[Glenn Arthur]

Hi William,

Great advice from Robert Anderson and Andrew Garulay.  

If you have the passion, your designs will come from your skills, your training and from your heart.  A future employer will pickup on your passion and your ability to connect with the hearts of their clients and their clients’ projects , so don’t give up William. 

Andrew Garulay’s advice about positioning yourself is so true . Life and business has a way of unfolding when we least expect it to, so just try to keep yourself up to date on the industry( especially technology marketing and social media )  and do whatever job you need to do to get exposure and experience, as Andrew suggests.

Great designs create emotional experiences for your clients , thats the “heart to heart” part .  When you touch one client’s heart, they refer you to others .  

You may also consider checking out a couple of short courses on self development and building rapport with clients, such as NLP and others .  It all helps mate.  The more you become aware of whats going on around you in the world of business and “people” , the more likely you are to recognise an opportunity when it passes your way.   

Good luck on your journey William

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Laurent ,  

We have been using Vectorworks for 7 years .  Currently have Vectorworks Designer 2011 which includes Landmark /Architect /Machinery/ Theatre and Renderworks .   Our company cuts across 3 areas as we do Product Design, Landscape Design and we also need to work on incoming  Architectural Files , so Vectorworks is a good solution for us for our 2D and mostly 3D projects .  Renderworks is fairly good as well and we usually do not have to export our files to photoshop etc ( for our purposes )   . Of course it is not as good as 3D max etc, but it is also not the price either .  Our Designer Version includes all modules, but you could easily just buy the Landmark Module which is very powerful for Master planning , Site Contours , Mass planting layouts , Plant Databases, Landscape Design and Construction,  as well as Bill of Quantities .

We use i7 Imacs ( 18 mths old ) with 8GB RAM .  We also have Parallel V7 loaded which gives us Windows 7 at the same time (to copy and paste from Windows to Mac etc ) . Mainly for images and web site stuff . 

There are lots of Videos on Youtube for Vectorworks ( about 200 ) to let you see how it works .  A big plus for us is that VW uses Layers and Classes (so you don’t need lots of layers in your drawings ) . It is a very powerful program .

Cheers  Glenn 

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi everyone , 

No one has mentioned Marketing and Sales and how you are using all of these tools to promote your business ??   Especially internet marketing and how you have designed and structured your web sites to drive enquiry to your companies/entities.  Or have you ? 

I am really really old and still have lots to learn , but I am up to date with the latest info most of the time. Basically YOU have to make your incoming customer enquiries happen , they don’t happen on their own.

and NO , I dont sell marketing services  🙂 

Maybe Land8 should set up a group to help advise its members about how marketing on the internet can work for them ?  Or offer web design advice ?  Andrew Spiering certainly hits my mailbox constantly with his marketing emails, so he is well placed to advise members ….

I am also not sure if many of you realise that there is a huge growing market in writing ebooks online and also Apple iBooks that then get sold for small amounts, but they get sold in the thousands and tens of thousands. In other words, you all have a huge knowledge base in your heads , and other people want to buy that advice/ knowledge .   So whilst you are limited in your total billable hours each week for your Design labour , you may be able to write your own online books/ apps and have say a 30 page ebook sell for $4.99 to 5000 online  buyers in a month .   It’s all about the numbers and leverage .   Also in case you think you cant write an ebook , I am not talking about writing a novel , I am talking about writing 30 page PDF’s that convert to ebooks/ iBooks etc , or just get uploaded / downloaded as the original PDF files .   And guess what ?, you are writing about something that you already know about and are passionate about . The public wants to hear from experts . 

Furthermore, when your online books start selling , it creates more backward links to your LA business’s web site and increases your enquiry rate and your Google ranking , which creates even more people landing on your web site. 

Just a thought good people, its called thinking outside the square , and I am still learning at my ripe old age . Writing my first iBook at the moment about landscape design ………called “How to kill the value of your new home ”     ……..it should sell well in a gun loving country …   🙂 …just kidding………maybe ! 

Good luck everyone .    

Glenn 

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Jane , we have been using Vectorworks ( about $1500 to 3000) for years and it allows us to do Landscape Design , Architectural Design , Product Design and it comes with Renderworks that allows us to not have to export to other programs to get a great 2D and 3D result . There are also a couple of hundred training videos on youtube for it , so you can learn really fast .

However, I know a company that uses Google Sketchup ($500) and when they add a second external Rendering program onto it ( another $300 to 600 ), they actually get really good results in both 2D and 3D . 

My suggestion is that you download free 30 trials from a few, and see how you like them.

