I worked for 5 years “on the side” to get established while working full time in a civil engineering office…[Read more]

A solid body of…[Read more]

My father used to tell me that when you reach a creative block it is best to do something knowing that you’ll undo it later rather than to stagnate. I found that to be true back when we were building rock gardens … we’d add a plant or rock that did not really do what we wanted it to do, but soon…[Read more]

I agree with some of what you are saying, but the license and ability to use the professional title is a big incentive to jump through all those extra hoops. Those extra hoops take a lot of effort and commitment which builds knowledge. If you take that away by making it available to anyone, almost everyone would bypass gaining that extra…[Read more]

I do a ton of pool plans (especially since the Great White Shark spike here on Cape Cod). I don’t touch the pool guts other than for accounting for the structure of an…[Read more]

If you are just starting out you might want to start with flat rate fees. That makes it much easier for a prospect to feel comfortable about the overall cost. You’ll need to write a contract with the scope of work described so it is clear what you are and what you are not doing for the fee. You should state how many revisions you’ll do…[Read more]

The simple yet complex answer as to what landscape designers charge is this – whatever someone is willing to pay. We are not selling something that comes in a box that is the same thing in the box that the next landscape designer is selling,…[Read more]

Now you can develop your side work without a conflict of interest. You also don’t have to rely on it for your sole source of income. I used that to allow myself to pick and choose side work to develop a portfolio of built work and develop methods and strategies that worked for me.

It helps that you do not necessarily have to charge top…[Read more]

I’m glad to share.

The secret to walking on water is knowing where the rocks are.

An analogy is to put your mill wheel where the river is flowing. Recently, all the good mill sites were filled so there was no place to put your…[Read more]

First is the boom in seal population on Cape Cod which has made a steady and fast growth in Great White Shark sightings and a few incidences in the last 8 years or so – this has raised a high demand for swimming pools. I am quite…[Read more]

And, I totally understand that “autoCAD” is where the LA profession has been for many years. But, I’ve seen way too many “autoCAD” drawings where maybe only (1 or 2) line weights were used…very difficult to read & understand those drawings. A variety of “line weights” makes a huge different, whether it’s “autoCAD” or “Hand Drawn”. What’s…

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I’m not sure why it is. Maybe it is the computer age.…[Read more]

This is a good time to pay attention to which segments of the market stay active and who keeps doing well. I’m talking about the people who hire LAs…[Read more]

I don’t know ow many states allow LAs to do drainage calc’s. I know that Idaho did at least for a…[Read more]

I saw a few commercial projects where the CE did a rough site plan and then the LA enhanced it. I did a few Dunkin Donut plans after I left the CE offices. I had a bit of a long leash because the CE on the projects was someone that…[Read more]

” It appears that it is very uncommon for an LA to do the site plan, grading plan, and drainage plan for a commerical site, is that true? I am talking about smaller-scale commercial, like a fast-food restaurant.”

I’m not saying that the…[Read more]

My opinion is that the employer should have let her have the work unless the work is of a nature that they feel they need to protect it. I also think the employee should have asked if it is alright to have professionally made books of work done in…[Read more]

I don’t know if the books you had made and the ones you made with notes were of things that you designed on projects that the firm was doing or things outside of the firm.

Their projects are technically their copyright material even the parts that you did while working for them unless it is…[Read more]

I worked for a total of 12 years in two different similarly sized civil engineering offices doing site plans on commercial projects of the scale you described. It was not very often that a site plan would come…[Read more]

If someone can not get hired as an LA for whatever reason, why wouldn’t that person entertain a different field?

If…[Read more]

I did 12 years full time in two different small…[Read more]

I think the difficulty is that unless the LA is continuously involved in every regulation applicable to the project in question, it is easy to “not know what you don’t know”.

A lot of people reach out to me…[Read more]

First is that my personality and skill set is as a designer rather than a manager.

The second is that I realized that the nicer higher end residential custom builders that…[Read more]

It is a diverse profession as I say all the time. None…[Read more]

I think you are referring to Landmark by Vectorworks. I don’t use it. but I thought I might point you in the direction you want to go. Use the search feature on Land8 and you’ll get more information.

It is nice to know that I can hire you when I need to have a nicely rendered project. I’ll call you if that happens.

I went back 12 years later because technology allowed me to draw just fine without using my h…[Read more]

I think that you are exactly right. Especially the part of d…[Read more]

I could also tell you why landscape architects are losing ground to other professions in the business of design on the land while at the same time there is more design on the land going on.

I could tell you why not all that you perceive are bad or weak…[Read more]

My best professor used to say “so what” when someone presented a stunning visual plan with the intent on getting one to explain “why”. He was the last “old school” professor at the university that I went to. I got the most out of him because he “beat into me”…[Read more]

1. the diversity of opportunities there are to apply the knowledge, skills, and abilities one acquires with the education.

2. that strengths in some areas can overcome weakness in others.

3. that less is sometimes more. (rather than giving the impression that more deliverables, more management, higher end…[Read more]