Week 7: Finally Got cad on my Work Desktop

So now i go to my internship three days a week, its all they need me for at Lauderdale and i still have to make money to survive. This week, I came in on Tuesday and was told they finally got the licence renewed for a new desktop to have cad placed on it.  That desktop was, thankfully, mine.  Up to this week I have been slightly limited on what I can do to help because I could not use my educational cad for the professional drawings.  The educational software tag was on everything I opened on my laptop, and that did not fly when trying to make construction documents and we sent them to the firms with whom we work.  Before I was able to start on any cad, however, I had to run some errands.  I did an office depot run to pick up a case of paper, return some ink and pick up a few more office supplies, then I went to a bakery to pick up some cakes that Joy had ordered and brought them back to the office.  Then I was given a pile of samples to go through and pick some patterned fabric to go with the rest of the purposed fabrics in the new dorm.  The fabrics ended up getting approved and they should be in the new dorm for the next 20 some years! Pretty exciting to me! Wednesday I was finally able to use my cad! I was helping to make versions on a perforated metal covering to make the tack boards in the new dorm more attractive. It was a large area, and therefore a whole bunch of circles... needless to say it too all day! crazy stuff.  Thursday, I boxed up a lot of samples to send back to the manufacturers.  Then I called up to school and asked if they wanted any of our samples for the materials library.  David said yes to all our lvt and some of the carpet.  The lvt will be quite helpful when we work on health care stuff next semester.  I then delivered the samples and was told I was done for the day!

Week 7: Client/staff interactions; assessment processes

Our clients this summer have mostly been from UT in a joint venture with architecture firms.  When we interact with our clients, we set up meetings at our office or the office of the architecture firm we are working with.  The clients are also welcome to call with questions to our office phone and often even Joy's cell phone.  There is a trusting and respectful relationship produced through these actions.  When finished or almost finished with a job, we give the clients a questionnaire.  When it comes to leaning from previous projects, we keep files on the server with final break downs about each completed project.  The break downs help to keep in line everything we learned.  Helping keep the clients informed is another part of our jobs.  We make sure to make brochures or booklets with all information on upkeep and updates.  When it comes to the dorm, we have made sure to choose fabrics that will be easily cleaned, will last through all the students that will pass through the dorm and are still beautiful.

New People:

This week I met Anne. She is the woman at UT in charge of purchase approval with the three UT project we are working on.  She came to our office to approve the desking systems for the UT football coaches addition. 

Week 7

This was a busy week. Rachel and I organized Kravet, Duralee, and Kasmir fabric area in the resource library. Kravet fabric books are now categorized by color and book title. Kasmir was located several places in the library. Rachel and I located all of the Kasmir books and put them in one location. Duralee was located in two places. We were able to fit all Duralee in one area. The fabric books from the same vendors are now located in one location which is easier and quicker for the designer to find what they need. Also this week I called vendors about pricing and availably, as well as ordering memos for the designers. Later in the week Yessick was getting ready for the SHE Expo that was located at the downtown Convention Center. Yessick designed the main stage for the event and had a booth during the Expo.  SHE Expo had Nicholas Sparks, Giuliana and Bill Rancic talk on Saturday.

This is a picture of the Giuliana and Bill Rancic sitting on the stage that Yessick's Design Center designed.

Yessick’s clients are mainly family home owners with small local business clients. The staff and client relationship in the residential is professional as well as personal. The residential design is personal to the client, but also to the designer. The homes of the clients show their personal style and portray who they are. The clients have to be able to trust the designers with personal stories and getting their styles across to people. Yessicks has several designers with different styles of design.  The designers develop a long term relationships with their clients and keeps in contact with them. Marsha, who is the owner and Marla, who is the manager, monitor the designer’s projects. The designers learn from every project. Every project is something new, and challenging. They learn how to better read their clients and how to organize their time. Any of Yessick updates can be viewed to the public through their facebook page. There is no post occupancy evaluations or square footage evaluation.

This is Kathie Proffitt and Jonathan speaking at the SHE Expo about decorating their house for Christmas. Kathie Proffitt is an interior designer as well as a mother. She graduated from Red Bank High School which I did too.

week 9: already 9?

Typically Monday mornings start off slow, but this week started off fast. I immediately walked in and was asked to test some fabrics for a client meeting that was in process. After that, the day continued to move along with trying to find missing orders and samples, as well as ordering and pulling new ones. Tuesday I did a lot of little odds and ends for different designers. I delivered a finish board to a client, picked up a set of drawings, pulled alternated laminate finishes, etc. My main job for the day was to call different manufacturers to check pricing and availability on a bunch of different fabrics. I had never done this before so it was a good thing to learn. You can also reserve the fabric for a later date if needed. Wednesday I did a lot of calling manufacturers to check pricing and availability for fabrics. I have gotten really good at this task. Design Tex also hosted a lunch-n-learn for some of their new fabrics and wallcoverings. Thursday I started the morning off by going to a job site to do field measurements and then converting these into AutoCAD. The rest of the day consisted of ordering, pulling, and filing lots of samples. After work, I attended Post Neocon and met different reps as well as seeing some familiar faces from UT. (I believe Abbey has posted pictures). Friday morning was full of sample ordering. I also went to another job site to take pictures of the construction progress. I really have enjoyed this project because I have been able to see it progress and it is really moving along now. Some of the light fixtures had been installed as well as most of the paint was being finished.

Design Philosophy

The IDS team of 100 full time employees is committed to understanding and meeting the evolving workplace needs of our customers in order to leverage their physical space into an asset rather than an expense.  

