Week 5: Back to Work

Last week, I took a littler breather and went on vacation to Hilton Head, SC. I was glad for a breather but now I'm back in action.

This week I came back and had to pick up on some previous jobs I had been working one when I left. I'm working on one project for Sewanee Inn helping order fabrics so we can send out spec books. This week we worked on gathering everything and filing it all in the binders to send off next week. I love working on this project because it so fun to go through all the different fabrics and become aware what is needed for a hospitality project. Another project I came back to was North side Medical Center. It's a hospital, we've had to work on some floor plans in editing colors and such. I've also become fonder of Photoshop all the time, especially when Lauren and Anna teach me how to use new tools, I love learning new things to help make me more efficient! I spent the rest of the week filing samples, ordering samples, putting together new contractor boards and even working in Revit. Lauren and Anna have also been doing research on Health care facilities for one of the designers and they all week have been randomly shouting out to me new information which I found very interesting to know. Apparently, blue is a very calming color for many people and is used a lot in different health care facilities but they have found out that with age people no longer enjoy the color blue and so using that color in a senior living facility is a very bad idea. I didn't know this and sad to hear that one day I will no longer care for the color blue. ESa is always keeping us busy and teaching us lots of new things, glad to be apart of the process!

A rendering I photoshoped this week.

This week I talked with Leslie about procurement, estimating, and project costs. ESa is a company that specifies only and sends the specifications out for bidding and purchasing by an outside firm. So project fees are determined by project managers assigned to each job, sometimes it is determined by hourly or sometimes there is a set fee. Project estimation is determined by the budget of what they have for construction cost, they usually know the typical level to estimate. In the schematic design phase the design package is priced by a contractor based on finishes and plans and then they know what needs to be taken away or added to it to fit into for their estimation. A project budget is managed by the project managers or principals and they have a certain criteria to follow. They usually have repeat projects for healthcare so they've managed a budget before which makes the process a lot easier. Certain project managers, if they are really detailed, will come talk to designers on the job if they think they are spending to many hours on a certain part of the project, this rarely happens but the project managers have it all under control. It's funny that this was my topic this week because one of the designers that has been here for a year named Haley came to talk with us about pricing. She told us she was really confused when she started out and they had given Haley a list of how a project general goes and what pricing and budgeting for a project usually looks like. She hasn't given us the sheet yet, but when she does I'll be sure to share. 

I forgot to talk about accounting last time, so let me go over that as well. Typical account procedures are handled as follows. In accounts payables invoices are processed every week by e-mail or mail and checks are made everyday. If they have any questions they will talk with the PA but if not they continue on. Then they enter in time sheets for the week and billing for items. Every two weeks they run draft invoices and have them sent to the PA's to review which just means they look over the time and expenses to make sure everything is correct. Once correct, they figure out how much they want to bill, make changes and send out bills. 

Erin and I

This week I want to introduce you to Erin. Erin graduated from the University of Cincinnati and started working for ESa in August 2011. She also interned with ESa 4 times before beginning to work with them. (By 4 times, she really means twice for 2 different co-ops). She currently works on health care projects and really loves the conceptual part of designing a project. By conceptual she means how it works and how it's constructed, which Erin went on to say that most UC graduates that work at ESa are similar to her and enjoy the conceptualization the most. She's also involved in ACE which is a mentoring program for high school students that are interested in Design, Architecture, or Engineering. Which just means she works with a student during the school year on designing a project and at the end of the year the student who's project is the best can win scholarship money to go towards getting their degree in that certain field. She is also in the working towards being licensed NCIDQ and getting LEED certified. Erin's favorite project was one she began working on when she was an intern, it's the Caldwell County Hospital in Caldwell,KY. She worked under one of the designers Tom and during the DD phase he let her design floor patterns. Then when she started working she go to go on a site tour and see her designs in the actual space, which is pretty cool if you ask me! I'd like to say that as a whole the interns really enjoy Erin she is a really great teacher and always willing to help us learn new things, not to mention her sarcasm is pretty funny.

Another hysterical moment, Lauren with packaging tape stuck in her hair. No worries, we rescued her precious locks but not without a few laughs first.

That's all I have for you this week! Until the next one, enjoy!

Comments

[MBR]

Welcome back! The joys of returning to work with everything waiting for you! You mentioned project binders and needing to send them off. Can you explain what this is about? Where are they going? Who are they going to and for what reason? In mentioning the aging process and the color blue, please go into the phenomenon around the aging process and color perception. If you don't understand why this happens, you need to go further into why this occurs.

Week's focus: delving into the world of project costs, procurement, and budgets is vast, and companies can have different approaches. I am clear that ESa does not procure projects in house. Specifications are prepared and sent out to bid. Have you had the opportunity to see a bid set, or spec sheets? If not, ask to see how these are produced. In writing about project fees, you mention hourly and set fees. Do you know how they set their hourly rate? Why would one project receive a set fee and another an hourly? How do hours worked on a project relate back to the contract? Sounds like hours worked on projects are reviewed weekly and billed weekly. Are they billing percent of time worked within a phase? I am not sure what you write is accurate. You may want to get clarification about how clients are billed. This relates back to how the contract is written. Your understanding of this process is important.

Thank you for introducing Erin. Her involvement in ACE and mentoring a high school student is wonderful. Is this a program she got involved with as a student or after she joined ESa? And. as Erin shared, to see something you designed actually built is a thrill, especially when it works out well!