David Cristiani

Business. agree with the others.

No matter what type of landscape design you are doing, whether it requires holding an LA license or not, you get your work based on how much faith your potential client has in you. Having the license, whether the client has a clue of what it means or not, gives you that much more gravitas or credibility.
 
I’ve never worked on a job that legally…[Read more]

Fortunately or unfortunately depending how you look at it, our profession requires apprentice work (internship, whatever you want to call it) in most states. The good part of that is that is the experienced gained. The bad part is that it relies on limited opportunities. Many of those opportunities are to fill voids in production. While there may…[Read more]

Another way to look at this is from the perspective of a student trying to prepare him/herself to have an advantage at getting one of those few entry level jobs. Knowing what some offices, such as the one Landscapeplanner is in, think that they are not getting from recent grads gives them the opportunity to target an existing need, prepare to…[Read more]

One problem is that many professors do not know it well enough to teach it. I think that there is also too much emphasis put into some of the feel good stuff like roof top gardens, social justice, and sustainable this or that. All good stuff, but there are only so many hours in the day and you have to master the fundamentals to execute.
 
I was…[Read more]

I used M-Color a bit several years ago. I tried Impressions, but found it too cartoony. For big site plans I just use solid color hatching. I have added color hatching to plant symbol blocks to use as well. It is just quick down and dirty to present commercial plans without a lot of detail.
 
Either of them requires closed polylines which can be…[Read more]

The point being that you’d still be the same competent LA that you are now or ten years ago if you had no choice but to find an alternative to using your skilled hands much like your dad using his other hand. … also changed from one cast to two before posting that because I knew you’d say that you would switch hands.
 
YOU would still be…[Read more]

I was in school between ’81-’83 when everything was taught by hand. I dropped it because I did not have drawing hands that would allow me to move forward in the profession at that time. Fifteen years later I got my degree because I learned how to draw using CAD …. because I had to. I’m still learning autoCAD. It is a ridiculously complex program…[Read more]

 “But, autoCAD is a “production tool”………..NOT a “design tool”.”

That is correct. I don’t think anyone believes otherwise. You bring this up every time someone has a cad related question. It is not a religion that you either believe in or you are against. It is a tool that some people use – just as you stated. Those that use it have…[Read more]

Allan,

If you are doing planting plans out of a nursery for your customers I would expect that you’d be looking for something with a quick learning curve so that you can produce foundation planting plans, accent gardens and an occasional walkway or patio layout. There are actually some half decent software programs available to do that in some…[Read more]

I have no problem with old school. I wish I had those skills.
There has to be a reason why Allan feels the need to use software. Maybe his hands are not what they used to be. Maybe he is required to use CAD to interact with other professionals. I don’t know, but I know he wants to change for some reason. I’m not going to judge him on that, but I…[Read more]

If you are a paper and pencil guy, all you have to do is apply the same drawing principles to screen as you do on paper and you will have aesthetically pleasing just as you do now. Line weight (hierarchy), hachures, stippling,, …. can all be done with a  basic CAD program once you gain an understanding and control of the commands. ACAD Lt is j…[Read more]

This sometimes happens when one aspect of a design is valued more than is reasonable. It is a university in a time and place where political correctness and “being green” may be more highly valued than practicality. It may be possible that several people, maybe the designers themselves, pointed out that this would be a problem.
 
This may also…[Read more]

10-4

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 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]

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]

Use of CAD and determining what is best is very user specific. First is whether or not you will be sharing files with others. Second is your and/or your staff’s previous training/experience with programs. Many things fall one way or another after that.

They are upside down. The tabs are not supposed to be visible in the joint at the surface.

“Well one good thing about now vs. back in the day is that lisps are now accepted.”
 
Roseanne Roseannadanna