Small Firms Ideas Exchange

Ok, so my firm has been holding its own. When the day is done, there is still outstanding work that needs to be finished. We like coming to work; we lament about not having enough but we are thankful for what we’ve got.

We’ve been getting more “one-off” projects these days. By “one-off” I mean those kinds of projects that are well beyond anything we’ve seen before. One example we’re scratching our heads over now is a “re”-relocation of an old church building to another site in a historic district. On that one, it’s a framing question: the building was originally constructed about 125 years ago. It was brought to the current site about 25 years ago but it needs to be moved down the road now, hopefully to its permanent idyllic site. The building is wood frame, approximately 28’ x 44’ and, of course, has actual size lumber (so Simpson connectors are much harder to use for foundation anchoring). 

The part we’ve never seen is that the long centerline of the building is bearing, as the lumber used to frame the floor is approximately 14’ long. Ok, for the tricky part – the floor joists do not frame on top of or into the side of a beam of any sort. They just rest on top of a 2x8 laid on its side. Oh, the perimeter beam is 4x6, all the 2x8 floor joists are notched for bearing on the perimeter beam.

So my question here is, “When you’ve never seen a particular condition before, how do you go about solving it?” Obviously my approach is to a) research the known or determinable factors, b) define what the issue or problem is, c) find resources (people, vendors, engineers, whatever) who might have insight, d) work to the answer.

I admit, sometimes I just sit at my desk staring out the window waiting for the divine inspiration on where to look for the answer…How 'bout you? 

- Lisa Stacholy, AIA

Hey guys, I’m wondering how the rest of y'all are doing? I took a gander through the past few months of postings and, gee wiz, I’ve been kind of cranky lately. Sorry about that.  Anyway, I’m trying to balance my budget this year, and am wondering how I can continue to make it all work. What expenses should I stop, and what are mission critical? Realistically I’m *hoping* that this year won’t be any worse than the last year. If we stay with a pathetic status quo, I think me and my guys will be ok. But who knows anyway? 

Two areas I’m having the most issues with are my AIA dues and my CAD-software subscription. I was bemoaning the cost of AIA membership fees when I saw a discussion on LinkedIn about just such a topic.

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=113822&discussionID=13511337&commentID=11629472&report.success=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdhBhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_11629472

It seems that I’m not the only one struggling with the decision of either keeping or dropping my AIA membership.

Aside from AIA dues and/or your CAD-software subscription costs, what other changes/adjustments are you guys looking at?  Just curious and looking for a reality check.  I hope projects pick up significantly soon. I miss writing about buildings… More soon I hope.

-Lisa Stacholy, AIA

Happy New Year!  I love yelling that at the top of my lungs at the stroke of midnight with my family, followed by husband kisses and children hugs. My family and I talk about what we want to personally do better in the new year. We talk about what we wished went differently in the past year and, most of all, we dream about how wonderful it can be; we are after all Americans.

I've mentioned before that each time I hear on the AM radio ". . .and now for the update on America's Financial Crisis. . ." I feel like saying, "Excuse me folks, it's the new reality; work with it." The hardest part of running my practice is not the tightened credit for my clients; it's not even the current regulations we accept that we have to work within. The hardest part is the uncertainty of what the federal government will do next, and how it will affect my ability to run my practice and serve my clients. Too many times I tell my clients they need to undertake some additional aspect of construction on a project just because the AHJ said so, especially when the codes clearly indicate not necessary.

Sustainable design and commonsense [re]development: those are two topics I want to spend more time on this year. I feel good that my clients are poised to do well in this area. Increased federal intervention into how my clients run their offices/businesses, however, that is troubling. I hope the goodness in people will prevail.  (Yes, I still hate how the "HOPE" mantra has been hijacked by hot air rhetoric.) My greatest hope is that good people running businesses will take a few precious moments away from trying to run their businesses and weigh in on the increasing intervention we are feeling at federal, state, and local levels. I hope there will be more tea parties. I hope there will be more entrepreneurs with the gumption to get things going. I hope government doesn't tax us to death. 

In short, I hope for America to be as great as she can be. God bless America. Best wishes for a great 2010.

- Lisa Stacholy, AIA

Ok, we’re inundated with information; Web sites, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, seminars, conventions, etc… you get the jist. Oh, I forgot a huge resource, the AIA. 

I’m on a treasure hunt for a seminar that Charles Matta of Virginia (currently working with GSA) put on at a few AIA national conventions. As I recall, the content was something like “Marketing to Get Government Contracts,” or “Small Firms Selling to the Federal Government.” If I recall correctly, it was sometime between 2003 and 2006, and it was sponsored in part by the AIA’s knowledge community Small Project Practitioners (SPP). 

I’m stumped. I’ve “searched” the AIA Web site and can’t find nary a popcorn trail to try and find it. You’d think that’s the kind of information they’d want to have available. So much for having an approachable membership-driven organization.  Maybe I’ll give Charles a call.

But my search gets me to thinking: what stupid things am I doing in my firm which are equally idiotic? Funny thing is, I know that if someone looks from the outside in and asks, “Why do you do this like that?” I’ll have a perfectly good, justifiable reason and logic. It may just not fit outside my reality. To combat this, I realize that I spend a good deal of time thinking things over, externally so to speak.  I’ve got a handful of colleagues/friends (nationwide architects I met through SPP) that I use as my “sanity board”; that is, I call them and say “Hey Karen, am I totally crazy, but this is the idea I had in the shower last night……”.  She’s in Denver (www.arcmatters.com ), I’m in Atlanta; geographically we do things differently but fundamental principles can be discussed and really good suggestions/leading-to-solutions result for both of us. This morning I spoke with my friend Laura in Long Island (www.homefreehome.com) about collecting and organizing data which is accessible for people who might need it.

Seems like there must be a better way; I want to find it.

- Lisa Stacholy, AIA