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David Wright Article 2 - Budgets, contracts, how to estimate our work. PART 1


Jeff Mottle
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Every now and then a discussion on undercutiing rival quotes etc pops up. I have also noted a slight resentment to the fact that people in "third world" countries encroach on traditionally European or American markets ,mostly there is very little positive that is said about the quality of the work and everybody seems to take on a patronizing stance of ,let them do whatever,it will never be competitive with our work. On the contrary I have seen so much high quality work from people in these countries both in the gallery and forum.

A lot of forum posts and articles on pricing,partly refers to this situation. Why not come out and say it without covering it up in political correctness.

Just thought I would like to stir up some debate about the situation.

Why worry about who got the job, just carry on and make sure you get it next time.

I think this is a short term industry anyway and the market is changing ,the returns on this kind of work will never be what it was a year or two ago.

Capitalism isnt it? ,move on explore other markets.

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about future articles,

i'd like to see a follow up to the first article to know what the author thinks are applicable principles, like the 12 issues for pricing consideration in his 2nd article, to see what he thinks are the groundrules of good visual communication for archviz. maybe some examples and case studies we can debate the merits of/learn from.

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Yeah I would like to thank you Dave, that was a thoughtful well done article.

Jeff, personaly I would love some tips on how to work with the clients on pricing. One of the projects I have in front of me I kind of felt the client pushed my price down a tad too far. Then I looked at his house (10,000 sq ft which I am rendering) & then my house (1,300 sq ft). I think he is a little better at this stuff (negotiating) than I am.

 

Another thing I would like to see is more imput on presentation. A lot of times I see what looks like a good rendering of a hallway or some random space. I find myself thinking that might be close to photgraphic quality but not well cropped or framed or descriptive at all of the architecture. I guess I would like a place where the technical aspects were put aside for more asthetic concerns.

 

[ March 19, 2003, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Sawyer ]

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In advance thanks all for your comments, emails and phone calls. I am taking note off all requests and will try to satisfy all as possible in the next to come articles, including more bid-related, pricing, contracts and marketing. I planed to talk about Visual communication in upcoming articles.

 

Regarding negotiating, I will write more about it. I can read on your (Sawyer) post that you are not happy with your final negotiation; as said, I recommend to avoid such emotions; they simply lead you to the burn out door; better off by doing your best, keeping your self-worth and self-respect. If there is no way out, always recommend someone else by providing your client or contact with a solution even that you may not be a fit. Better off by walking out with your self-worth than walking out with a contract and an emotional wound.

 

Negotiating is a skill, and is connected to respecting your desires and wishes, the more you protect it, the more respect, consciously and unconsciously you will receive, and abuse will no longer be a problem since you know now how to avoid it. Negotiating is not abusing or tricking the other person, but you are not responsible for protecting the other side. Hope this is clear!

 

Best regards,

 

David

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Thanks for the response David. Actually my situation was nothing near a heart breaker, I still got paid pretty well. I just noticed that I was not as skilled at the nuts and bolts of negotiation as my client. As you said it is a skill and my client was much more skilled.

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Thanks for the article. Great stuff! Maybe your next one can include links to stuff like contracts, fees, etc.

 

I'm an architect by training and profession... I have to tell you that Architects do all the things on your list. Not many architects will stand up to a client.

 

Oh well.

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Hi David,

 

Your great article is really a summary of all kind of things that we learned through the years. I hope it can prevent other members from the pains we had while this happened.

Looking forward for next month's issue!

 

rgds

 

nisus

 

btw: Jeff, what a great idea those montly columns! ;)

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