Week 4: Rep Central

Another week has flown by! This week there were a lot of reps that filtered through. The different reps were from Contract Surfaces, InterSpec, 3-form, Spacia, StonePeak, and HermanMiller. It is interesting listening to all the reps present their product because you can really tell who believes in their product and others who could careless. Why would anyone want to specify a product a rep doesn’t even believe in? I think there were so many reps in this week because they were trying to make their last visits before they head to NeoCon. Every rep also brought some kind of food so, my will power needs to kick in soon or I will be gaining a few more pounds this summer. Tuesday I got my first package! This week I spent most of my time in the materials library working on various things like selecting vinyl and making boards. I didn’t quite memorize all the vinyl patterns, but give me a few weeks and I am sure I will! Along with pulling materials I made contractor boards (see photo below). I made two boards for each project so the contractor can have one board on site and one can be kept at the studio as a reference.  While doing the contractor boards I also learned how to properly print labels on the sticky back! Does anyone else remember the tragedies we used to have printing on sticky back freshman year? I had another great week! My goal for this week is to accomplish more than I did this past week. There is already a stack of things for me to tackle Monday when I get back to work. I can’t wait! I hope everyone else is staying busy and has a great week.My Package!

Contractor Board

Marketing

Until a few years ago Rebecca didn’t have to do much marketing. But she recently brought in the Bradford Group to help Inner Design Studio market to their target market. The Bradford Group helps Inner Design Studio get published in magazines, interviews in the paper, and also just helps Inner Design Studio keep their name out there.

Hopefully you all know from my previous blogs by now that Inner Design Studio’s target market is healthcare.

 http://www.innerdesignstudio.com/

When it comes to the strategic planning Rebecca looks at each quarter and evaluates it to make sure there have been enough billings to bring in enough revenue to properly run the company. Rebecca also constantly has to make sure there are projects a few months out that will be bringing in revenue. She can’t wait. She has to be proactive and get future business.

Anni handles all the accounting in-house. During each project there are always reimbursements like travel and presentation boards that are entered to be billed against a project (meaning all these expenses are added to a clients monthly invoice).

The designers log a weekly timesheet against billable time for projects. That way at the end of the month they can evaluate the amount of time they spent on each project. Then monthly the designers sit down with Anni to review their projects and percentage of project scope they will bill. (I think that means what portion of their work they will bill the client). Next Anni writes up the invoices. Then the invoices are submitted to clients based on percentage of project scope on monthly bases. 

Below are two HermanMiller reps that gave a healthcare focused presentation at the office Friday afternoon.

From left to right Lorraine, me, Jodi, and Donna

Update on Friday, June 15, 2012 at 12:31PM by Teal N

Follow-up to the HermanMiller reps Jodi and Donna. Jodi frequently collaborates with the people at HermanMiller who research healthcare. She was at Inner Design Studio trying to share her combined knowledge of healthcare and furniture. Donna did not do much talking, but she is the local rep, so she helped Jodi get an appointment. At Inner Design Studio they use very little HermanMiller systems in their projects, so Jodi and Donna were there trying to sell their products.

I also learned a few things about the women in my short visit with them. Jodi  is from Florida and has a beach house for rent if anyone is intrested? And Donna, the sales rep, is not allowed in her kitchen at home. Her husband does all the cooking.

Week 3: Where did you go?

This week flew by! With Monday being a holiday and Friday being my first half-day the week was over in a blink of an eye. There were a lot of deadlines to meet this week. Tuesday everyone was hard at work on their various projects. I worked on a floor pattern and kept working on the Revit sheet throughout the week. Wednesday we had an office meeting to look at what the rest of the week had in store for us. This week Rebecca was very helpful in pointing out key terms, to make sure I understood what each one meant (see list below). Thursday I finished the floor pattern…barely. I almost crashed the floor pattern drawing! I finally figured out, after 2 years, that a polyline is used so you can select an object to hatch (not to kept the hatch just inside). I was mortified! But I learned, so now I know for the future (if they even let me do another floor pattern). After that scare I stepped away from the computer for a bit and went to pull some cubicle curtains for a designer. Friday I helped pull some artwork for a project. Who knew picking art could be such a challenge!? I finished the week with a larger vocabulary and luckily not crashing any drawings, so that’s a positive. The week ahead looks busy, but I can’t wait to go back to work Monday! My goal for this week is to talk more. I hope everyone has a great week and is enjoying their internship as much as I am.

