Andrew Garulay, RLA

High cost of living states are typically states that have a large wealthy population (in numbers, not percent of population)and “big business”. Those are places where more money is spent on things that landscape architects do. That in turn means more opportunity. That is why you see job advertisement in those areas.

Also, high tax states are…[Read more]

The internship and license process, in my opinion, is a mechanism to gain experience and knowledge in areas that may otherwise not present themselves or avoided because of lack of confidence or competence. That is a good thing for anyone trying to be competitive in a free market world where you need to be offering something that someone else wants…[Read more]

Neil,

Have you looked at any GIS software to run a query on slope analysis to visually show you slope percentages. It has been 20years since I used GIS, but it was very easy and fast to isolate slopes between certain percentages at that time. I’m sure it is as least as easy today. I would not be surprised if there is a CAD/GIS program that could…[Read more]

…. and somewhere along the way different professionals started sharing files.

The LAs who still draw only by hand either have no idea or don’t care that everything has to be re-drawn in CAD if it is going to be precisely laid out in the field. Hand drawings are great, but you can’t snap survey points in them in ten minutes, load it in a data c…[Read more]

I have begun to write on this thread several times and held back because it is a touchy subject, but it should be discussed.

I see a lot of diversity in this profession. There is some type of discrimination in every aspect of our lives. It is also true that whenever any of us are not advancing as fast or feel like we are not getting treated the…[Read more]

I think we agree on most of it. The area where we differ is that I don’t like the licensing becoming too powerful. I think it is OK where it is simply because it is such a diverse field that after two years you should be competent enough to do what someone who would hire someone with two years experience needs you to do. AND, it is highly unlikely…[Read more]

It is a two sided coin. Some LA firms exploit internships with short pay and have a revolving door by replacing their “seasoned” interns with new interns rather than paying them more. More internship time equals more potential exploitation. The other side of the coin is that you have license candidates with more “experience”.

But, what is that…[Read more]

My whole point is that even if Landscape Architecture firms are failing (not sure of that, just hearing the statistics) there is good design going on. You can’t tell me that there is nothing being built that is well designed these days. And you can’t tell me that everything designed by Landscape Architecture firms in the past was all good design.…[Read more]

I agree that LA needs to have credibility and that professional licensing helps in that as well. There is nothing new about many other professionals and non-professionals doing design on the land. I don’t see them as competing against Landscape Architecture. They all fill needs in different ways for people with varying needs or they simply would…[Read more]

I say it all of the time. Landscape Architecture work has not disappeared. The title and structure of the profession is what has changed. It was an emerging profession that seemed like it was growing and taking off toward something on an equal footing with other licensed professions coming out of the 60’s. Something clearly happened or is…[Read more]

The counter point to that is that the areas that you would not consider are areas with people with a lot of money, a high amount of “keep up with the Jonses” mentality, and a lot of regulation. All of these things add up to more opportunity in general as well as a higher need for design professionals not only to meet their aesthetic needs, but…[Read more]

It is very much state to state. A state with a Practice Act may have specific things that an LA can stamp while states with a Title Act pretty much allows you to do what any other person with no license can do except you can call yourself an LA. I see many Practice Acts as being little more than a Title Act to be honest with you. But, some states…[Read more]

No, I have not worked with the other units. I get by very well with the 910, so no strong desire to upgrade. Most of my jobs have fairly complete surveys anyway. I use it to supplement if they don’t get all of the trees, or if it is a small job like adding a swimming pool to an existing house. It does not replace a survey crew on a full site, but…[Read more]

I set up and take 30 shots and then save. If I need more from the same location, I start again by taking the reference points again (usually two house corners on the same face and top of foundation or threshold) and continuing. I often need to relocate, but follow the same protocol.

I use a more stable surveyors tripod because the one in the kit…[Read more]

Kirk,

I most often use it to 2d draft in plan view. It creates three dxf files. One is a 2d plan view using the xy coordinates, one does it 2d elevation (x,z?), and the other is x,y,z. I most often use the plan view dxf to draft the as-built in plan view. If I also need spot elevations, I will add the 3d dxf as long as I have shot something with…[Read more]

I think part of the problem is that people are either afraid to look at alternative pathways to success or have been convinced that they are less of an LA if they don’t go the firm route. I’m not saying that one way is better, but if you hit a road block you can either sit there and stare at it, hope for someone else to move it (ASLA, government,…[Read more]

Things in the landscape are getting built and people are designing those things. That part has not changed other than volume going up or down as the economy swings. I don’t know (or care) about the statistics of how many have BLA/BSLA, or MLA, or any other degree or whether or not they have LA stamps, some other stamp, or no stamp at all. What I…[Read more]

What you are describing is a active niche for sure. I live on Cape Cod and do residential landscape design. Many of the projects here are the razing and replacing of water front vacation homes (multi-million dollar summer homes). These are all heavily regulated to protect the many wetland resources that occur in these settings. Almost all of these…[Read more]

TYY,

First – I think a lot of us go through a phase where we don’t see that our careers are moving forward. It is very easy to let yourself think that you don’t have what the employers are looking for. I am someone who is missing a lot of the skills on the check list of what “All Landscape Architects” need to be good at. Once I stopped worrying…[Read more]