mark foster

Andrew,
Providing a non-competitive service to others who are meeting your potential clients on a daily basis is a very good thing.  It is definitely a central component of my business model.  

Thanks for that Heather.  I have seen a diminished capacity in the skilled trades and many construction sites filled with older workers.  I fear that your generation of LA’s may have to “dumb down” designs to accommodate a lack of craftsmanship– too many of the good ones are getting older with no young ones to teach.  
 

Mark,
 
I have not seen “resume posting” for this type of job.  Everyone around here posts job listings and the candidates reply.    

I am in a similar climate zone as you are (Louisville, KY), and open pits (of any kind) can become sumps and/or get pretty damp.
If the walls/floor of the pit are premanufactured in one piece, they can be pretty watertight and the entire thing could float if the ground water is too much–you would need to put drainage around it (clean gravel and…[Read more]

Hi Chad,
What part of the pit is set near ground level–floor or top?  Wood burning, or gas?

Heather,
Here is another one:  http://www.landcarenetwork.org/.  There is also a design build group on land8.  Kind of small and inactive, but if you want to geek out on the contracting business or anything diesel powered…Ha!
I also sent Jon an email discussing some other things.
 

Don’t forget Craigslist. 
You may also look into Design Build–not starting, but working for one.  I suggest trying to find one with an LA owner, or LA head of the design dept.

The key is “some places”–licensure in every state is different.  What is the difference between IL, and the state “back east”? 

Daniel,
I am in D/B, am registered and have worked with non licensed LA’s in this way, but I have no idea how others feel about it. 
To your second point–talk with your insurance company and they can adjust your insurance accordingly.  You shouldn’t find this to be a big deal for them.   On the build side of things, I find my insurance company…[Read more]

Depends on what the plan is for.  If it is part of a larger database and to be used later to build on or mesh with others, then north arrow convention should definately be used. 
If it is a document of it’s own and is intended for a specific site (and client need) only, then  I agree with Jon–north doesn’t matter, and it’s view-port (niiii…[Read more]

The way states are cutting expenditures, I wouldn’t count on the tuition staying constant anywhere. 

Exactly.  As long as you follow the principles of gravity walls, which low cmu walls are, (compacted  base, clean isolated stone behind,  lots of water tranfer) it will work great.. 
There are some expansion/contractions issues with steel on masonry.  The fastening needs to be a little bit loose–kind of “hanging” it, rather than a tight mount–…[Read more]

That will work.  I have been working with dry stack stone walls, using veneer stone with cmu’s as structural backing, for a while and it does work on low walls and steps–it should work with steel too. 
I don’t even use the cmu’s– I just use regular concrete block and install the same as cmu’s–much less expensive.

Jonathan,
We used rolled steel with stakes (3/8″thick x 8″ ?) to make steps (with grass) once, but used it in a curilinear design–running the steel back into the slopes.  The curves helped it keep it’s shape and prevent overturn.    I remember it was pretty quick, but we did have slight settling issues several years later (of the fill soil itsel…[Read more]

No advice on the offer itself, but you are at a perfect time in life to do this.  It will never be as easy as it is for you right now to pick up and live in another place. 
I lived and worked in another country for a year (Europe, not Asia) in my early 20’s.  It not only gave me an insight into another culture, it let me step out of my own.  Both…[Read more]

Aaron,
I love my profession (“calling” would be more appropo) , make a good living, and am turning down work (up early this am catching up). 
I own a design build firm (commercial and res), and would not practice LA any other way.   In my 50’s and still get up every morning feeling like a kid in a candy store– a total thrill to take some…[Read more]

Responding to a thread about career crisis and unemployment with stock tips?!!  What are you thinking?   

 No one can predict next month, let alone two years from now. If you switch to another degree course, will you be any better at “timing the market” two years from then?  
The only real question:  What does “really want” mean? 

Because of this thread (and the others from the un/under employed folks out there), I started a thread asking for stories of how people got jobs using other than the “resume/post” method.  It’s titled “How did you get that job?”.  Hopefully others will contribute and it will be of help. 
I graduated in the last great recession (1980) and it took…[Read more]

A colleague of mine (D/B firm) hired an LA last year from Craigslist….
Were you looking for work in a specific locality?–seems like Craiglist works best that way, but I am not too familiar with it.