Andrew Garulay, RLA

They would not let you put a pumpchamber under a porch in MA. I’m curious as to why the pump chamber is so high,maybe boyancy in ground water is an issue?
 
I did a Zen Garden design for the top of a walled system five years ago. …. just raked gravel and rock formations. Then it was screened with various native plants to hide the concrete…[Read more]

Can you be more specific? Are you talking about mounded systems or walled systems/ …residential?

OWS is oftencompared to the Arab Spring. It has good intenions and it is against bad things. Many people are jumping on the band wagon to support being against something bad. The possibility of it having the power to destroy the status quo leaves open the question of whether that which replacesit is better or worse as it seems very possible to be…[Read more]

The assignment should not be a survey of what a random of assortment of people are using. It should be about what are effective tools for the what is being done by the particular office or individual.
 
Different business plans require different staffing, skills, equipment, and software. One of the things that I found was very missing in school w…[Read more]

Autocad LT 2008 in my own business, Autocad  3d companion 2009 in the engineer’s office.
 
I’ve been using Acad professionally for 12 years and everything else that I try makes me want to stay with it.
Reasons: so many tools for drawing management and so many tools in general that I use by rote which keeps productivity high.
 
The Intellicad pr…[Read more]

I’m not saying that a good economy equals good environment, but that without a good economy there is less interest and certainly funding to take care of it. More has been done in the boom years in the US.
China is a country that actually is a good example that when a government and a society are overly focused on economic growth the environment…[Read more]

I’m not saying that it is just Obama, but here in the US we affect policy at the voting booth. You can pitch a tent on Wall Street and the only way that will do anything is how well it affects how and how many people vote. Whether they are on the right or on the left, there will be a major change of players in Washington with a clear message to…[Read more]

… the new normal is not going over well.

The Great Disruption will be over in 2013.

No arguement from me Matt. You are working with your strengths and graphic communication, especially instant (ie, hand) communication, is a skill that any employer wants to have in his employee. People without that skill (such as myself) are not very marketable as employees in this profession.
 
It is a handicap that should be avoided, but as w…[Read more]

As someone with low end hand drawing skills, I can tell you why I do not show much hand sketching to my clients. It is a simple answer. It is best to work with your best and most effective assetts rather than working with a lesser skill just because it is industry standard to do so.
 
I used to worry about it or was “afraid” as you say, but this…[Read more]

One would hope that there was some criteria established for the design of the park prior to its being designed. If nothing else, the park department should have some type of comprehensive plan. Short of that, general criteria for “community park”, neighborhood park”, etc, … Did they hire a design firm to both establish the criteria and execute…[Read more]

Does it actually matter to any people outside of those who actually know what all this alphabet soup means? The general public does not know an RLA from ASLA, from a contractor, from a gardener, …. they may hire us or not, but clearing upthe “initial issue” means nothing to them either way. Those to whom it does matter must alrready understand…[Read more]

You can’t honestly say “no’ to being able to get “the experience” without the credentials if you don’t know what exact experience she is looking for.
 
What experience are you looking for? Where do you want that experience to take you?
 
There is no generic all encompassing Landscape Architecture skill set. There are some that you can not get wi…[Read more]

… but, if you want to go into a traditional office in a traditional position it is going to be pretty darn hard to get through the front door without “credentials” as there are so many out there looking for work who do have them.
 
If you have an unconventional background, you will need an unconventional way of getting in. There are many people…[Read more]

All you can do is try. Part of that is networking – doing things that put you in contact with or get you noticed by people in the areas of work that you want to do.
 
This profession is so diverse and the edges are so broad that there is no “right way” or definitive answer to how you might get involved. Part of that is what areas of the…[Read more]

It looks like a weaker law than the current”
 
“the applicant has completed the course of study and been graduated from a college or school of landscape architecture approved by the board and the applicant has had 2 years of practical experience in landscape architectural work of a grade and character satisfactory to the board.”
 
It currently r…[Read more]

Eric, the key phrase in your post is “If we can show ourselves to be experts at ….”. That is what we all need to do. The problem is that so many want the profession to do that for them as if it will then apply to all within the profession. They want someone to promote the profession so that they do not have to promote themselves. It is a very…[Read more]

A Sole Proprietor business is the easiest and cheapest to set up, for reporting taxes, and for dismantling. Unless you have a lot of assetts, I don’t know why you would want to complicate it. … if you use your own name, all you have to do is report your income unless you are collecting sales or service tax (we don’t have service tax in my…[Read more]

It is a Title Act now, but it looks to me like it will essentially remain a Title Act, although APLD and contractors seemed to be freaked out by it as if it does more. I can’t see that it limits anyone from doing anything or broadens what LAs can already do. It seems like both proposals are more about using politically correct gender neutral…[Read more]