What to Know Before You Build

If you run a busy organization, the thought of launching a building project might seem overwhelming.  Maybe you’ve heard stories about design and construction projects where costs run amok, schedules drag out and the building doesn’t operate correctly when you move in. Cost, complexity, risk and busyness are all reasons for putting off the hassle of tackling a building project

Many people believe they have to know what they need before they talk to an architect. In reality there are only four things you need to know before you talk to an architect:

1. What are the symptoms? -- Doctors want you describe symptoms, not tell them what operation or prescription you think you need.  Architects are the same way.  Tell us what isn't working; what activities don’t have space; whose office is in the former janitor’s closet; what building systems don’t work anymore.  
2. What are your priorities? – How are the current “symptoms” derailing your strategic objectives?  What are the mission-critical tasks that are hindered by your facilities?  Our diagnosis begins with making sure we understand your mission and strategic plan.
3. How much can you spend? – Typical operating budgets can’t carry the cost of building.  Having a clear picture of what you can borrow or raise in a capital campaign is crucial. If you don’t know, we can help with rules-of-thumb and our knowledge of the lending market.
4. How quickly do you need the solution? – The more time you have the more options you can consider.  Acute situations can determine what type of project delivery you choose.  Schedule can shape discussions about renovation vs. building new.

Typically there is more than one building solution for any given set of symptoms.  The right solution will be the one that best addresses your priorities given the time and money you have to invest.

Blue Ridge Architects would love to hear about your aches and pains.  Our prescription pad is ready.

Proud to Provide Design Solutions

Architect Audrey Matlock, speaking at a conference on innovation, is quoted, “Today in the U. S. it’s no longer ‘can-do,’…In other countries, they talk about design ideas.  Here we have ‘design solutions.’”[1] At Blue Ridge Architects we talk a lot about “design solutions” so I felt a bit defensive when I read this. We believe a focus on design solutions, rather than innovation for innovation’s sake is good thing

Our firm values call for buildings to be functional and affordable.  While there may be clients who have the luxury of creating iconic buildings at the expense functionality and affordability, the majority expect architects to be careful stewards of their resources.  It is our attention to function and cost that earns us the right to suggest new forms, materials and approaches to building.

Another of our core values is that buildings should be progressive:

 The desire to see and do things in a new way is a by-product of the hope we all need to live and thrive.  Even as we find formal and symbolic ways to build links to the past, we anticipate the future with better technology and spaces that welcome our changing patterns of living.

Practical design solutions are not the enemy of innovation or aesthetically pleasing buildings.  Rather it is the ability to do both that makes architects a vital part of the building process.

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[1] Architectural Record, December 2011

Avoid Costly Surprises

Your building project is going to cost what it costs. The only question is do you want to know early in the project, when you can do something about it, or do you want to wait until the very end when the last invoice and the last application for payment has been submitted?

Being surprised by the final cost of a building project is usually the result of:

• An unrealistic belief that there is “secret sauce” for getting a bargain on a building project 
• A lack of understanding about the complete and true cost of a building project

Bargain-seekers often use a contractor with “low-overhead.” This usually means the contractor doesn’t have the staff, procedures or experience to adequately manage the complexities of most commercial or institutional projects.  This results in poor coordination of trades, failure to get timely decisions from the building owner and inadequate oversight of sub-contractors and vendors. The result is change orders at the end of the project.

Others are tempted to rationalize understating the scope of work on a building permit application to avoid meeting current standards for fire-alarms, sprinkler and handicapped accessibility.When inspectors discover the deception (and they will), the owner pays a premium for rushed work and lost time.

Three years into the Great Recession, many owners still believe the down economy means there are “hungry” contractors who will do work at steep discounts. The hungry contractors have either adjusted their business model or gone out of business. Those that remain have the same higher material costs and have to pay fair wages for skilled workers.  Owners end up paying more and getting less when they employ people who will work for less than what they’re worth.

