mark foster

Job title is what your boss calls you (and pays for)–not what you do or call yourself.  While there are a lot of ways to legitimately “slant” a resume,  I would be very careful with titles.
Your former employer makes a distinction between the two positions, because landscape designer is paid less than a project manager. If you list your title…[Read more]

 
The two best questions a job-seeker has ever asked me:
 
1.  At the conclusion of the interview, I thanked her and let her know I had several more people to interview and would get back to her blah blah blah. She said that she understood and thanked me for the opportunity, and then she asked “Is there anything from this interview that you thi…[Read more]

Andrew has a good point.  Another phenomenon was how uneven the real estate crash was–some regions had a huge bubble and crashed hard, but a lot of areas had much milder swings  This may mean the recovery will be patchy–some areas improving sooner/better than others.  Maybe some of the worst, as Chad suggests, not ever fully recovering (in terms…[Read more]

knock knock
who’s there?
landscape architect
landscape architect who?
That will require 31/2 hours at $ 175/hr plus printing costs.

From a recent ASLA survey (as per “landscape arhcitect and specifier news”)–ok, so it’s a free industry rag…
third quarter comparisons 09 vs 10:  billable hours:  same or better                     – approx 70%
     inquires for new work: same or better      + approx 68%
This is good news…..

Thanks to all of you.  Honest and to the point, as usual……

Hi Steve,
I am looking at the pavers, and am not concerned with issues surrounding the paver system per se.   I’m mostly concerned about the travertine material itself breaking down in freeze/thaw cycles–especially given how pitted and porous they appear. 
Have you tried them before, and how are they performing? 

Precast is not as bad. If you think it is going to be a problem a light acid wash can be applied, which will help with the leaching.   Sometimes the base materials for the pavers can be a problem if they are limestone gravels/dust (I don’t know about SC, but that is the preferable material here in KY)
Besides the ph, another big issue we have (our…[Read more]

True enough.  Now if I can find some of the “36+hour” soap

I second Jason’s choice of mondo grass–it is tough and drought tolerant..  Also best to have things that don’t attract bees—creeping thyme will definately get a crowd of them when in bloom.
You also need to pay attention to PH.   Alkalines like new concrete and limestone gravels will raise it significantly

Number one skill: interview well
Number two skill: interview well
Number three skill: interview well
 Number four thru seven: don’t smell bad, be well groomed, design/tech skills and experience
 
Most people are incredibly bad at interviewing, and I believe it is because they are convinced they don’t have any training or skills for it . This is n…[Read more]

It reminds me of a victorian love seat (if victorians had stainless).  It also looks like it may get used as a bike rack. 
 
Snarking aside, I like the idea of encouraging people to sit on opposite sides of a bench–it gives a sense of privacy, and would probably allow people to be closer to each other than they would otherwise feel comfo…[Read more]

Nice thread about “firm sustainability”

Interesting that few of the replies mention the market, or should I say the markets– Government, institutional, commercial, land development, residential to name a few. A firm’s type of market should have a lot to do with it’s character, abilities, size, and sales efforts.

My firm is a…[Read more]

Good point Heather. Why doesn’t this happen more?

I will say my niece is in her 4th year of industrial engineering (GA Tech), and she has 4 awesome internships under her belt.

Any academic types want to weigh in?

I would like to believe it is all about insuring competency, but I do think some of these state requirements smack of protectionism .

Last I checked, my state won’t allow employment (under a landscape architect) in a design/build firm to count as professional experience toward licensure. I suspect this rule was enacted in part because the D/B…[Read more]

This reminds me of a local home builder/architect. When it comes to details, he skips the digital and the paper, and sketches on the installed drywall in his houses–what each room will look like, trim details, sections etc. It’s a perfectly elegant and precise solution: they never get lost and are easily accessible–at least until the painters…[Read more]

I think one of the most interesting phenomena surrounding (literally) new urbanist communities is their unintended consequences–the interaction/effect on the areas just beyond their borders.

I participated in charettes for a fairly large NU (now well under construction) development nearby. Many years later it appears to be a success and very…[Read more]

It is so interesting to see where people (myself included) go with these questions!

Dan– I think you want to know how much of a given volume of water will be used over a period of time? If so—-

This is a rule of thumb I use (based on my experience, and a little lower geometry/math): A continuous flow of 1 cubic inch of water will require…[Read more]

We just did an almost totally flat “creek” feature, about 70 feet long with a similar effect, and we designed the flow for 1″ depth of continuous water to get the flowing /turbulant water effect you are talking about. And, you are correct about the obstacles helping make noise. We used river rounds 2-4″ diameter, flat across so the water…[Read more]

Yes, but it’s tight. (Louisville, KY and surrounding areas–Owner of a small design/build firm, 20 years, specializing in residential/commercial design and construction).

2009 was way off–residential/commercial clients did not know where they stood financially and were very manic depressive about $ (yes, do it–no, no wait…o.k. no, yes…).…[Read more]