - obviously within reason - they can call, anytime, and ask me questions; i feel like i'm cultivating relationships. the aor tells me, i'm too close to the client.
i like doing what i do, and how i do it; perhaps i'm an asshole. no, actually, i am.
beta are you referring to that thread by someone who's all butthurt over doing 15 minutes of free work for someone? Sheesh. My response was truly more restrained than I wanted it to be because I've recently read something John Green said about the dopamine rush we get from righteous indignation. I'm trying to avoid going for that rush because I know I want it.
Also when I was in private residential practice I prided myself on feeling like I would enjoy going out to dinner with any of my clients at any time - they were all people who I liked enough to not get petty over. If a potential client was someone I didn't feel that way about we often passed on the project, because the few times we took them on it was more trouble than it was worth.
I've just spent over an hour today responding to a fellow Canadian about grad-school entry requirements on another thread. I feel like I've done my good-deeds for the week.
I can justify wearing the ass-hole cape tomorrow... which will come-in handy since I have to remind my engineers to do their jobs.... no, we're not extending the deadline and re-issuing for construction a third time. eugh, is it friday yet?
Good on you, Non Seq (that's a somewhat Canadian-esque phrasing of appreciation, yes?), for helping out.
Sort-of, you forgot the "Ae" as well as the broken English accent.
Now, time to call those lazy engineers before the disappear for the weekend.
lol- Thank you, Donna...
If I'd had coffee in my mouth at that moment I would have snorted it out my nose, Jerome!
hilarious, but caused me to waste a ton of time reading!
b3ta, just because you're an asshole don't mean you're wrong. We're all assholes sometimes.
Use words like "This conforms to standard levels of tolerance" or "Acceptable standard of quality" and stuff like that. It's ok to tell them that they're making a big deal out of something that even high-quality projects accept as what is possible within the realm of construction.
should have asked before.... Can anyone recommend a good paint for the exterior of a wood house (T1-11 siding) or at least recommend paints to avoid?
Turns out every project I can think of has been all pre-fin. exterior materials
The Hamptons Dictionary defines punch list as a list that makes the person responsible the items on it feel like punching the person who made it.
Going to have to get a copy of that dictionary, Miles. Good stuff.
I'm volunteering to help some students design and build some earthships and am super excited. Anyone have any experience with earthships they can share? Anyone ever built one?
No earthship fans?
looks cool, hadn't heard of it until now
I had a professor who specialized in Southwest Native American architecture, so she naturally dabbled in the earthship idea. From what I remember it is an extremely involved construction process involving almost as many hours securing the building materials as actually building. Are you going to involve other typical earthship components like composting toilets and rainwater cisterns?
Mr. Wiggin, yes, I should clarify we aren't building a home, we are starting with a farm accessory building but we also want to do a small classroom with toilets, water, and power too. It is for an after school camp that teaches permaculture, we eventually want to turn it into a full time project-based school.
Not directing this to tintt's project, but it brings to mind what architects think leaning-to-build means. Always squint when I read of Wright’s “students”….building his houses under the guise of “Self-discovery”. Learning-to build in the 21st Century means learning what it takes to get something built, learning estimating, scheduling and how to manage the construction…allowing students to pick a bad subcontractor and learning how to deal with that…ok to “help” so to learn what things weigh/what’s involved etc. but building hovels in the desert and making them sleep there misses the mark.
I feel like everything you're saying it right Carrera, except that I also believe those desert dwellings and building something with your own two hands has value. No that doesn't teach you to handle contractors, but it does teach you the level of detail required in your decisions and what the design decisions you make mean for the person building it and then for the person living in it.
dirt filled tires for the foundation and empty aluminum beer cans for the walls. guess that's one way to recycle.
carrera, good ideas, thanks. I will involve the students in estimating and scheduling and have them run the site and problem solve things that come up.
^ (Rationalist) Agree completely, but they don’t have to do the whole thing to get the gist…should be going into the ugly neighboring Scottsdale suburbs and transforming onions into orchids as community demonstration projects with subcontractors, reserving special small elements to build on their own….pay the subs to do mini seminars on what’s involved.
tintt.....will you pay your interns....or just figure it is and educational learning experience? I'm glad someone always paid me for my " School of Hard Knocks" experience. Yes I did apprentice into the profession....so I'm a real old turd.... but Donna knows that...
are these interns? it seems like tintt is volunteering and these are students?
i'm all for bashing exploitive worker practices, but can't we be reasonable? i mean are the same people against worker exploitation, also going to rally against prison slavery, because that's why the prison industrial complex has been so profitable, and why communities of color have been decimated; not having kids at camp building camp buildings.
There are no interns and yes I am volunteering/allowing myself to be exploited to teach students about design and building.
Hi TC! been too long since I stopped by. The discussion regarding "building hovels in the desert" brings to mind this Student Works (shameless plug...)
^ Would concede that an experiment would be an exception.
Anyone in thread central have personal or immediate 2nd hand knowledge about starting a practice in Chicago? I don't really want to start a new thread, but would like some advice...