New vocabulary list I obtained this week!

Scope Creep- little changes in a project that add time and money

Frozen Floor Plan- meaning the floor plan isn’t changing again

Value Engineering- finding a cheaper way

FADS- Furniture, Art, Drapery, Signage

Inner Design Studio values “new opportunities to deliver timeless custom designs-on budget and on time” (taken from their website http://www.innerdesignstudio.com/). Alli (See picture below) said it like this, “If a client likes polka-dots, then we like polka-dots.” They do the best they can to make their client's happy.

On any given project the firm is working with the contractor, architect, and electrical engineer.  They work closely with the architect on the front end, while during the construction phase they work closer with the contractor.

All the designers are active members of IIDA. Alli recently stepped down from being the website chair.

All of the girls have to complete their 10 hours of CEUs (Continuing Education Units) every 2 years. Here is the IIDA website with all the requirements (http://www.iida.org/content.cfm/compliance). Since Rebecca is licensed in a number of states she has to have more CEU credits than the other designers.

All the designers are NCIDQ/FIDER certified. Monika is also LEED AP 2009.

The company has been involved in various community service events. They have helped build a number of Habitat houses. This past Christmas they adopted a family. They also recycled a bunch of their old materials by participating in the Nashville Zerolandfill.

For Inner Design Studio conflict is resolved by communication. For example who was specifying the cubicle curtain (the architect or the designer) has before been a problem. Just to be on the safe side the designer pulled a sample, and in the end the architect admitted it was their job. He said it just must have been an oversight on their part. This is an example why communication and written documentation are very important (by law a written document or specification overrules a drawing).

Professional Ethics are codes that need to be upheld in a professional practice to respect the public, clients, colleagues, other designers, the profession, and the employer. A few of the ethics they follow are: contracts with clients clearly state the scale and type of project, keep values of professional and personal behavior, seek to continually improve their specialized knowledge.

Alli got flowers from her boyfriend! Aren’t they gorgeous?! (Sorry the picture is blurred. I got a little too excited and shook the camera.)

Brennan and IBrennan has only been with Inner Design Studio for a few months. Isn’t her name unique!? She is the receptionist/support staff. She is always smiling! Brennan answers the phone, schedules luncheons, keeps the materials library clean, and any other various tasks someone in the office my need her to do. You can always hear, “Inner Design Studio, this is Brennan” when she answers the phone. The FedEx and UPS men visit her daily with a load of material samples. She just sold her house and only has a few more days to find a new place!

Week 2

The second week was great! First thing Monday I put together a furniture package that had different finish samples combined in a notebook. I also rendered a floor pattern in Photoshop and did another 3D rendering of the NICU. We also had our regular Monday office meeting. Tuesday I did another rendered floor plan, looked-up artwork to use in a project, and made an excel sheet of building codes per state. I also got my first phone call! I heard my phone ringing but I just stared at the red light until someone told me it was okay to answer. It was Lorraine (refer to week 1 photo) calling from her vacation. She was just making sure I didn’t have any questions about the furniture package she had left for me. It was so sweet for her to call while she was on vacation. The CMH Space Flooring rep (see picture below) also brought lunch to the office Tuesday. Wednesday I got to do another signage and verbiage plan as well as start a material board and pull some paint samples. Thursday two new designers showed up to the office (see picture below) while I spent all day in the materials library working on a presentation board. I was very hesitant about sticking anything down permanently! Scott, the Patcraft rep, also brought us lunch with a ton of chips and queso that we ate on the rest of the week! Friday I finally finished putting the presentation board together and started setting up the designers F100 sheet in Revit. I am still having a blast and can’t wait to see what this coming week has in store for me. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and has an awesome week.

