I'm hoping it's different this time around, but when the government decides who wins and loses in the market like they're doing now, then those successes and failures are no longer based on management, or product quality, or anything except for political connectedness, leaving little room for small businesses.

Well said.

I hope they do something specifically for small businesses.

We (that's us small businesses) need some good breaks, tax cuts, etc., to get things going.


Haven't seen anything encouraging from this package yet.

There has even been explicit talk of blocking infrastructure contracts to "white, highly skilled" workers by some of obama's top advisors under testimony. although i disagree with the racial language, it does suggest a lot about what's to come.

i should also say i'm not opposed to the stimulus package, and i think it will address some deep structural problems in this economy, but i don't see any direct or immediate help coming to architects.

I wish wouldn't quibble with yourself, dot. What you first posted was spot on. And your excellent first quote applies not only to small business, but to all.

haha, quibbling with myself...never been accused of that before!

The one and only thing they can do for small business is float the banks until they can stabilize the housing market and recollect obver the next decade, kill the pork plan, start a plan to raise intrest rates slowly spurring businesses to start borrowing and spending to beat higher rates, cut corporate taxes in half and freeze income taxes, freeze government pensions.

I can tell you in Illinois that a few non-union contractors i know who went after public work and submitted their prevailing wage documentation, were followed and harassed by ingrained State connected union outfits. Obviously architects aren't labor, however there exists comfy deals between the AE community and school boards / hospital boards and infrastructure in each state.

Stimulus Spending will only lead to massive inflation and currency devaluation and stimulate nothing.

No golf Courses, pools, zoos or casinos in the stimulus, and it all has to be spent by 2012 Sept 30th most funds need to be allocated Sept 30 2010.

Track the progress of the funds on http://www.recovery.gov/

RFPs will be posted here as well


Agriculture nutrition and rural development

$44,000,000 for necessary construction, repair, and improvement activities

$209,000,000 for deferred maintenance at existing research facilities

Rural development
$1,102,000,000 for rural community facilities direct loans
$2,000,000,000 for business and industry guaranteed loans
$2,736,000,000 for rural water waste disposal direct loans

To cover the cost of these direct loans and I think this includes grants
$63,000,000 for rural communities facilities direct loans
$137,000,000 for community facilities grants
$87,000,000 for business and industry loans
$13,000,000 for rural business enterprise grants
$400,000,000 for rural water and waste disposal loans
$1,100,000,000 for rural water and waste disposal grants

The secretary of agriculture can use 3 percent to of these funds for oversight

Looks like there will be a lot of wells, and sewage plants built in small rural communities. Businesses I know nothing about, they may be agribusinesses only or any business. I suggest making friends with your local farm bureau and university department of agriculture to get a foot in the door on these projects. The community facilities items seem interesting; this could be a range of things, village halls, schools, fire stations.

Rural housing (Department of Agriculture)

$22,129,000,000 for loans to section 502 borrowers

Of that amount
$4,018,000,000 for direct loans
$18,111,000,000 for unsubsidized guaranteed loans

To cover the cost of the direct and subsidized loans
$270,000,000 for direct loans
$230,000,000 for unsubsidized loans
There are of course funds for the WIC and food stamps programs but they don’t have a huge impact on the architectural and design professionals. I will post some other summaries of the bill. The act is 258 pages PDF but the type is huge and it is a quick read with references to other laws regulating spending, many dating from the late 30s and early 40s.

The rural housing stuff looks good for the manufactures of prefabricated modular homes, and other buildings. Perhaps taking the time to research modular home companies and partnering with them to design ADA compliant and energy efficient homes can be an opportunity for growth for Arch Eng firms. There are a lot of specific limitations to modular homes, I can only think of, crane size available, road clearance and turning clearance, some weight restrictions and withstanding 100 mpr winds. Maybe this would be a good time for us Architects to think how we can design a prefabricated buildings that are energy efficient and as dignified and inspiring as possible under budgetary and transportation constraints. Imagine if you were tasked with making a school for 60 students K-5 and it had to be in place by August 1. Something to think about

You are not wrong about that, EP.

Commerce justice and Science

Once the act passes you will have 120 days to get your share of:
$300,000,000 for the construction of research facilities

Keep an eye out for those RFPs

National science foundation has
$200,000,000 for facilities modernization

Major research equipment and facilities construction is allocated
$400,000,000 for approved projects only.

Most of the funding for commerce and Science is geared towards broadband and wireless improvements. But it looks like major research universities will be getting some funds for new supercomputers, electron microscopes and such. This highly sensitive equipment requires specialized construction, retrofitting an existing building might not be an option.

