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Picture a game of Jenga, as someone removes a piece that causes the stack to teeter, and that moment of potential energy is maxed out… There’s a loose structure there, gravity is holding it all in place – but its surfing the edge of chaos.
One of the problems that I’m having lately with my abundance of free time is that everything has top priority. The volume of things that I wish to accomplish is ever-increasing, while time seems compressed.
(Probably tied directly with the inability to sleep).
In the 25 years I’ve been doodling spatial solutions and details for a living – I’ve worked for a fair number of places, with a decent variety of project delivery methods, and I’ve paid attention to the AEC & Tech communities as the tectonic plates we’ve all built livelihoods on, shift around.
I’ve read a fair amount in the unplanned vacation; books on design management, personal management, and re-read a couple from the Simon Sinek catalog – while bingeing on ArchiSpeak, TRXL & Life of an Architect podcases with assorted others.
Currently I’m half way thru Adapt as an Architect, by Randy Deutsch – which I recommend for anyone who’s in this boat with me. So far, its helped direct some energy, while steadying some nerves about what happens next.
I’m nowhere near a learned colleague of any business school – I mean earlier this week I forgot to submit an invoice for the last project work that I did out in L.A., so there isn’t this deep well of scholarly knowledge on the way to move the industry forward. I just have my experiences to draw from.
Personally I’ve been teetering between tech and partial services.
Working whatever gig that I could get, from wherever I could find them – sometimes for 2-3 firms at once. Residential design? Ok – lets go. This firm needs field verification services (back when scanning was a monster investment) – sure I’ll fly wherever and create documents… Front end project work because there’s no staff available to crank out existing conditions models on projects? I’m on it. Somewhere in the archives I’ve got 90% of the Herman Miller Campus modeled for a new facility masterplan that was shelved.
The sporadic nature of the work flow is difficult and lacks the stability of a steady stream of deadlines – drying up completely for a couple months at a time. To keep that going, it needs structure and a much larger network of contacts.
And marketing.
I don’t want to be the guy that sends out the 5th spam contact invite on LinkedIn for rendering services. I know – you almost have to do that these days, but my introverted nature not to bother people gets the better of me. Love to share, and I want to help – but I’m not the guy to pester the hell out of someone. Probably the reason behind why I’ve managed to be a social media ghost for years, and disappear from friends and family when there’s a deadline.
Now with Katerra announcing its demise this week (I haven’t been following the whole story, but I know the bullet points and I’ve heard the name mentioned) the topic of what and how to practice has been at the front of mind lately.
Architects are in the service industry, and as such prone to a few inherit problems as we all know. Lately, after society deemed my chosen profession ‘non-essential’ and then my employer followed suit – it jump-started the question of defining both my and the professions value, to potential clients, to potential employers and to the AEC industry as a whole.
I keep flashing back to this old viral video from 2009 – which as funny as it might be, still hurts a little. Partially because I worked for a small firm that would negotiate with clients over invoices for time and materials – leaving an entire staff member’s salary at the table when it was done. OR at another firm when we learned that we’d been replaced on a rather sizeable project – by reading it in the trades. Not from the ownership group mind you, but from an article announcing the facility, that featured renderings of the project from another firm.
I’ve seen things. I’ve ridden the roller coaster. One part of the perception problem is that architect’s don’t have any skin in the game. There’s no motivation in the end result.
You could argue that the relationships, firm reputation and marketing are at stake. The desired outcome that I always aim at is to maintain /nurture relationships with the team by maintaining a focus on the end result, while beating the fee (profit) – we’re all in this situation to make something here. That list of ingredients doesn’t always make it out of the process at the end – but I give it everything that I’ve got.
Now how to accomplish tangible value tied to the outcome on an obvious level? Well, there’s the developer architect path as an example. Go to the bank with site selection, drawings & partnership with a contractor already completed? I’d love to try that. I get that its all risk at the front end, and I’ve worked for firms that outright refuse to do developer work because they end up giving away ideas for free – and with others that thrive on it. If I had the money or backing to support that path – I have ideas.
There’s the design-build model – folding design into construction.
I’ve been a part of this one. It was a little interesting to see ‘design’ as a 3-week blurb appear on the construction schedule, so some back and forth communication was warranted when the approval process was 3-4 months long for permit.
It was a little contentious when construction flaws or random budget decisions were made that changed the features of your project arbitrarily – but I learned a lot & would be okay with swimming in those waters again.
My first architectural drafting job, right out of high school was for Wisconsin Log Homes in Green Bay, WI.
With that company, design was a small percentage of the deliverables. What the client buys there, is the entire kit to build a home, shipped to the site. Invariably – there were ‘sales’ on featured homes in the plan book, but you weren’t buying ideas on paper – you were buying all the parts you needed to build a home.
To start – we had three days to produce prelim drawings, 1 revision included (maybe another 3 days), and when the next deposit was in, 1-2 weeks to get the construction documents produced. The projects were estimated at every phase, where a quantity list was generated – and the sales rep from the local building supplier would stop in to go double-check our beam structural calculations.
There was also an alternate path for full-service design, and I worked on projects large and small all over the globe.
There was a logistics guy, handling the tracking and shipping of the materials. All over the world. It kinda sucked when I heard there was a project in the Bahamas that was delayed when the barge containing the entire house, sank during transport.
That’s not often a problem that you have on the typical AEC path. The closest thing that I can think of is sourcing countertops from China that needed to be rethought to reduce the risk of breakage during transport.
The client purchases design services, as a means to an end which includes shipped construction components & exterior finishes. All design payments count toward the overall purchase on the package. This is similar to the company interviewed on the last episode of TRXL that supplies everything needed to accomplish a DIY project in a kit, called Outfit. I recommend giving that interview a listen.
