[George McNair]

 

See the Imperial Palace

 

Are you related to the older Landscape Architect that went to U of Oregon with me back in 1973? His name is Tommy Wang? 

[George McNair]

 

Where is Dan Johnson, who posed the question?

[George McNair]

Just do what he wants providing it’s legal and is not a messed up plan which you will be liable for. If he pays the bills either quit after the next pay check or do what he wants. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make em drink. Our job is to please the client even if the plan is weird and off key………………make em happy.

[George McNair]

 

 

LA and designers definately make our cities more enjoyable and aesthetical to live in. We see a whole host of workers installing irrigation, lawns and trees that cool the city and make some urban area look like parks. Hats off to the industry.

 

Climate change is huge and involves every walk of life or profession before a solution can be formed.

[George McNair]

 It’s all about image with most of the homeowners that are willing to pay for my services

 

Yip, so true. When picking up $75k checks, one must at least dress in slacks, good shirt and decent shoes. My scale of operation is picking up $7k checks if I’m lucky.  Presently, am semi-retired but need to pick up some jobs for mental and physical health. The design jobs seem to be going out of town or to the landscapers who are barely hanging on.

 

People must think LAs are too spendy. My reputation should be good when it comes to getting the jobs done and doing nice looking major commercial projects and large residences. Maybe some are bad mouthing me. The landscapers are hurting since a several new ones move into Coos Bay, Oregon during the up swing in ’07. I see them parking their rigs with big signs along side busy roads.

 

I’m thinking about running a TV add or radio and sell the idea that LAs use competitive construction bidding that saves the client money and pays for LA services. In addition LAs provides job management, and usually ups the quality since landscapers are hand picked.

 

Brittany hasn’t been back on and we are handing out our pearls of wisdom! We are supposed to be discussing the design-build dream. Back before the big crash during the ’80, I was working for the president of the Oregon Board of Landscape Contractors. Learned the nuts and bolts of being an LA. Later, I started up a design-build practice and it was going gang busters. It was really hard hot work in the 105 degree southern Oregon sun. Was doing landscapes on the Street of Dreams!………………..then boom………crash………pop……the economy went dead for 5 fricking years!

 

Did a 180 degree move and landed a job as a land use planner for the county……….thank God for a job and pay check. Kept my license up and always did jobs on the side to stay sharp. Taught myself autocad.

 

My desgn build dreams had flaws since I was competing with hardened landscapers who had repair shops and tons of equipment built up in families of builders. If I was to do it again, I would design-maintain landscapes or design-deliver bark and rock or design-install irrigation only but never design-build………….LA need a good back up plan…………..bla   bla  Brittany where are you?……

[George McNair]

“not going to let the back-hoe and 48” Deck SKAG operating, dump truck driving designer anywhere near their property.”  This is a little sterotypical. Sure we all want to target the wealthy home owners who will spend $200k on a landscape but until this happens do you muck around installing labor intensive landscapes?

Craig, the point is to have a construction related sideline, money maker that keep one out of the weather and mud while one waits for design jobs to come in, When meeting a client one of course won’t drive up in a dump truck. You dress up and take your laptop full of job pictures. 

 

The design/build dream many times is not suited for a LA who spent 5 years working inside the comforts of an office only to venture into hard manual labor out in the weather and mud. I would much rather deliver bark and rock in a nice heated dump truck while design jobs trickle in. When trucking, one rubs elbows with big contractors who may know of job leads.  just an opinion………….

[George McNair]

 

“The owner is a nice guy, but mentality closed off. They have been doing the same thing for 30 years and just can’t see the benefit of being flexible, or trying something new.”  Trying new things means new problems that cost time and money.

 

The owner is responsible for law suits for up to 7 years after the design goes in. If one of your ideas causes a suit are you going to be around to help pay $10,000 for the fix?

 

This is really good advice, “Brittany – I believe that it takes 7 plus years practicing under the right well trained LA/LD for a grad to become knowledgeable enough to turn loose on the world, then another 3 or 4 years to come into your own as a designer. “

 

Craig you seem to be encouraging her to go into the design-build mine field. Like you said, “Of course there are exceptions to this, but I’ve only met one in my entire career.” I suggest design-maintnance or design-nursery or design-irrigation or design-dump truck deliveries or design-backhoe work………………….just my 2 cents worth……….what do I know? ………am I rich and retired?

[George McNair]

 

Building landscapes is one of the most difficult construction jobs to do since it requires so many different trades or skills. One must have tools for irrigation, lighting, rototilling, excavation, cement work, carpentry, surveying, planting stuff, flat bed deliveries and the list goes on. Each category requires special equipment and is a seperate career path. Some savy people buy a new dump truck and backhoe and this is their fulltime job. They stay busy, and they make enough to buy new house and replacement equipment every so often. 

If you went this way, you will deliver goods and services to all the builders and your name will be out there. Design your landscapes, deliver soil, bark, and rock to your subs, and let them do the work in the rain and snow. It’s a dirty job…………but someones got to do it.

Another option is to work for the best landscaper around, then branch off into maintenance which requires less equipment and you work on grass rather than a mucky construction site. yuck……Design, put it out for bid, manage contractors, then get the maintenance contracts which keep you working until the next design job comes in. Plus you keep you jobs looking good for years to come which clients can see.  

As you know, plumbers, sheet rockers, electricians, and cabinet makers all get to work inside while the poor landscaper is being beaten by the weather and they get paid less…………

[George McNair]

Are you a LA in Hong Kong?

 

What kind of projects are you doing in Hong Kong?

[George McNair]

good points

[George McNair]

Waiting tables is probably harder than LA and some make great money on tips. Getting on with a great restaurant isn’t easy. Oh well, the grass is always greener on the other side. 

[George McNair]

One needs to seek out colleges that offers hot careers such as electical engineering or mechanical engineering.

[George McNair]

Are you design-build?

 

What kind of projects are you getting?

 

What is CSU?

 

 

[George McNair]

We did not cover zoning ordinances at the U of Oregon, but we should have. Later in my career I worked as a county planner and my job was to explain, enforce, and help the public with zoning ordinances.

How could a small LA firm get business from CEQR and NPDES in state or nationally?

I saw some job openings at large firms in Portland, Oregon, but I would like to tap in from my level. Do you want to form a virtual firm? 

Are there areas where project come up for bid?

Lately I’ve been advertising as a LA and Planner. I have done some intensive planning projects such as zone changes, approvals for home in agricultural areas, etc. These amount to 40 pages and presentations before planning commissions. So far all are approved!

 

[George McNair]

Your first two years of college is very general, so you can switch majors and apply to another college if needed without much wasted time.

 

What college are you applying to?

[Author]

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