| My Design/Build Coach Articles for Remodleing and Design/Build Professionals | |||
| In-House Designer/Builder | |||
| If you have been following along with these
columns over the past couple of months, you probably have a pretty good understanding of
some of the different types of design/builders that there are in operation. One type, which
I liken to "home school" is the In-House Design/Builder. In this scenario, the
designer is employed by the builder or is in fact the builder. And just as there are
children that get the best from home schooling and those that lose direction, so it is with
In-House Design/Builders. First of all, there are plenty of remodeling contractors that employ designers and/or architects on their staff that perform exceptionally well. When the match is right and the personality types of the players work in harmony the result is super. The biggest advantage that goes to the contractor is control. The contractor controls the money on the project and how much he is going to charge the homeowner for design and likewise how much he is going to pay the designer. Of course that pay comes in the form of salary and benefits paid to the designer. The contractor has leverage over the designer who must answer to the remodeler as an employee, not a sub-contractor who can afford to fall out of good graces with the builder. Having an employee/employer relationship can open up doors of communication between parties and actually lessen the intimidation factor that some designers hold over builders. Furthermore, once a designer is on the builder's staff, issues of scheduling and commitment to the project can be reduced or eliminated. That is, the designer's time is the builder's time. He is on the builder's clock. A designer as employee will not have some of the conflicts that can arise because of other jobs in the queue or other contractors feeding him work. Once the rapport and a smooth operating style have been established between the builder and designer, design/build can be a seamless operation. In some cases, the builder is also the designer, whether or not he has had formal training or experience in design. WARNING: Having the software to do computer aided design and having the ability to create design are not the same thing. Give me a baseball and give Roger Clemens a baseball and the result will be totally different because he is a master and I am far less than that. Even though I can throw a ball around no professional baseball team would hire me because I lack the required skills and experience. Although I just saw an ad for the movie, "The Rookie", which is based on a true story about an old guy (you know, someone about Dennis Quaid's age, even though Quaid has the body of a twenty-five year old) who ends up playing in the majors. Wait, maybe I could play major league baseball. I played college ball. The Red Sox need a closer. It could happen. But I digress… The point is, you must have more than a cool 3-D architectural program to be a designer. As for the negatives of hiring a designer on staff, there are a few. First of all, you must have enough work to justify the overhead of another employee. If the market slows down what are you going to do with this employee? Can he/she be used in the field or in some other way in the office or in sales? Having a designer on staff locks you into one designer because of the financial commitment that you are making. With that one designer comes one sensibility and set of talents. You need to keep in mind that some designers may establish a "comfort zone" from which it is difficult to deviate. This limits the homeowners' and your options. The single bit of advice that I would offer to those who are considering hiring their own In-House Designer would be to do your homework and hire the right designer. If you are considering being your own designer, think about the added obligations that will be placed on you, your business and ultimately your personal life. Can you afford to make that type of a commitment? Keep in mind those home schooled kids mentioned above. Families that choose to home school their children are making a tremendous commitment for an end result that they believe is worth it. By the way, it is no coincidence that so many National Merit and National Spelling Bee champions were educated at home. (The last article in this series will address the Ultimate Design/Builder) |
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IN-HOUSE DESIGN/BUILDER By Joseph Dellanno Remodeling News |
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