For architecture, translating that to the open market (beyond the investment of having a lumber mill in the back yard) would mean developing a relationship with the local building supplier. The model works pretty well, and design was out in under a month’s worth of time. I wasn’t old enough to drink, hadn’t gone to architecture school – but already had realized projects all over the place.
Come to think of it – one of the more entrepreneurial of the guys that I worked with, actually started a relationship along this same model outside of the log home genre.
In either case, there’s a component of controlling cost and shepherding the process along without that wonderful VE phase (that I always end up doing for free somehow). Even in the guidelines of strict deliverables stating fee structure for design revisions – there’s always that one sales rep trying to get REV#3 done under the radar.
One could also cross over to the ‘dark side’ and work directly for prefab companies or contractors as part of the construction side… I’d be all over something like that. An environment where I wouldn’t risk liability for showing framing plans for the first time in 25 years? For a nerd like me – that would be endlessly entertaining. It’s more documentation over design work, but I’m the same guy that figured out the cutting diagrams & drill patterns to fabricate these cubby units, plus I’m interested in pre-fabricated design solutions & making, ala SHoP or locally Shea’s fabrication & construction component of their respective firms.
I’ve spent most of my career in this role. As an introvert, its not that bad. Admittedly making others look good while you’re toiling in anonymity isn’t a career-grower.
It’s not that ‘dream position’ – being the sought-after Starchitect, who’s realizing their lasted bendy/twisty vision for publishing that drives most to 100-Level lecture halls in pursuit of a this crazy career, but I’ve still gotten to work on some interesting and challenging things. Help people walk into their dream homes, new offices, school or latest investment property. I have had an impact on the built environment – although mostly in the background.
I suppose I’m uniquely suited for front-end dev work & mentoring and/or self-performing projects. I just need to work on the relationships & marketing aspect of that. Problem is, that takes a while to make an impact without a giant VC throwing piles of cash at you or without any sort of social media footprint.
In the startup space, there are architects spinning off to solve the architecture ‘problem’ outside the traditional delivery model, while creating solutions all up and down the framework of the project path. Testfit, Hypar, BlenderBIM, UpCodes, the gig economies hiding in Fiverr, Freelancer & UpWork or those venturing outside traditional delivery systems like HighArc to provide design without the process.
Given the amount of Revit content that I’ve built and re-built in this last year to stay busy – its safe to say that I can find contentment with doing the things that I’d be doing anyway – doing as-builts and Revit family therapy within the delivery framework. Outside that framework – the list of things that I wish to be involved with, abounds.
Its the middle ground that leads me to the last business model consideration.
Believe it or not, this isn’t a garage. Its a maker space. In fact, I think its been a good 30 years since I’ve seen a car parked inside it, and never with regularity.
Within these 4 walls – a substantial amount of creation and repair has occurred. My grandfather was a welder by trade who worked for the local mine until that closed. For my entire childhood, a good portion of it was spent here. Goggles and gloves on, watching the sparks and flames fly with limited understanding of what I was looking at. I’m sure he explained proper grounding, and puddling techniques – but it went over my head.
There was always something laid out on a make-shift table built from sheets of plywood and sawhorses, adapted locations and configurations at the scale of the task.
From this location came rebar shelving units for local stores, about half of the handrails in the city, countless fix-it projects, ornament, and later kinetic sculptures made out of sheet aluminum and a collection of discarded bike wheels.
For me, it contains iconic value, and deep appreciation for craft.
It also represents a community business model of sorts.
The way that things worked in the network… friend of a friend, or neighbor, or cousin of a guy, who knew someone mentioned Dave… If the door wasn’t opened, he was out running errands or measuring an outdoor stair that needed a good metal railing.
Regardless – some unknown member of the community would drop off whatever they needed repair on, of whatever metal component that was broken, maybe a note – maybe not. Grandpa would take it in, patch/weld/fix/make whatever was necessary to make it functional again. A day or so would pass and there would be a stop-in or a phone call from whoever the customer was about the project mysteriously left behind. Either he’d already had it fixed, or needed to discuss what else needed to happen to make it functional again. Idea session.
Occasionally there was a monetary exchange, usually work in trade/barter or just because he wanted to without compensation – working instead on good will and community.
Who he was, and that dedication to community was in part, responsible for taking care of my grandmother – for more than 2 decades after his passing.
When I think about what it is that I do or aspire to, it always circles back to this – and how I fall into the category of seeing architecture as a ‘calling’ for me rather than merely employment. (See Adapt)
I think about the things that I’ve been a part of that give you those warm and fuzzies inside. Pro Bono projects, fund raising, charitable events, and creating for the greater community.
I realize that its damned difficult to pay rent on favors, and you can’t build a PC out of good intentions… I highly doubt that the phone company is going to knock $20 off the next bill if I sent them a BIM model of an iPad Pro (which I actually have). I can’t help but wonder if there’s some space in the AEC world for a willing and able participant to create things, help people and at the same time – provide for his family while growing a career and inspiring a community.
In whatever form it gets realized for me, for anyone reading this – whether its busting my rear end to hit a deadline and keep the team smiling, or if its making stuff in a vacuum that keeps food on the table and makes everyone around me look good – all of it will have a part of Grandpa’s garage as a portion of my offering to the community as a whole.
If you need a Revit model, a family, some weird file fixed, detail item, doo-dad or parametric item for a project and don’t have the free time or knowledge to pull it off – hit me up. Drop an email/like/DM whatever form of communication you chose and we can figure something out. If you’re thinking longer term – that would be fantastic. If I don’t find something soon – I may be closer to that garage than I am this live/work studio.
Drop a line – the Garage door is open.
I’ll be over here – making stuff.
Cheers,
JM
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