David Cristiani

I don’t disagree with any of what you just wrote, Chris M.
Full disclosure – I’m not a member.
It is an entity that runs off of all of its memberships. Some are licensed LAs and many are not. I don’t know the demographic or funding source breakdown, but I’m quite certain that the entity, like all entities, is more interested in the expansion and…[Read more]

I can never understand why so many in our profession are so convinced that the pathway to success is to market the entire profession with the expectation that this will make an LA license like tenure to a professor, a bus pass to a commuter, or an ink stamp at a night club.
It will not perform like a labor union doing collective bargaining. We h…[Read more]

I graduated in ’97 at 35 and had just started a family in Idaho. I moved back to Massachusetts 2 years later when I really started looking for work. I was in the same boat as you in that I was not getting hired by anyone and wound up drafting in a CE office. Just like Robert, I did everything that I could toward designing sites rather than…[Read more]

Acad Lt is $et up so that NO add ons can be u$ed.
FX Cad was very similar to Acad Lt when I last test drove it. I just wanted to point out that there is more than one component that you have to purchase and not to get fooled by the single price of FX CAD ($1,595). You still have to buy Land FX ($1,295) as well, it seems. I’m not going to shell out…[Read more]

Great response. I worked in two different civil engineering/land survey offices doing civil plans for twelve years. There are sometimes some issues with non-native dwg files when they are received by the CE’s.
I looked at FX CAD and Land FX using Intellicad. I liked the landscape specific things in the programs, but I am so used to working with…[Read more]

I replaced my black starter ink with an 80 ml for the second time just last week. I bought the printer in February. I’ve gone through at least 10 rolls of 24″x 150′ bond using mostly b&w line drawings. I just replaced the starter color ink (12ml) with 29 ml cartridges.
This is an image of my typical 24″x 36″ b&w print with some parts blurred out…[Read more]

I think there is a big difference between recruiting for the profession and promoting the profession. “The profession” has done a great job recruiting to the point where there is a flood of people with not only BLA or BSLA degrees, but many with MLAs and not enough employment opportunities for them. I think they took advantage of the environmental…[Read more]

Agreed. If anyone wants to post a concise definition of what an LA does the majority of us would disagree with it because it is too diverse. Diverse = vague. Think about relying on the marketing results you are likely to get through the marketing of a vague profession vs. marketing your own skill set to people who need and understand your skill…[Read more]

The only time that I have found it to be a “selling point” has been for trying to sell commercial projects to regulatory boards. I have not found it on the radar screen of clients because they are interested in it for environmental reasons.
The project that I mentioned above was for the personal residence of an architect who thought it would give…[Read more]

Our profession exists within our current society. Our profession is made of the current people within it and not by what is written about it or of the people that were in it in the past  It is not separate. Many in our profession seem to think that it is populated with droids from a past culture who are separated from today’s society and valu…[Read more]

Apply the same ecologic values to a roof top as you would to any other project. There are different opportunities in a roof top, but our values should be consistent.
I hope that clears things up.
Thanks

I’m always amused by the current skittishness our profession has regarding aesthetics. Why is it a sin to value aesthetics? I might be alone on this, although I sincerely hope not, but I believe that the aesthetic qualities of a roof top garden in an urban area has values that far out weigh whether or not they have a significant benefit to the…[Read more]

It appears that the only thing that could be construed as practicing before obtaining a license in Tennessee is to misrepresent yourself by calling yourself a “Landscape Architect” or what you do as “Landscape Architecture” or by using language that implies either of those. Surely rep[resenting yourself as being qualified to do work that is…[Read more]

I’m not against licensing. I was just trying to honestly answer the question asked. Based on other threads that you started or participated in I interpret the question to mean that you want to know what you can legally do as a self employed designer in the field of landscape architecture in the place where you live prior to getting your li…[Read more]

Tennessee: “Definitions: No definitions of landscape architect or landscape architecture.”
Like many of the so-called Practice Acts, Tennessee seems to be a Title Act. What I read does not exempt anyone from doing anything as long as they don’t call what they do Landscape Architecture or call themselves Landscape…[Read more]

One thing that I learned over the years is that, at least where I work (Massachusetts), is that it is not the stamp that does much for you, but it is the process that gets you to the stamp that opens doors for you.
I know more people who are not licensed whom others believe are Landscape Architects than people I know who are licensed Landscape…[Read more]

Oh, I did not realize that you were already working full time. The difference being that you already have a primary income, so you are not depending on the work for survival.
You might want to try to do some design/drafting for a well established higher end landscape design/build. Many of those were started by people with LA degrees back before…[Read more]

Marketing yourself for freelance is a tough gig with or without a license. The reason has less to do with us and more to do with the consumer. They can’t see the product that we will make for them until after they purchase it, so their tendency is to concentrate on whom they will purchase it from as if they are the product (an entirely reasonable…[Read more]

Some might look for your ability to convince. Others may be more interested in your ability to facilitate discussion to draw out information pertinent to custom design for the particular client.
It depends on the firm and how they do business. Some are sales first, some are design first. It is just as important to understand your potential…[Read more]

There are light colored granite colors much more available in the last few years. I have not seen travertine used in a driveway situation, so I don’t know how well it will hold up.