David Cristiani

…. but what is that experience? If we don’t follow definitions, it could be anything.

Read your state regulation. Most are very clear that you can not, but I have not read every one of them.
 
I’m always amazed at how many people have not read their state regulation.
 

Many LAs work without any employees. … many more than a few years ago.

I don’t know of any standards, but you can create contect to make just about any curve seem to be correct. People make their own paths as an alternative to the one provided when the alternative makes more sense than what is provided. You either have to provide a logical path from the get go, or build the logic into the design once you’ve laid out…[Read more]

Are you going to be doing design/build with your own company doing the installations? If not, I think that you probably want errors & omissions insurance rather than liability insurance.
 
My agent gave me “Victor Schinnerer (sp) Insurance Company” application forms for E&O.

I wonder if they’ll use Macs.

I am anything but a graphic guru, but one thing that I have come to believe is the possibilty that the more impressive the computer graphic is, the more people separate the design from the designer. They seem to think that the computer did it and the designer is just operating it. The last thing that I want is to have clients disconnect me from…[Read more]

Why worry about what other LAs do? If you think it will be a benefit, do it. Anytime that you see a “weakness” in the profession which you do not have it is an advantage to you.
 
I honestly am amazed by the many perceived obstacles to success people can find because someone else is not doing something that they can do. This is like a football pl…[Read more]

“… I do find it rather interesting that at a time when public spaces should be more plant rich (environment) they are becoming the opposite.”
 
This does not make sense to me. Who has determined that public spaces should be more plant rich? The thing that so many forget or refuse to acknowledge is that it is very seldom when a public space is t…[Read more]

My opinion:
 
A garden is a planting composition that may include other elements and often is designed for a specific purpose or purposes.
 
A landscape is any piece or ground whether naturally and/or artificially covered, or whether it exists naturally, was designed, or just evolved.

If you plan on being a landscape contractor and designing your landscapes as part of it, there might not be as much a difference as some might think. I know many contractors with LA degrees who went into, or continued existing, business before interning. They do very well. One benefit to no having an LA license as a contractor is that LAs will…[Read more]

… or just stay on the links all of the time.
 

PS. I’d take any recent BLA over what we got. It appears that civil engineering students are either being steared away or are uninterested in learning how to do site plans. Our applicants had “a CAD class” and very little site plan drafting, if any. I recommend any jobless BLA to look for and answer every ad you can find for lower level civil site…[Read more]

I’m not seeing hostility in that ad at all. The only negative thing at all, if you can call it that, is that they are being very clear that they do not want to get buried in resumes for positions that they are not offering.
I see a hint that they may have been getting too much stuff to filter through when they put out  job offers. It seems very po…[Read more]

I decided that it really does not matter, so I updated my profile.

That sounds like a very cool experience.

Bob or Bert, or Robert as I knew you by, I always consider the source when being called something. I spent two years in a studio with you and know the source …. at least as well as anyone else in that studio did.
 
I’m generally pretty darn candid. I just don’t spell out my last name because I don’t want my comments here popping up at the top o…[Read more]

When you think about it, does it not make sense that there is no need to hire experienced LAs? I have not worked in a big firm, so I am speculating that it works similar to smaller situations. The person or people at the top do the designing and the rest are there for production. One person can oversee a fair amount of production and with all the…[Read more]

It, or more accurately – “you people”, have inspired me to quit my job ten weeks ago and go full time on my own. I’m still working part time  in civil engineering through the transition. It made me see a lot more opportunity simply from explaining to others the opportunities that I have noticed from where I sat. You made me realize that I ran out…[Read more]

The whole thing hinges on the premise that subrbia happened from a deliberate belief “suburban development provides prosperity”. Who came up with that and when?
Suburbia came from people who could afford to move out of the city doing so. I’m sure there are almost as many reasons why they moved out there as there are people who moved there. I…[Read more]