“Our results have been achieved through the successful promotion of the teamwork concept among all employees and a company-wide commitment to client satisfaction. Our achievements are possible only through the active involvement of everyone in the company.” – Tom Foster, Owner and Founder

The internship at IDS has been very rewarding and fulfilling. I have thoroughly enjoyed working and meeting everyone involved with IDS. The people and environment are laid back, which makes it fun. But I still have learned a tremendous amount. I look forward to taking my experience back to school and implementing what I have learned.

Kayla Beebe is the last designer that you will get to meet as part of my internship. She is extremely sweet, and I almost always see a smile on her face. Kayla works as one of the main designers for HCA. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Kayla.

[week.06] calling it my own

This week I have really felt adjusted. I'm in the swing of my routine, and I am really starting to feel like all of this is my own. For a while when we start new things, we're always in that unfamiliar territory of learning. Then as things begin to be more familiar, we are able to take on more responsibility and control of our environments - I always love that feeling of getting acquainted with somewhere. I've got a feel of what I'm capable of, etc. I'm beginning to really feel more like part of a team member. 

I guess it's been long enough - I need to give you all a picture of the crew. So, world, meet the crew:

 This is us! so this is it! view onto market square

Those are a couple of other pictures from around the office. The week's focus has been really about the business side of the industry. We are having lots of meetings, a lot of collaboration is going on within the staff, and tons of paperwork is being cranked out. This week I have gotten to exercise some independence with making decisions, ordering samples, collaborating with the architects, and cranking out work. I am really feeling like part of the team and its so great.

I keep having lunch dates with Tiffiny - she works around the corner and we are great lunch buddies! We ate at 31 Bistro this week again, where my friend Ryan manages the kitchen. He does a good job, and the food is really fresh! This week we split a chocolate mousse - yum. During the rest of the day I edit and produce drawings for the healthcare project that Susan and I are working on. I am also working on floor patterns. 

I am working a few shifts at Cafe4 this week too - staying busy! I am also getting great exposure to specifications this week. Not only for interior finishes but also for architectural. I am seeing a great deal about how we truly collaborate with structural and electrical engineers. All of our roles are equally important, and it is really great to see all of the different things that have to be addressed during a project - no matter how big or small. 

Friday Susan and I ate tomato sandwiches - she has quite the green thumb and is growing homegrown tomatoes that we have been talking about all week. Yum! 

The way we organize everything in the way of materials is by section. We have a section of wallcoverings, of tile, of carpet, laminates, paints, textiles, and on down the line. Susan and I are in charge of making use of it as well as cleaning up after ourselves! It is so easy to just tear through all of the notebooks, and we are constantly pulling and re-filing everything as busy as we are right now! We use the library for everything with our resources. It is important that we stay updated, so we have regular meetings with our reps and maintain good relationships with them - they are always a joy to see, and they keep us fresh! We check online for new products, get email notices from distributors and manufacturers, have reps visit, and have subscriptions to several different magazines. We are always, always, always, recieving new information about the latest products. 

Marmoleum Samples

Friday we celebrate Beer Thirty. We go somewhere downtown, sometimes its just us, sometimes its us plus a few others. This week we had a pretty big crew down at DGB. We'll grab chips, salsa, and a beer, and talk about architecture and whatever else comes up. Its a great time. This week Gregor and I had a great chat, and he really set the tone for me to have a wonderful weekend - he is so sweet, kind, and caring. I really love who I am working with and I am learning a lot. Its so great to be at home and to be learning so much that I never knew about. 

[week.05] rock and roll meets independence

This week was very busy! I spent a lot of time getting organized and straightened up, and on Tuesday we had a head-to-toe look at the Scripps Headquarters building. It was really great - I know we saw it a few months ago in school, but getting a second look was really great. The tour was very thorough- we got to see the executive offices, mailrooms, HVAC rooms, etc. We even got to see a space within the building that they are about to renovate. We were there for about three and a half hours actually. We are mainly there to look at systems furniture and programming for the building. 

My iphone has just about been my best friend this week - seems to me that I just can't turn it off. I am listening to all sorts of different stations, and rocking out while I get my productivity on. July 4th was great - very nice to have a holiday, but so strange to have one in the middle of the week! None of us could figure out what day it was. 

Thursday we had a breakthrough with one of our clients - we are done with final decisions and starting construction documents! It's a wonderful feeling. So this week's focus is to jump in head first to get the job done! We are in the finalizing stages for two projects right now actually, so we are keeping busy documenting! 

At Smee Busby, Elaine is our in-house purchaser! She does the purchasing and is great at seeking out good deals, etc. Project fees are determined by market standard here - A lot is done based on the bid process. Bid rates are determined based on direct labor and indirect labor expenses plus overhead - it is a formula that we plug everything into to determine our rates and fees. Mainly we go by industry standards. Our estimating is handled mainly by the principles- we estimate through the hours from our staff. We may use quotes from the subcontractors. The way that we determine actual cost is that we take the hours from different employees and bills that are from the subcontractors. We compare these to see where we fell on our budget. We always manage our budget by having a kickoff meeting to determine and understand the scope of work for a project. We follow up with progress meeting and evaluate the current hours being used against the estimated hours. We will also have meetings to discuss any unforseen work or conflicts that need to be discussed, and to see if any additional services need to be charged to the client. We closely monitor each project to ensure that we do not run over on our hours. We manage our budgets through weekly meetings with the staff, good communication, negotiating with the consultants, and management review. 

This week, I actually am able to get a picture of my person of the week! Her name is Ali, she is very sweet and she is our rep for carpet! 

Ali at Sunspot!

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