Cheers  Glenn  

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Roland,  

There are almost 200 Vectorworks videos on Youtube to give you  a great start.  As we do product design, landscape design , and use 2D & 3D architectural drawings every day , we found Vectorworks is a great all round software package.  It also allows us to achieve fairly high quality renderings without having to export to any other package. The latest versions also allow you to import 3DS files etc easily , so that you can add a 3D landscape etc to an existing 3D building .   It is a full on 2D and 3D software package which we have been using for 7 years.  There is still limited use of VW here in Oz, but it is growing , so we usually have to train new CAD staff up from scratch , which only takes a few days .   It would be good if you could buy the latest iMacs ( i7 / 8GB + Ram etc to run it fast,  as renderings can take many minutes on slower machines. ie time is money 🙂  )    Good luck .  Glenn

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi everyone , I am an employer , and I am not a Landscape Architect .   

From reading a lot of the posts on this topic for the last half hour , it really hit home to me how much a lot of people in your industry are hurting . It pains me a lot as I have the utmost respect for Landscape Architects and their work.  Us Aussies also love our American friends . 

We all know that the economy in the USA has been hit hard by a series of events since 2008 , and to a lesser extent , so has the industry here in Australia .  Anyone can be forgiven if they find it hard to keep a positive outlook , especially if they have also become unemployed in the process. I mean this in a sincere way, not in a condescending way.  I know what it is like to have creditors knocking on the door for overdue payments, it is very stressful, and it also seriously impedes our daily ability to be creative in our work and to stay positive.  

As an employer of LA’s and A’s , the changes in the economies across the globe have forced us to look for new ways to gain new business , so we continually search for new marketing methods , new software and hardware , and of course new and better ways to maintain our creative bank of contractors .

But worldwide competition , and the rapid speed of the internet growth in places like China and especially India , is creating a situation where it is almost impossible for any business to survive under the systems and hourly rates of years gone by .  Terrible but true !  

I am not sure if you good people are aware of websites like http://www.freelancer.com where employers place/post  projects and jobs online , and then contractors from around the globe bid on each project.  This means that you can be located in the USA ( not China) but still be able to bid on work anywhere in the world.  I know it is NOT the ideal way to get work , but at least it might help some LA’s and others in the design industries to get some dollars in the bank to meet current living costs . Maybe you also need to be creative in the way that you work, maybe you have talents that are peripheral to the core LA’s talents, upon which you can earn dollars by bidding for projects . 

I also know it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks( I know this because I am an old dog) , but I am about to use Apple’s new iBook authoring software( free download) to create some Landscape Design books for the iPad …….as another avenue to earn some extra dollars, but more importantly , to help in the cross marketing of my company’s products and services to new and existing clients.  If you can use a CAD program, you can easily pick up on this new software and create an ibook that might sell for say $4.99 ..what if you sell 10,000 of them this year ? ( most good apps sell hundreds of thousands of units )

For those LA’s who are looking for work , do you have your own website setup ???  Do you know it only costs about 15 bucks per month to do that ? Do you know that you can download web designer software that is dead easy to use , but also very powerful , for about $49 ??( e.g. http://www.xara.com ).  Your own web site could be up and running in a week .  If you also read up on SEO’s , then Google search engines will find your site quickly, and you might just start to get some enquiries in from prospective new clients from around the world. Maybe it is worth considering ?  Clean and easy to use website layouts are the best …simple and easy to navigate . 

My message post here today is to try and assist ,in a very small and positive way , some of you earn some extra bucks and pay your bills , as like me , we also hope and wait for a slow recovery in the economy of the USA and the rest of the world .  I hate to say it, but sitting around brooding , abusing, attacking others’ messages is not achieving anything positive at all , it just takes oneself deeper into the negative hole that is so easy to end up in when faced with financial worries.  I know because I have been there, every day is a challenge in business , but if you think outside the square, who knows what good may come from it ? 

A final thought , be proud of your profession , and more importantly be proud of who you are and know that you can achieve great things if you set your mind to it .  I honestly believe that . 

Good luck everyone , and if you need any assistance , you are welcome to message me. ( no charge , but I want credits when I get Upstairs 🙂 ) 

And NO, I have absolutely no affiliations with any of the websites etc I have mentioned above , I am truly just trying to help anyone that wants help. 

Take care   Glenn 

 

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Susan ,

My experience has been that if you put zero value on your own time , then others also think your time has no value .  This doesn’t matter whether it is prep work or the actual project work .