Department of Defense

To improve, repair, and modernize department of defense facilities, restore and modernize Army barracks, and invest in the energy efficiency of defense facilities
$4,500,000,000
That amount is divided as follows
Operation and maintenance Army
$1,490,804,000
Operation and Maintenance Navy
$624,380,000
Operation and Maintenance, Marine corps
$128,499,000
Operation and maintenance, Air force
$1,236,810,000
Defense Health Program
$454,658,000
Operations and Maintenance, Army Reserve
$110,899,000
Operation and maintenance, Navy Reserve
$62,162,000
Operation and maintenance, Marine Corps Reserve
$45,038,000
Operation and Maintenance. Air Force Reserve
$14,881,000
Operation and maintenance, Army National Guard,
$302,700,000
Operation and maintenance, Air National Guard
$29,169,000

Energy research and Development (Defense)
This includes building, power plants, storage, transmission, and buildings

Research Development Test and evaluation, Army
$87,500,000
Research Development Test and evaluation, Navy
$87,500,000
Research Development Test and evaluation, Air Force
$87,500,000
Research Development Test and evaluation, Defense-Wide
$87,500,000

The operations and maintenance may be a big deal since defense has already been allocated funds for operations, so more of it might be geared for maintenance and or repair. The energy research and development looks like it all new since the numbers are the same across the board, so this is probably going to change as this bill moves through congress

The army core of engineers also has a huge allocation
$2,000,000,000 nation wide
$250,000,000 Mississippi River and tributaries
$2,225,000,000 operations and maintenance

Department of the interior

Bureau of reclamation
They get
$500,000,000

Of that amount
$80,000,000 for rural water projects intake and treatment projects

Department of Energy

$800,000,000 for biomass technologies
$400,000,000 for geothermal technologies

$1,000,000,000 for grants to institutional entities for energy sustainability and efficiency
$6,200,000,000 for the Weatherization Assistance Program
$3,500,000,000 for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants
$3,400,000,000 for the State Energy Program
$200,000,000 for the implementation of the programs authorized under the Energy independence Act of 2007
$300,000,000 to implement programs authorized under the Energy policy Act of 2005 USC 15821
$400,000,000 to implement programs authorized under the Energy policy Act of 2005 USC 16071
$1,000,000,000 for manufacturing advanced batteries authorized under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Electricity grid Improvements
$4,500,000,000 to modernize the electricity grid

Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee Program
$1,000,000,000 this might be used to develop manufacturing capacity for high tek batteries

Institutional Loan Guarantee Program
$500,000,000

Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program
$8,000,000,000 for loans Authorized by section 1705 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005

Fossil Energy
#2,400,000,000 for necessary expenses to demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration technologies

Science
#2,000,000,000
Of this amount
$400,000,000 for advanced Research
$100,000,000 for scientific computing

General Services Administration

Federal Buildings fund
$7,700,000,000 for real property activities
Out of this amount
$1,000,000,000 for construction, repair, and alteration of border facilities, and land ports of entry
$6,000,000,000 for construction, repair or renovation of federal buildings that will create the greatest impact on energy efficiency

But
$108,000,000 shall be held till Sept 30th 2012 for rental space cost associated with construction repair and alteration
$160,000,000 shall remain available till Sept 30th 2012 for building operations in support of the above mentioned activities

$4,000,000 shall be transferred to the Government wide Policy for the office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings as authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

$600,000,000 to purchase energy efficient vehicles for the General Services Administration

Small Business Administration

$426,000,000 for small business loans and their related expenses
This is meant to guarantee up to 95% of qualifying loans made by eligible lenders

Ill stop here for now To come are the homeland Security Department, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture forest service, Health and Human Services, the Smithsonian Institution, NFAH NEA, Department of labor, Department of Education (which has several pages on school building improvements) Military construction for veterans affairs, department of state, and so on


There are a lot of places for Architects to get commissions. If anything I recommend getting your LEED certification since this pops up in may places as a requirement.

Despite what people say if you actually read the bill there are a lot of funds made available for buildings many projects will be complex and require special skills.

I will summarize this since most people won’t read it and just complain that it doesn’t do much for them. Make sure you let your representatives know how important specific programs are to you. The USGBC did, so should you.

Maybe we can focus this discussion on developing strategies for getting these jobs into our firms ASAP.

"I will summarize this since most people won’t read it and just complain that it doesn’t do much for them."



I dont think it will do much for anyone...

http://aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/pdf/aias078714.pdf

"178 Architect jobs would be created or preserved for that $1 Billion appropriation."

or..

$22,009,889,488 Architectural related services = 5,942.7 Architect jobs created or preserved.


..not at all liking our odds here.

Very interesting post from the AIA

It seems that the stimulus bill (at the time of writing this report) will directly create 5,000 +- Jobs in the Architecture profession. But this report only counts the jobs from the proposed projects from the conference of Mayors. The profession is, or was, employing 200,000 + people so it can directly preserve 2.5%. However there are other programs not counted in this report that might bump up that number. Then there is the indirect effect this could have on new “Green Economy” jobs. Those green jobs have to be conducted somewhere and that is where architects might get some more work. High-Tec industrial manufacturing might be a major growth area due to direct grants, and guaranteed loans. Factories may not be glamorous but they can keep the firms up and running.

I believe the weatherization of existing housing is another area that could work if architects look at ways to streamline some of the design processes. For example in major cities large portions of neighborhoods are built in the same manner at about the same time, one could find many homes with similar conditions and similar solutions, make a standard set of plans as a base and edit as needed. I will be eagerly awaiting the passage of the bill so that I can get a look at the grant application process. Could design firms or unemployed professionals act as expediters for home owners to get a grant, design, and permits? It may be difficult to make a profit but it might cut losses until more substantial work can come in.