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Staffing for Projects

  • 1.  Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-10-2019 05:35 PM
    A few years into being a solo practitioner and I need some extra hands at times.  Right now to handle Revit CDs. Good problems to have!

    What flexible staffing approaches do people find work to handle increased workload?

    Yours

    ------------------------------
    Kathleen Sullivan AIA
    Trio Architecture pllc
    Hastings on Hudson NY
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-10-2019 05:52 PM
    Edited by Angi Izzi 09-11-2019 07:22 PM
    Kathleen,
    I would contact your local Autodesk Reseller as they typically have consultants which have the ability to quickly fill these types of opportunities. They understand the cyclical workload well and can assist in quickly spinning up teams to address projects.

    Best,


    ------------------------------
    Angi Izzi
    Project Delivery Lead
    Autodesk, Inc.

    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-11-2019 10:25 PM
    Angi knows!  Except too bad she's still not plugged in to the Archicad network!  She got me on 4,5 and now on 23!  Thanks Angi!
    --





  • 4.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-11-2019 06:38 PM

    Work longer hours......

     

    Chris Urbanczyk AIA, LEED AP, NCARB

     

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                                2529 ILLINOIS ROAD, NORTHBROOK, IL 60062.

                 847. 291.9570, 847.787.5250 fax, e-mail: cu@urbanassociates.net

                            Visit our web page: http://www.urbanassociates.net

     


    Virus-free. www.avast.com





  • 5.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-12-2019 11:36 AM
    In 2004 I quit my "CAD-ghetto" job in an architecture studio to take my AutoCAD skills freelance.
    Yes, there is still a need for experienced people like me who can work as an independent consultant, in-house or off-site.  My clients love my promise to work for them  when they need me and disappear when they do not.  
    Many of them found me through business cards I left at local blueprint houses, but nowadays I have the luxury of a network of established clients from whom I can accept or decline work.
    Along the way I have seen - and cleaned up after - a myriad of students and foreign drafting companies hired on the cheap.  For some purposes that is a cost-effective option, but only with an experienced draftsperson (your trusted employee or consultant) to guide you on what to delegate to them, and to make their product compatible with your office standards and software.
    Kathleen, sorry, I do not do Revit.
    Best of luck to all of you,
    Leslie Levy
    draft2cad





  • 6.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-13-2019 10:55 PM
    Leslie I love your honesty, transparency, thus your confidence. Very refreshing.
    I'm no longer working daily, but It's nice to know you're out there.

    ------------------------------
    Bryant Silliman AIA
    Architect
    BCSA
    Tahoma CA
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-16-2019 07:28 PM
    Leslie, are you looking for other firms to collaborate with? My small firm in Chicago could use the help of someone like yourself. I tried to Google your company but did not have success.  Feel free to connect with me via my website if you are interested.  We work in AutoCad 2018.  www.StudioNigroArch.com  --Kim Nigro AIA

    ------------------------------
    Kimberly Nigro AIA
    Principal
    Studio Nigro Architecture + Design
    Chicago IL
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-12-2019 10:43 PM
    Kathleen,

    Here's what I have seen that has worked well. I've been on both sides of this situation.
    1. Hire students and pay them fairly.
    2. Find a trusted colleague who wants a side project for nights and weekends. This can often be a moonlight gig.
    3. Tap former employers or other local firms and see if they might have someone they could lend you. They could be slow and this would come as a big help for both of you.
    4. I've had zero success working with drafters on this type of stuff over the last 20 years. Only competent architects have worked well.
    5. Find someone who's ready to quit their job, but wants some time off before joining another firm. This one is tricky, but alumni or LinkedIn networks are helpful. Is there a local firm that has a reputation for being a terrible place to work?
    While I understand you're a one person shop, perhaps it's worth reconsidering taking on projects that cannot be done with current staff. Or tell the clients to get in line and wait. Why would someone want to commit to temp work if the firm won't commit to them? 
    Good luck,
    Aaron

    ------------------------------
    Aaron Pilat
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-13-2019 08:55 AM
    Kathleen,
    Our success has been with experienced arch students and/or aligning with larger / smaller firms or colleagues that need work or filler projects.
    We don't hire staff for projects, we only hire based on overall work load and everyone putting in extra hours for a little while.

    ​​​

    ------------------------------
    Joseph Belluccia AIA
    Architect
    JVB Architect, LLC
    Tampa FL
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-13-2019 06:17 PM
    RIght now, I maybe an odd commodity.....a licensed architect who consults with other architects to do just what you are looking for.  Someone to  be the support for projects just when you need it. 

    Since the downsizing of so many firms in 2008, you would be surprised as to the number of downsized sole practitioners out there who just got tired of the office politics and did not want to go back to that situation.  I work  a lot with other sole practitioners who may enjoy marketing and doing the design work up to the CD phase and would rather someone else do the CDs while they do something they are better at doing.  So I found a niche of doing specs and CDs (revit.only) for other Architects.  When I get a my own big project I will do the seeking out my fellow small firms to hand off doing details or other task that I can import into my model just like other consultants.

    So that being said, network with other small firms or sole practitioners using revit or go to your local aia or csi meetings and ask around.  

    I may be early to the paradigm shift but I think in a few more recession cycles most everyone will be a freelancer/consultants except for interns who need the hours for licensing.
     
    This is me Enjoying the flexibility, freedom of a consulting architect

    ------------------------------
    Elaine Bright, aia LEED AP
    Owner
    Bright Ventures Architectural Consulting
    Nashville, TN
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Staffing for Projects

    Posted 09-15-2019 10:05 AM
    Julia/Elaine Bright expressed exactly what I found when I went freelance [AutoCAD drafting]  in 2004.  The downside is that it removed an incentive to pursue licensing - because I was already there, enjoying my freedom!  I also discovered I was getting more respect, and given more responsibility and confidence, by my clients than by my old boss, all of whom were architects.

    Before 2008, I already had architect clients who had downsized to a minimum staff. After 2008, I was initially sheltered from the fallout because of a steady in-house job.  When I resumed outside work exclusively, in 2011, I noted these post-2008 changes:
    1. The volume of jettisoned architecture employees had flooded the drafting market, reducing compensation to a fraction of my rate.  When builders, and then architects recovered, they did not readily restore their underlings' compensation.  (Note: This was in residential architecture, and may have improved in the last five years.)
    2.  For the first time, I had to worry about getting paid!  After a series of new clients clearly demonstrated a new, post-2008 "ethic" -- and I expected better of architects! -- I stopped advertising entirely and found success by limiting my work to established clients and colleagues. 
    Leslie Levy, Assoc. AIA
    draft2cad