David Cristiani

Project Manager is a very general term. Landscape architects generally equate it to meaning “contract administrator”, but it is a term that means tons of different things to different people, different professions, and different situations. A design/build landscape contractor could use the term for a construction crew team leader, or a…[Read more]

The issue here is that there is a specific landscape architect with a specific potential client / specific project attempting to land the project using general marketing. This using a trawler instead of a flyrod to cath a single rising fish in a stream at a particular moment.
….. as thet say …  “Match the hatch!”

Here is a link that might be useful, Robert:
 
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/joke

… but if you think about it, you are wearing sneakers!  …. and working!

Two people are out camping in grizzly bear country. One has the latest and greatest hiking boots. The other has a pair of sneakers on. The first said “why don’t you have hiking boots?”. The other said “we are in grizzly bear country, so I have running shoes”. The other says ” you idiot, you won’t out run a bear”.  …. “no, but I will out run…[Read more]

It sounds like the UK suffers from the same disease as the US. Everyone is waiting for someone to cause a situation in which we can thrive instead of looking to meet existing needs of other private people. …. you live by the sword, you die by the sword.
 
 

“Green side up.” by every person who ever rolled a car window down when sod is being installed.

I’d like to think that in these times of over extended budgets and lots of societal needs, municipalities would put their efforts and resources toward those direct needs and let others undertake the effort to facilitate fun projects to generate ideas.

Sell yourself instead of the profession. If you are the right firm for the job, you’ll win every time.
 
The alternative is to sell the profession and then to associate yourself to that profession.
 
That makes it a two step process. You’ll have to convince them that the entire profession is better for this project than the entirety of those o…[Read more]

I very good friend of ours is the Chief Volunteer at Trinity Moscow Food Pantry, if you are interested in what they are doing. Shoot me an email if you want to connect with her.
 

But is not the course of action to communicate the same? Why would it be easier to tell someone that they did not build something right than to discuss not upselling clients. I don’t see why there would be an increase in discomfort. If anything, it would seem a lot less confrontational.
Why do you feel that it is different?

How will you approached him if/when you don’t like the way something is built and he needs to take it apart and redo it? This discussion is all just about how to aproach him to discuss his suggestion about lighting?

That sister-in-law of mine kept her resume going by working part time for non-profits at a high level. She wrote grants, put together events, solicited donations, and managed other volunteers. She did not make much money (sometimes none), but it was better on the resume and built more high level connections than working the grocery store.

It is definitely not the brightest move to not inform the designer, but not all contractors are up to speed on tact.
 
Cheryl,
If the contractor approached you on it rather than the homeowner, what would your role have become? Do you design and spec’ lighting? Would you have sub’d it to the contractor?
 
What if the contractor noticed there was de…[Read more]

You just reminded me of a professionalmom’s success story.Janet’s sister gave up her professional career to raise her two boys. Her husband gat a geat job as a yacht captain and had to travel to the Carribbean for several weeks at a time in the winter …. and decided the cabin girl was “his soul mate” and left her with the kids (6 and 4) last…[Read more]

I appreciate your perspective very much.
 
I’m looking back at if and how choosing to not let a day care raise our child impacted my career. It is a heck of a lot different with one child and being a father rather than a mother and being the one doing the full time job. We decided that we would do it that way prior to starting the family. The…[Read more]

There is no opinion offered or position taken by me on this very real situation where being a mother impacts employment and advancement. It is merely the observation that Heather is the most uniquely qualified by virtue of being both the potential employer and the potential employee.
There is no reason for any negative reaction for simply asking…[Read more]

Honest inquery to you, Heather. Please don’t take this the wrong way.
 
There is no one more qualified to address this issue than you, Heather. You and Jon both have the same degree. You are presumably partners in both the business and raising the family. You appear to be at home and he appears to be in the field. You don’t seem like an o…[Read more]

I’m not sure how it works where you live, but in this area we have a great deal of both frsh water wetland and coastal wetland resources that are highly regulated whether you are working with a little cottage or a big subdivision or commercial project. Surveyors and Civil Engineers do a great deal of mitigation calculations, mitigation and…[Read more]

The program is so deep that the more you use it, the more that you know how little you know about it. I’ve used it professionally for 12 years and have a great deal of interaction with other people using it longer than me and newly trained people up to date on some of the newer commands and methods.
When I got out of school in ’97 I thought I was…[Read more]