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If I had to do it all over again, I would seriously consider saving my money on school and trying to can get an internship or job with an LA firm or Design/Build firm instead (I had one before I started school, and they wanted me to stay…dang!). I’m finding that while a great experience, what I learned in school was so minimal compared to what I…[Read more]

Thanks so much! Great advice. Do you have any recommendations on suppliers? How thick would you go, 12ga? I’m in the desert southwest, so many people use the rusted steel here.

This gaucho knows what he is talking about. Very insightful commentary and well worth considering before making any move to South American (which stole our name- thank you Randy Newman)

A lot of people’s aprehension comes from using the really old stuff which never really anchored well and would eventually work loose. They were probably also using residential-grade, which is much, much thinner. If you use a good quality THICK commercial edging that has a proper fastening system, you will be just fine. Aluminum is a good…[Read more]

Thank you! Yes, I agree that the client should be the one to decide based on what they want. Hopefully, I can talk my boss into installing it if the client wants that.

http://wildsuburbia.blogspot.com/2009/10/using-non-potable-water-on-native.html
 

I have been developing contact with Brazil in the last few years and some of my friends have moved there at the same time. Unless you are going there with a job, Brazil’s job market is not as straight forward as you may think.
In first place, I am not very sure you can offer your services if you do not speak the language. It simply does not work…[Read more]

I had a friend go to Brazil to do farming and was taken advantage of by his employer. Did really well for a while, but eventually stopped getting paid.

I think that the best thing you can do is to treat the installers like they have a career too. The best foremen I ever worked with were in the business for multiple decades and prided themselves in the work they did. It was not just a summer gig for them it was their career. They went to the same education sessions I did and were very…[Read more]

That’s true, Trace. I’d never move overseas without a job. I may move to Seattle without a job if I can’t find anything by the end of the summer, though. I’m living in the tiny town of Moscow, ID now, because that’s where the university is. But now that I’ve graduated, there’s really no point in staying in a place where I’m not likely to find a…[Read more]

seems like you should get the job first, Roland. I have often moved without a job, and it is not fun. Recently I have moved WITH a job, and it is a lot better. Why stop at Brazil, if you are willing to go abroad? Seems like Dubai and China are pretty  hot (literallly and figuratively..unfortunately)..
Or even Canada, for that matter – perhaps…[Read more]

I took the CSE last week and passed. Thank you to all who’ve posted here–it definitely helped! A lot of questions about irrigation, mostly related to the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance. You should know a bit about irrigating with greywater. Quite a bit on ADA. If you study the DSA links provided by others in this thread, you should be…[Read more]

We have a very high Brazilian immigrant population on Cape Cod. Many have gone back home, for what it is worth.

 I have found that if an employee’s desire and technical experience is sufficient, this is usually the fault of the person at the top (que the mirror!!!).  The “quantity vs. quality” tension is omnipresent, and having been on both sides (employee/employer) I know there can be some real mixed messages.
As we all know, materials and overhead are la…[Read more]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the reply. In the early days, i was the site manager, I was everything but in order to grow the business, I had to start hiring other people to assist with installations… I know that in the States, there are numerous very big landscaping design and build companies and I would love to know how they deal with quality control…[Read more]

Thanks for your reply Mark,

They do have the technical skills to pull it off, I think it’s more about laziness and hoping that no one will notice.

Here is something I found that as far as statistical data goes, this is probably a fairly reliable and recent indicator because it comes from a fairly credible economic and global affairs journal, the Economist.  Still, it does not tell you what kind of jobs these countries are having a hard time “filling”. I am a little skeptical for two clear re…[Read more]

For what its worth we get an influx of ‘Brazillionaires’ every winter in aspen. They are typically very well-off. From what Ive heard they love to shop here in the states for deals if that tells you anything.

Some things I’ve found out:
Americans and Europeans have been moving over there for some time, according to this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/world/americas/13brazil.html?page…
There seems to be a bit of a brain-drain thing going on. Well-educated Americans with degrees from Harvard and other ivy league schools have left the US for…[Read more]

These are not abilities that you can make through incentives. The either have the ability or they don’t. If they don’t, it takes years to develop through working with those that do. You don’t have time to develop them, so you either have to find people who have the ability, deal with their lack of ability, or cut back to a manageable size.
 
This…[Read more]