Got Craft?

Does this not spell OPPORTUNITY in a big way? I know excellent design/build people who find a way to get whomever the help that comes along put out a consistent awesome product. Not everyone can people manage, but those who can own it.

As someone whofrequently has contractors swearing at him because of the design and attention to detail, I would agree with the premise, just not on all the details. Around here, things are a bit different.

3.Most of the workers here are in their 30’s, the bosses (the ones who know what they are doing) are in their 50s. There is generally one older white guy with a big gut directing about 10 hispanic dudes who speak absolutely no english whatsoever. Legality is questionalble, and I’m sure they are not getting paid very well. The contractor has a boat payment to make, you know. Do you think those guys can read the plans? Of course not. This is why you must draw what you mean, notes mean nothing. Speaking of plans, when was the last time you saw a set outside of the job trailer actually next to the guys doing the work? And when you have to reject a lighting fixture submittal THREE TIMES after designing what I want on the plans to begin with (and telling them each time to build it exactly as shown on the plans) you know something is seriously wrong. 

4. Depends on who designs it. Over the past few years, the selections at out local nurseries has only gotten better. More perrenials and more natives that were once considered oddballs have become commonplace. Sure Home Despot and Loweseses just have a fraction, but even they are diversifying (the HD down the street actually subcontracted their plants to a local grower this year. I guess they wanted more variety, more knowledgeable staff, and less plant loss so they brought in pros who would be out of work anyway as the plating season is over). From my experience, it is landscapes designed by engineers who pick five plants off the list and shove it in the ground.

5. This will always be the case. Finding good people is tough, and when they have to cut their fees to win work and keep their people, they will, just to stay busy. Wouldn’t you buy a Caddilac for the price of a Chevy?

6. Just the opposite here, in the past few years, the amount of product available has grown exponentially, both in plant and hardscape materials. Many of the hardscape companies have used the downtime on the machines to experiment and introduce new products. Same with plants. Plus, we have many more smaller specialty nurseries for natives, green roof, and wetland plants, started by people who saw a niche that was not being filled by the big boys.

7. Yes, yes they do. Kids today are morons…absolute morons. I was saying this when I was a kid, too. Its nothing new. Who knows, maybe they got even stupider lately?

8. You are right, There isn’t a lot of pride in much of the work being done today. The older generation who was pround of what they did is being replaced by the generation that is how much money they made on the job.

9. There is no accounting for taste. Besides, HOAs and communtiy groups, as well as cookie-cutter builders who buy in bulk kind of neuter any design. And Joe Schmoe landscape makes his money by rubberstamping the same design over and over because he can, overplanting the same 5 plants because he needs to sell them.

We are not losing our craft, but it is being subverted by hacks, budget cuts, planting ordinances, and indifferent LAs who just want to make a buck. I’ve seen firms in engineering and archietcture go from an art to a business, and I fear many LAs are headed that way as well with the large amount of mergers and conglomerations. There are still true craftsmen (and women) in the business.

I think the same can be said with our tools. CAD alllows people to be lazy and take shortcuts and not really know how to design something (especially details). GIS allows all sorts of shortcuts with analysis, and many uses have no idea how to interpret the results of the quiries they run, or even how to check their accuracy. 3D allows some to hide design deificiencies with fancy graphics (the old architect covering the building with the trees syndrome) and unrealistic renderings. Sure, the graphics look great, but it looks like crap when its built because the rendering was so innacurate. This is dangerous because people assume it is photorealistic, not like the old days where a hand sketch was pretty much understood to be an artist’s rendering.