 I know it is always tricky with competitive tendering , especially in a downward  market , but for you the question might really be ” could i have spent my time better elsewhere actually earning a living , instead of putting in so many hours for free in an attempt to earn a living ” ?  I also get the impression from your message above that you maybe did not know how much income there was going to be forthcoming from this new project ?? 

I have also found that many people/ corporations with projects are reluctant to declare a project budget upfront, as they think that all of those tendering for the project will come in just a few dollars under the budgeted amount . These companies that refuse to tell you their project budget, are in my experience, the ones that like to have all the potential tenderers running around doing prep work for FREE.   Then they give the actual project to one of their old friends, or AFTER you have quoted for the project, they tell you there budget is half that amount .

My company now refuses to do any upfront design or ideas work for free.  However, we still want to show the client that we are serious about wanting their business.  So we now charge for all prep work for tenders at normal hourly rates , but we offer to refund a portion of the fees(25 to 50%) back if we are awarded the project .   Our success rate is about 40% , but we have also heard that some of those companies that did get the other 60% of the tenders were not happy with the amount of revenue they received from the project either. 

So maybe we actually gained 100% of the types of projects that we wanted to be involved with anyway ? 

Conclusion ….trust your instinct every time Susan …it is usually right every time !   

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Ting,

Like most things in life, when we are emotionally involved in them everyday( i.e. our own homes/ families / pets/ lifestyle)  , it sometimes gets tricky when you need to stand back and be objective .  However if you really think about it ( on a clear alcohol free day ) , the principles of landscape design for your own home are exactly the same as those that you use for your clients every day in your job / profession.  You start with the initial client brief ( you and your family have a meeting ), you list the likes/dislikes/ wish list items / pools/outdoor kitchens etc etc  , you measure the spaces , you consider all site conditions, you determine the desired “outdoor rooms” and how you and your family members would like to enjoy them , you make a list of the outdoor furniture and features( including measurements) you will want in the spaces , you consider sun/shade/rain/plants/structural stuff/retaining stuff/neighbours stuff / pets stuff/ noise issues  , you make compromises on saving the planet vs wow factors and aesthetics 🙂 , you work out a realistic budget and how that budget is going to increase( or decrease) the updated value of your home when the project is finished.  Then you sit down IN YOUR OFFICE AWAY FROM THE PROPERTY and create a scaled landscape design concept plan .  Just like you would for a client . If you are really smart you will do a 3D landscape plan and walkthrough movie to sell your new designs to all family members/ neighbours/local authorities and anyone else in your life that has become an overnight “designer ” ( and there will be many, especially rellies !! ) .  

Plan B is outsource the whole job to another professional !!!   Have fun !  Glenn 

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Jana ,  I just saw your question about Corten vs Normal Steel and the rusting affects .  

Corten rusts without eating away at the metal as it builds up rust coats on top of the surface, whereas on normal steels the rust eats into the metal and eventually ( an quite easily ) the rust can eat away at the structural strength of the steel .   You also have to be careful that the rusted surface is not directly over paving as the rust from both Corten and normal Steels will bleed and stain over time. 

If a project needs a “rusted corten look” , we now use a special powder coat paint mix that looks almost identical to the rusted look without the “rust” problems. 

Regards Glenn 

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi Kerry , We have been using Vectorworks( mac verseion) for 6 years for our 2D and 3D Landscape and Product Design work. We also use Renderworks that comes with Vectorworks and it works really well . It has some performance issues like most 3D rendering programs, but soon we will upgrade to the new Imac 27inch with Quad processor , so performance should be much better. We have found Vectorworks is a great all round package as we are a “middle” industry in that we do landscape design, product design and architectural design. I am also keeping my eye on sketchup as it is very powerful and seems to be getting better with each new version . It is also very cheap, so I think it will become the mainstream 3D design “concept” software of the future. But when you need detailed drawings, Vectorworks is excellent , and a lot cheaper than Autocad . Have fun with design mate, we do . Regards Glenn http://www.wowfactors.biz

[Glenn Arthur]

Hi David, Our company is doing extensive marketing in Europe this year and we are receiving amazing responses to our Design and Manufacturing Services and Products. There are some great trade web sites that attract the attention of European Corporations who are involved in specifying and designing for the European Architectural and Landscape/ Construction Industries. One of them is http://www.archiexpo.com . This site gets between 1.5 and 2 million unique visitors a month and they have over 500,000 trade subscribers to their newsletters . Their Newsletters are sent out in 5 languages. They do charge for their services, but in our opinion they are worth every cent . I am also getting up to speed on my high school French and want to open a French office in the next two years . I will use France as the gateway to Europe for our company’s products and services. Best of Luck . Kind regards Glenn http://www.wowfactors.biz

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