Tiffany with CMH Space Flooring presenting her products to me. Even though one of her products is VCT she hates the chalky feeling they leave on her hands. She says she still can't get used to it! Photograph by Pam The new designers! Birdie (Left) and Ester (Right) are Rebecca's Shih Tzus that came to visit for the day.

Project Organization explained by Monika (in conjunction to her also trying to explain Revit to me)

At Inner Design Studio (IDS) they do not do any pre-design. First thing that happens is that the architect sends schematic design drawings to IDS. This means that the architect firm sends a base drawing to the designers. Then IDS submits interior finish drawings. There is a generic finish schedule (just the material and no color), a wall protection plan and a furniture layout. Next they meet with clients for the first time. If they don’t get to meet with the client then the materials are just selected from the standards. From this point they know finishes for the design documents and specific finishes on the finish plan, wall plan, and furniture plan. IDS also has a rendered floor pattern for clients to approve at this stage of the project. Construction documents are the next step. Two check sets are done. During the first check set a floor pattern is plugged in and any extra 3D renderings and casework are done. After the second check set they move to final documents. Then construction administration occurs. An RFI (Request for Information) is the written process for the contractor. IDS then coordinates installation of furniture, drapery, and artwork. Submittals are done of each product specified at the time. Then the designers double check and review submittals to make sure that everything submitted is what they meant (or it could be costly). Once all finishes are in a finish walkthrough of a facility occurs. Then after all the furniture is installed another walkthrough may occur to review everything one last time.

Update on Friday, June 15, 2012 at 12:43PM by Teal N

To follow-up on the predesgin phase: Yes, the architects usually do the predesign phase and Inner Design Studio looks over this phase, but they themselves do not initially perform this task.

Week 1

Monday was my first day interning! I was pretty nervous, but when I first walked in the office everyone was slowly trickling in and very welcoming. First thing they got me setup on a computer and got my intern email up and running. Then we had a Monday morning office meeting in the materials library to talk about all the projects going on and everyone's to do list for the week. I even had a to do list! I was excited they already had a list for me. Monday I learned how to do a signage plan, an artwork plan, and log a time sheet. Monika, one of the designers, was very helpful in teaching me how to do the signage and artwork plans. (My fun fact for Monday was MOB=Medical Office Building). Tuesday I was given the task to design a floor pattern for an NICU. After a few patterns were decided upon, I dropped the floor patterns into Photoshop to add materials. (My fun fact for Tuesday: The firm has been in 4 trade magazines just this month). I spent all day Wednesday getting a rendering done of a NICU Bay so one of the designers could take it to her client meeting Thursday morning. Once I finished I printed off a hard copy for her and emailed the architects a copy as well. (My fun fact for Wednesday is that a rendering can be done in 5 hours!)  Thursday Alli taught me how to do record drawings. Friday I finished up the record drawings and got to pick carpet samples to order for a restaurant they are remodeling. I also got to meet an independent sales rep that reps furniture and fabrics. The girls say she is one of their favorites! I have learned so much in just the 5 days of interning.

Organizational Chart

The firm is a sole proprietor. There are only 7 employees. Their main focus is healthcare, but they occasionally do other projects for some of their clients as well.

Note: Furniture Specification Designer ultimately reports to Principal, but helps each designer with each    project.

Organizational Chart

Lorraine

 Lorraine is the furniture specification designer in the office. Her job is to assist all the designers with specifying the furniture for each project. She also helps the other designers when they need a hand with any part of a project. Lorraine's desk is right behind me, so she keeps a close eye on me! She is the go to person in the office for any computer questions anyone has. When Lorraine isn't at work she is baking, dog sitting, or zumba.