Unfortunately, all this wishful thinking is aided and abetted by building professionals who don’t educate owners about the true cost of a building project. The cost of the building itself is often only 2/3rds of the total cost. Site work, which can be 20% of a project’s cost, is often not included when contractors are talking about costs-per-square foot.  Furnishings, signage, data cabling, and security are often costs excluded from construction contracts and can be 15% or more of the project cost.

Being realistic about what buildings cost at the onset of a building project will make the process much less stressful and give owners confidence, at the end of a project, that they received full value for their investment. 

Blue Ridge Architects takes budgeting seriously and is available, at no charge, for a one-time consultation on what your project will cost. We deliver lasting value that exceeds the cost of our services.

Healing Buildings

Grayson Highland State Park

What would it mean to create “healing buildings?”  I believe that well-designed buildings make people more productive, protect their health and can support a positive, hopeful attitude.  But I’ve always seen the role of the human-made physical environment in a passive, “first-do-no-harm” kind of way.  Having grown up in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, I find what humans build to be a pale imitation of the mountains, fields, forests and streams crafted by God.  The story arc of God interacting with His creation begins in the Garden of Eden but ends in a new city – the New Jerusalem.  So maybe there is a role for building that goes beyond mere shelter and utility and includes healing the brokenness we all have in some form.

The person who got me thinking about this, again, is Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. Utilizing nature’s template for farming, their approach recognizes the inter-connectedness found in growing healthy, wholesome plants and animals.  Their website proclaims that they are in the business of, “healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.”

Green roof at Nationals Park, Washington, DC

There is an analogous way of thinking about how and what we build. Most of the green building movement is about limiting the damage done by modern building methods.  I believe we can move beyond a “limiting damage” mentality to one where what we choose to build and how we go about it can make us better people.  It begins with question, “Do we need to build?”  If the answer is yes, then come discussions about scale and context – what does the size and locations of our building(s) say about our values and priorities?  The techniques we employ should harness the natural forces of sun, wind and rain and utilizing these forces, not overcoming them with brute force -- making us constantly aware of the cycles of the natural environment – a connection with creation that can be healing.  Such questions are only the beginning; the conversation can and should go on.

By more carefully considering what and where and how we build we will inevitability question our values and purposes – discussion that can transform communities and culture.  The act of building can be either be an expression of our brokenness as human or demonstration of our faith and hope in a redemptive future.

Buy Local

Friendly City Food Co-op -- Designed by Blue Ridge Architects and constructed by Harman Construction

The Friendly City Food Co-op just opened in Harrisonburg.  While an emphasis on organic foods caters to my wife’s concern for our health, I like knowing that much of the food is from local sources. Locally-sourced food requires less energy, chemicals and “extraordinary measures” to get to my table The money I spend is more likely to be re-spent locally benefitting the local economy and local government. Design and construction work the same way. When you use local contractors, architects and engineers, you get increased accountability and a more economically stable community.

Financing, designing and constructing a building is ripe with opportunities for the participants to manipulate and, in some instances, rip-off each other.Working with people you went to school with, see at soccer games and church or for whom you want to work again, creates a built-in protection against fraud.  There still needs to be a disciplined approach to contracts and project management. Familiarity can also create a “good ol’ boy” system that benefits a select group of business persons at the expense of the whole community. But in an area like the Shenandoah Valley, reputations are hard-won and tradespeople and professionals work hard to protect them with consistent high quality, value-added work.

 If you hire an architect or contractor from a distant area your fees go to supermarkets, golf courses, gas stations, banks, etc. in another community. The taxes paid by out-of-town experts go to other local governments to fund their roads, schools and police departments.Their donations go to charities that do not benefit the needy in your town.

It’s easy to believe your local professionals can’t possibly have the knowledge, experience and skill to help your business. Often being able to hire a national expert validates that your company or organization has “arrived.” But even if your local architect doesn’t seem to have what you need, teaming a national expert with a local professional is a good way to make sure you get the cutting-edge knowledge with local service and location-appropriate application.  

Contact Blue Ridge Architects. You’ll be surprised at the level of experience available right here in the Shenandoah Valley and the relationships we’ve built through 23 years of practice. Through careful team-building we can deliver market-leading expertise delivered with local accountability.