I am in a weird spot... approx. 6-8 months from a license, all tests passed (those CA/ PM hours are tough to come across) and currently looking at a storefront with an apartment above for a 2yr lease, primarily as a residence and workshop, but would use the storefront for gallery shows - art, furniture, end-of-year student shows, etc... - and as an office to deal with various signage, graphic design, etc side projects I have.
I know I can't start an "Architecture" practice until I get licensed, but I can start a design practice/ art gallery, etc... Wondering about if it is possible to convert one type of business into a Professional Services Corporation, or if I would have to re-start the business... trying to pick a name and market that allows me to seamlessly transition into professional practice, at least as a side-gig until business is good enough (taking single-family residential jobs and small installations/ public sculpture on the side is OK with my current employer).
I have a contract for SD on a residence in another state, and am talking to another couple about one here in Illinois, and although I do lots of other design work, I want my primary focus to be architecture.
Any advice? Carrera, you seem to be the ne plus ultra of architect businesspeople...
Arch - Still got a hankering to restart in the old bakery in my old childhood neighborhood and call the practice “The Bakery”…..put in the old counters and give free over-the-counter neighborhood design advice…free donuts & coffee every day, be the neighborhood architect (help get facade grants etc.)….my last office had an art gallery in it and we did monthly invite party/shows…would combine both…..bring in the elites for the art and show off the neighborhood projects…don’t think for a minute that I couldn’t turn that into $$.
(The bakery has a large space in back that I’d turn into a woodshop and flip houses (Onions to Orchids) in the neighborhood)
No license required
If the storefront is affordable I say go for it. I'd still love to have a space I could occasionally use as an art gallery/exhibition/community space.
If Illinois is the same as Indiana, you'd want to start a regular non-professional sole-practitioner business now, then either shutter it and open a new professional corporation when you're licensed, or you may be able to convert the sole prop into a PC (LLC, S-corp, what have you) later. Talk to either an accountant or a lawyer about it. Also, I didn't get E&O insurance until I did a public job that required it; for smaller residential you likely don't need it, but with a shop you will want to have regular business liability insurance - so if someone trips and falls while at a gallery opening you are covered!
Thanks Donna!
It seems like the sole-proprietor route is more popular here in the midwest. I need to find a good business lawyer.
I already have a quote for business liability - there is even a special category for business operating by appointment / special events only - really not too expensive.
The storefront is maybe 3-400/ month more than I would be spending anyways, and there is no way I could find another place to set up all my tools either. I figure $3600 over a year is well worth it, even if I don't make any money and it is just an educational experience.
I didn't know about that special rate for appointment-only businesses, excellent! I say go for it. The attitude of using it to learn, not necessarily profit, is an excellent one.
We saw Antman this weekend. Highly recommend. It's very funny and cute and great for the kids. Also has a few architecture-centric jokes, like Antman running through a model and those crazy views of the built world when you're really, really small - I always loved those as a kid.
For Marvel fans, I really enjoyed this, much more so than Age of Ultron, which IMO had a very weak narrative, lots of explosions, and was basically a half-hearted bridge to the next movie, which I hope will be better. I also thought Guardians of the Galaxy was too explosion-heavy in the last third. But Antman was delightful.
Did anyone check out the website Innovative Architect posted on Aesthetics & Power Play?
All the project types are empty and the about page is like something by Koz's PR firm. Google turned up a few things including previous threads here including Gifted Architects & High Intellectual Needs.
Sorry, slow day in the studio.
When I started my biz:
- at first, I couldn't be an "architect" because my reciprocity was very slow. I used this time to network and advertise myself in a fairly generic way. I could have been taking on residential projects, but none came in.
- a few months later, I was licensed and started as a sole prop. I did this for about a year.
- I then incorporated (S-corp / prof services corp). To do this, I had to start a new business. I used a very similar name, so it wasn't confusing for the clients. Very few of them even noticed. I did start a brand new bank account so the finances were not commingled. Once I was stable with the new business, I closed the old one. There was a bit of confusion with transferring $ from one biz to the other, and transferring jobs from one to another. I had to cancel some invoices for the sole prop and write new ones for the s-corp.
Once this pain was over, I was in biz as an S-corp. my CPA was very helpful through the process.
If I had to do it over again, I would have incorporated immediately.
As you have probably realized, a biz lawyer can probably help with the correct direction for you.
Can anybody tell me why is it that news reports of groundbreaking ceremonies, or other important milestones of a project that are reported on hardly, if ever mention the architecture firm that designed the facility? Unless it's exemplar of some type of failure of course...
Mr_Wiggin I've been asking myself that for 30 years. Every architectural rendering about a new building is labelled in the newspaper as "artist rendering". Ugh.
I just noticed pritchard stalkins posting...that's new
^^^Miles, I had many classmates go literally insane over a particular studio or assignment, many never recovered and had to continue living as schizophrenics. But they do have Facebook and navigate the inter-webs like anybody else, you just have to identify them and not fall for their craziness.
i remember the exact moment my sanity went *poof* in studio....
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