Survey Questions

In my e-zine,  I'm including short survey questions. If there is something you want to know, please share below! 

Thanks.

Details, Details

Landscape Designers work all kinds of different ways. Some are design only, some design/ build. Some deal with all kinds of hardscapes, grading and drainage, and others stick to plants.

I'm interested in how you handle the details in your designs. I'm not talking about notes on plans, but specifically "how to build it" details. Please take 12 seconds and fill this out. I'll post the results when I get enough responses. Thanks!

Teleseminar

On September 23 and 24, I participated in a teleseminar hosted by Chris Heiler of LandscapeLeadership.com. If you are interested in downloading the recordings, click here. It was an interesting experience and an opportunity to meet Jeffrey Scott. Our topic for the first night was "Understanding The Value of Design." The second night was entitled "Surviving in a Struggling Economy."

Over the course of the two nights we discussed a number of things. One that is a hot spot for many landscape designers is that of charging design fees. Can you charge them? How much? Do you rebate? All tough questions with no black and white answers.

For the majority of my professional life, I have charged a pretty healthy design fee, at least compared with other design/build companies. But it was never enough to fully cover the time spent. We never rebated. It's a matter of principle. But it's also more complicated than that. It will take several blog entries to cover.

As a small company, doing fairly complicated projects, we couldn't whip out a decent design in an hour or two. When you have 30, 40, 50, 60 or more hours in a design, you can't afford to give it away. But how much can you charge? That's a tough one. If you are design/build, the goal is to build it. There is a pain threshold that cannot be ignored. If you do, sure, you may get your design fee, but you may alienate the client and lose the installation. At least that's the way I view it.

It's not a black and white issue, and there are some creative ways to go about putting a value on your time, getting a commitment from your client, and maintaining a professional image. More later.

A Nice Honor

I'll be reviewing the APLD Conference I attended a couple weeks ago in my EZine in another week or so, but thought I'd share this now. At the conference, 11 colleagues and I were granted Fellowship by the organization.

I am honored and proud to be among only 12 Fellows of APLD. Following is an excerpt from the official Press Release:

Those individuals who qualify for Fellowship status must demonstrate mastery of design in significant works which have advanced the art, stewardship and social responsibility of landscape design; exemplary leadership of people and programs that have had a significant effect on advancing the practice of landscape design; and knowledge that advances landscape design to both the industry and consumers.

Also honored that day were friends I've made through APLD over the years, all whom I respect tremendously.

In the photo, from left to right, are Bobbie Schwartz, Deanna Pillarelli, Judy DePue, Me, Gerry Crouch, Donna Swansen, Robin Williams, Linda Engstrom, Pat Ouderkirk and Peggy Connors. Not pictured are Dennis Rydberg, Joel Lerner and Myrna Dowsett. Until now, Robin was the only Fellow of the organization.

Look for a review of the conference in the coming weeks. Also, the full (pdf) release can be downloaded here. 

More Tech Talk

I love my new iPhone. Mostly. I migrated from a Treo 650,  which is a pretty big change.  Sort of.  I've been using Palm OS PDAs for 10 years and been through at least 5 different devices. Since I made the commitment, the PDA and its desktop counterpart(s) have run my life, both personally and professionally. Suffice it to say there were a few adjustments when making the switch. 

Anyway, I'm really liking this thing. For the most part. Just this week I think I've solved two of my biggest complaints. First is that the iPhone lacks a To Do list. That's an issue for me, as I use the  To Do List not only for tasks, but also as a place to organize thoughts. Because a task can be "undated," I can, for example, jot down ideas for my next newsletter, or blog entry. Enter Toodledo. Huh? Check it out. It's really cool. It does a ton more than task management too. 

At my day job, I keep track of my personal calendar, email, etc. through Google's Gmail and Calendar. With the Treo, I kept my calendar in sync with Gcal, using a really neat service provided by Goosync. Goosync will allow pretty much any cell phone with a calendar to sync wirelessly with Google's calendar and contacts. Goosync has promised iPhone support very soon, so when that's up and running, I'm good to go.  Also, Toodledo interacts nicely with Gcal. Oh, and Jott will allow me to record on the iPhone with my voice, transcribe what I say to text, and automagically add it to Toodledo. VERY NICE for someone like me who gets a lot of ideas when driving. 

I'm excited to finally have this part of my life back in order. I've had the iPhone for a month or so and been looking for solutions. Some general comments about the phone: The built-in GPS has come in really handy. The 3G network is a bit spotty in areas where I drive, but when it's available, it's fast. Also, the phone seamlessly switches among the various wi-fi networks I use and the 3G service. The keyboard took some getting used to, but I'm liking it now. The 3rd party apps are pretty cool. The screen is really crisp and bright enough to see in bright sunlight. On the "needs improvement" side, it seems odd to me that there is no copy/paste function. The calendar is a bit linear for me and feels like a step backward from Palm. Bluetooth works only with headsets. And the battery life is a little suspect and inconsistent. However, considering this is only the 2nd generation of a product that is just over a year old, it will be exciting to see what it can do down the road.