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We are pleased this month to hear from a
professional with more than 10 years of experience in
marketing architectural and engineering services to
school districts. Because of the sensitivity of the
content, the author has requested that his name not
be revealed so, in one of our less creative moments,
we are electing to call him Yugo Marketing.
We are
thankful for his insight and trust you will find this
information helpful as you seek to select your next
architect.
In addition, we reveal the secret to the tremendous
success that has occurred since schooldesigner.com
was launched less than 5 months ago!
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We Want to Bond More in 007
Since our website and newsletter launched in
August/September 2006, I have had the privilege of
reading e-mails from people all across the world. The
positive response to Schooldesigner.com has been
tremendous. We are the number-one website on the
planet for promoting high-quality K-12 school design
around the world.
What’s our secret? You!
1. You have passed our website
address
along
to others who also have an interest in high-quality
school design.
2. Because you forward the
newsletter to
others, our e-mail newsletter list continues to
grow.
3. You continue to sign up as
product
sponsors because of your commitment to the K-12
sector.
4. You work to convince your
architectural,
engineering, or consulting firm that
Schooldesigner.com is the place to be!
This month’s newsletter will go out to more than
12,000 recipients, and our staff tells me that, in
January, more Designer Professionals will be added
than all of 2006!
Our products are being
sponsored by the best
manufacturers in the industry.
Clearly, we have reason to be excited about 2007,
and a lot of it has to do with you!
Thank you for
caring about high-quality school design!
Joel K. Sims,AIA
President
Schooldesigner,
LLC
What will 2007 bring? Here are a few New Year’s
resolutions from some of our Designer
Professionals.
“Design like you care - about students, about
education, about the community, about the earth.
Budgets, schedules, and a lack of understanding are
not an excuse to do the wrong thing - sustainability
is a moral imperative.”
Rob Winstead, VMDO
Architects
"Don't settle: As architects, we need to push to
create environments that are creative and help the
educational process. We fail when we continue to
stamp out designs for facilities that aren't evolving
the
educational process.”
Konrad Judd, SHW
Group
"Listen to your client - it makes successful
projects."
John Maurer, Ruck Pate
Architecture
"Continue doing what is successful and improve on
what doesn't work." Steve Crane, VCBO
Architecture
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How to Select Your Next Architect
True stories from inside the school marketing sector.
Yugo Marketing (actual name withheld)
While there are many reputable architectural firms
that I have competed against through the years and
many fine school districts I have worked with through
the years, marketing in the public school sector is
not without its difficulties. To make it easier, here
are a few questions to ask when looking to hire an
architect for your next project.
1. Is the firm experienced in school design?
The number-one factor clients should look for when
selecting an architect is making sure the firm has
experience with school design. The reason I agreed
to this article is that I am an advocate of
Schooldesigner.com and its desire to create a place
where school districts can find experienced
architects. School districts should retain firms
experienced in school design. If you want to give a
local firm (without school design experience) a
chance to work with the district, first give them a
small project or have them team with an experienced
school design firm.
2. Who is the project manager on our project?
How can a reputable firm perform poorly on one
project but exceptionally on another? Most of the
time it has to do with the key individual assigned to
the project: the project manager. Architects deal
with the same issues any other company deals with,
including retaining qualified staff. Experienced project
managers are in short supply around the country, so
it’s imperative that you know who the project
manager is on your project. Ask about that person’s
level of school design experience and his reputation
with past clients.
3. Will we conduct interviews and site visits?
The primary focus of an interview is to meet an
architect and talk face to face with him. (Be sure the
project manager shows up!) I can’t tell you how
often an architect is hired based on how nice
his “dog and pony show” is. Hey, let’s face the fact
that we like to be entertained, and we are easily
wowed. If you want to be entertained, I suggest you
go to a Broadway show in New York. The primary
focus of the interview should be talking about your
specific project. In addition to interviewing the
architect, I suggest that you visit the firm. Meeting
people other than the “marketing team” gives you a
better insight into the real firm. It is also a good idea
to see projects completed by the firm, so take a field
trip to see some of them.
