[Inspired]

Ok, so I've been offered a large design job by a commercial contractor I've worked for many times. Sounds good so far, right?

Job Info:
The job will be a landscape design for a good sized mall in another state and the climate is fairly different. They think the landscape budget will be around 1.2 million. They are looking for a concept and then documents to bid and install from. They hire me basically as a sub. The plans have their logo all over them. This would be my largest job so far. It sounds very exciting maybe because I tend to be an adrenaline addict.

My concerns:
1.) This is a different branch of the company then I work with normally and they want me to give them some kind of idea how much my design fee will be. I really have no idea how much time a job this size will take. 150-200+ hours? I’m used to jobs in the 40 to 60 hour range.

2.) What about travel? I have no idea how to charge for travel time that involves air travel and a number of overnights. 8 hour days plus expenses?

3.) I'm already busy and they want it yesterday as usual. I’ll have to push some customers back a significantly. Not good.

4.) Since this would be pretty much all I do for the next month, do I ask for a retainer? They usually run 45 to 60 days before I actually get a check in hand.

5.) My Dynascape program locks up frequently on large design jobs and I risk losing design time redrawing. Although I have AutoCAD LT, my AutoCAD experience is limited. I have not taken the time to really learn it or even set it up like I have Dynascape set up. There will be no way this job will fit into one Dynascape file. I'm thinking I will need to create a number of Dynascape files.

6.) Emailing plans won't work because very few people have Dynascape. I've never found anyone who can print an accurately scaled drawing. I had to buy a DesignJet printer. How do I send a properly scaled drawing to a guy in another state. FedEx?

7.) They don’t know if they even have an old site plan to start from. Thinking about all those parking lot islands has me dizzy already.


Can you guys think of other possible issues I might be missing?

I’m actually thinking of turning the job down. Am I crazy? HELP!!!!

[TrickyDick]

Will you be involved post-design or just expected to do the design and go away?

Are you an architect? Projects that size (even a fifth of that size) are typically handled by LA's because there are lots of issues- structural, drainage, etc. that will require those credentials to deal with. If those things will be in your scope you may need to work with an LA on it.

Is this the General Contractor you're working for or someone who is going to be bidding the job?

[Inspired]

This is not a new install. It’s a redo. Most of the jobs I've done for them have been turf conversions or low water use conversions.

I would be working for the Landscape contractor. They will be working directly for the owner group representative.

The owners will decide to change the look of the property. The old landscaping needs to match the new theme and of course be more water efficient. Drainage and structural stuff has been worked out for the most part by the original LA. We just take care of any issues that have developed since the original install.

[Inspired]

Thanks for the questions TD. You pointed my thinking along the right lines. From a creative stand point, I'm confident the design will be very good. This is a big job and I haven't even seen the site or a plan set and they want me to start yesterday. It's great that they like my work and all, but I think I'm a bit beyond my scope on this one.

I remember my first year as a landscape contractor I won a bid for a fairly sophistcated custom residential job. I was so excited and I stopped thinking for a while. We ended up losing money on the job and learning some tough lessons.

The funny thing is, I'm already busy. But a big job like this makes you think this could be the job that gets a career started. In reality, my career has already started and I'm happy with custom residential design. In fact, the commercial work I do for this contractor is the least satisfying of all the work I do. Big shot-itis.

Thanks, TD.

[Stonehenge]

Aw, darnit. I was hoping to get u pdates on this project and how it was progressing, maybe a spicture or two of the design. Sounded like an amazing opportunity.

You have to do right by you, and if passing is what feels right, then you should.

[ianc]

I charge $75 per hour + dispursements
Travel .45cents per kilometer
Printing extra

Get them into a routine of paying every 2 weeks - and document everyting you do (site meetings - concept presentations + etc)

I have a project right now setup as a design-build and in order for the whole project to stay together and to make sure the project does not go outside for pricing, I settled for 5% of the installed cost (3yr project - 3 provinces away)

~ian

[TrickyDick]

I have no experience with anything nearly that large but my experience generally is that the larger the job, the more people involved the less chance that things will go smoothly. I would guess that however much work you think that project will be it will probably end up being a lot more. There is a reason that projects that size are often handled by firms with teams of designers, draftsmen, etc. Still it would be incredibly tough to pass on something like that but the question for me would be how does the opportunity stack up against the effect it will have on existing clients and whether I was more interested in continuing to do what I do or in doing something different. Could be a tough call.

[agla]

KD,

As far as emailing plans goes, it has gotten much easier with pdf files. I use a free download called pdf995. It is essentially a printer driver that you install on your computer. If you can print it, you can make a pdf of it in any program.

I make plans at full size, so that if someone has a large format printer they can print it. But, it also works best to do this because the line thickness scales with the size of the print. So, even if you print a 24"x36" on an 11"x17", the linework is not all fat and blotchy.

Their website also has a pdf editing software that allows you to extract parts of big multi-page pdfs, or extract pictures from pdfs, and to combine several pdfs into multi-page pdfs.

Its great stuff that is very handy. There are other free ones as well. All I pay for using it is a pop up ad that shows up each time I use it - I can handle that. In fact the ads are for more advanced similar programs that I just might want to purchase down the road.