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Oh, and they’re ugly too.

We who are trying to build up a business from a beginning point need to establish a client base, or more specifically a referral base. That starts with volume and grows into references which grows into value. Fortunately or unfortunately, that is how it progresses.
 
Being valuable is built rather than declared. Being valued is a state of mind…[Read more]

I’m still using the RLA moniker, as I don’t agree with the logic of PLA. Nobody outside a few people in the profession knows what it means, and it isn’t tied to anything like a proper title of PE, which is what it was based on. PE is a LEGAL abbreviation of title, PLA is not. RA is generally a legal abbreviation of title, RLA is generally a legal…[Read more]

http://www.asla.org/uploadedFiles/CMS/Government_Affairs/Public_Policies/Licensure%20Universal%20Designation.pdf
See ‘Rationale’ section for detailed explanation as to why the ASLA is pushing for PLA.  I’ve heard through the grapevine that it also had few conflicts in the 50 states when vetted and in states with issues the legal issues seemed resolvable.

Thanks! Happy to be joining the ranks of the licensed. Its interesting to compare it to Architects and not engineers, the ASLA idea of using PLA to compare to engineers is the other way to look at it. Glad that ASLA is taking a stance on it, but it will be interesting to see how it works out. So far im using RLA as well.

Thanks! Its a crazy subject and its amazing that we dont have a standard. It seems like just using LA is most appropriate since you have to be registered/licensed to even use the title LA (for both states that have title and/or practice acts) so the R, P, etc, proceeding LA seem unnecessary.

Pla is most commonly used in co. I thought this was resolved a couple yrs ago.
Personally i prefer the old rla, for the same reasons others have mentioned.

While i have heard the 7-10% figure used for fee estimates i dont think its practical to use in proposals. Id agree that projects under 30k youd probably want to come up with some minimum fee, say $1000 for schematic plan(s) only. Projects over 100,000 you might want to begin to graduate your fee as well. It is conceivable that a 50k project takes…[Read more]

Eric,
Congratulations on passing the exam and welcome to the ranks of “Registered Landscape Architects”! I have been practicing in Virginia and licensed or certified, depending on the decade in Virginia since 1998. Per the current legislation your seal should read “Landscape Architect”. As to the initials, it’s my opinion that using RLA, rides on…[Read more]

same here… have you tried fotosketcher? that might help.

Francis, I put my entire design into sketch up for two reasons; to actually check my design (scale, feel etc), and secondly to help do perspective  sketch views.
 
Robert, I do see the value of hand sketches. But, it seems every time I do a sketch by hand, the client wants a different view or the design changes so now the sketch is wrong. With a h…[Read more]

Allrightythen. This week’s challenge involves a lesson on the proper choice of materials for a particular location.
What the photo shows are a specific clay brick permeable paver system installed in front of a building on a major university campus. These pavers are also installed at other locations around campus, but not in as large an area as t…[Read more]

i think he is referring to drawings like what i posted. relying on sketch up style alone won’t achieve a hand drawn like sketches. my style is to model d verticals and arc’l then manually draw d vegetation. and just trace the buildings and verticals. try to find the pics. i posted

Autodesk Impression seemed like it could be a great solution for quickly producing such graphics when it first appeared. I’ve tried it a few times over the years but never really got it to work consistently.
Paul Stafford

I don’t find too many people with a budget under $30k willing to pay much, if anything, for design.
 
Ten percent is for design or design and contract administration?
 
If you are working the $25k-$50k built residential landscape market, it might make sense to stick to schematic landscape plans (plan view, no construction details) and leave a l…[Read more]

Thank you for all your information. I need to go through and try it.

Agreed. WHAT you work on makes all the difference in the world. Doing most residential or garden scale design work with AutoCAD and Vectorworks is like using a sledgehammer to drive a finish brad. Both can be used for that, but can be way overpowered and very expensive for the task.
Depending on how complicated your designs are and how detailed y…[Read more]

I do residential, but almost always start with a dwg file from a surveyor/engineer. I’m also sending my files to surveyors for staking in the field or inserting in their drawings for Certified Plot Plans of proposed work that requires a Surveyor’s stamp.
 
I use ACAD Lt with no add ons. I’ve been using ACAD for 19 years, so I have a lot of…[Read more]

I am assuming you are working on residential projects, correct?  I used Dynascape all through college and think it is amazing.  However, if you are planning to coordinate with Architects or design at a large scale, then I would recommend going with a standard like AutoCAD, then using the Land F/X add-on.  Vectorworks is another great option, es…[Read more]

Congratulations, Eric. I use PLA – Professional Landscape Architect – and ASLA. This is what ASLA is promoting, and I see no reason in my case not use it. The argument from ASLA (one of them atleast) is that the P puts our title in the same category as Professional Engineers. I don’t know that PLA yet denotes the same level of recognition and…[Read more]