4. Have we checked references?
In my opinion, checking references is more important
than an interview. While you would think that all
references provided by the architect would be
glowing, that is not always the case. Also, talk to
people within the district who are not on the
reference sheet so that you can get a more
complete perspective of the firm. While the interview
is a time for the architect to tell you what he is
going to do, the reference check is a time to see if
the architect does what he says. When you conduct
the office tour, talk to the receptionist and, when
you visit completed school projects, try to talk to
the custodian.
5. Does the firm have a reputation for integrity?
The pressure to win a large commission sometimes
brings out the worst in people. I heard from a
marketing person at another firm who told me about
an interview she went to with her firm. The school
board asked one of the principals how he would be
attentive to a project that was not close to his home
office. His response was a confident, “We will utilize
our company plane to fly here to the project site.”
The problem? The architectural firm had no company
plane! This firm also inflated its staff numbers on a
regular basis to give the impression that the firm was
much larger. Every firm states in its marketing
materials that it is honest. No one ever says that he
will lie to get hired, but it happens in this competitive
business. If you find that a firm has been less than
truthful, it is a sign that they will not be truthful
during the project.
6. Who will actually select the architect?
A selection committee should be formed to select the
architect.
Sounds simplistic enough, but that is not always the
way it happens. I made arrangements for the
superintendent, facilities director and one
representative board member to go on a tour of our
office and three different school projects. It was a
time-consuming process because the project was
large. I was pleased with the thoroughness of the
school district in evaluating architects. The
committee came back and made a recommendation
to award the project to our firm. Another board
member tabled the motion and, at the next meeting,
they voted to go with another architectural firm. The
other architect had worked the votes in his favor
between board meetings. The selection committee
was not able to follow through on the task that they
had been assigned. It is only fair and reasonable to
establish who will be involved in selecting the
architect and stick with the plan.
7. Is the architect undertaking “negative
campaigning?”
Some marketing people I run up against win
commissions by tearing apart other firms. Being
negative toward others shows the soul of the firm. It
is rarely done in public like the political commercials
we see during elections. Some firms keep a file of
newspaper articles highlighting any bad publicity their
competition receives. These articles then “magically”
appear in front of clients that may be considering
hiring that firm. If you receive articles that shed a
firm in a bad light, please realize it is a red flag.
Reputable firms will not engage in this type of
activity but, as they say during election years,
negative campaigning works! Don’t let it become the
norm in the selection of your architect, because we
can’t afford to have great school design firms leave
the sector.
8. How will the design fee factor into the
selection
of the architect?
We all know the pitfalls inherent in low-bid
construction projects. So why do school districts
receive “bids” for design services? Select your
architect based on his qualifications. After you know
who you want to work with, negotiate a fee with
him. Most reputable firms know what it takes to
design a school. If you go for the low-cost architect,
you may regret the decision later. Good architects
can help you save construction dollars and maintain
the schedule, and they are worth the fee they
charge.
9. How can we be a good client?
Reputable design firms are selective about the school
districts they work with. The proposal and interview
process are costly to architects both emotionally and
financially. If you want to be a good client here are a
few suggestions.
A. Make the Request for Proposal simple and specific.
If you don’t plan to read everything in a
massive proposal, then just ask for the important
information.
B. Limit the interview to three firms. It takes a lot for
a firm to prepare for an interview. Interviewing too
many firms causes them to blur together in your
mind.
C. The size of the firm is not nearly as
important as the quality of the people working on
your project.
D. If it is a foregone conclusion that you
will hire the existing architect on your next project,
don’t waste everyone’s time in interviewing other
firms.
E. Be considerate. If you tell the architect interviews
will be the third week of the month, please stick to
it. Give the non-selected architects honest feedback
on what their shortcomings were.
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Bonding in 007,
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