Week 5:Fourth of July...Where has the time gone?

This Week’s  Activities: 

Dani and Deborah consulting on a residential design projectThis week was a short week for Lauderdale Design Group. The office was closed on Thursday and Friday due to the 4th of July holiday. The office was very relaxed and there was much less activity than the usual work week. 

As usual, I checked/responded to emails, kept the materials library updated, and unpackaged and stored incoming packages. I also ordered return labels so that we can send back the larger samples that we don’t necessarily need in our materials library, such as 24x24 inch carpet squares. 

I spent time working in the materials library. I helped Deborah pull fabrics to go on the back cushions of chairs in one of our sports office projects. This was a great experience because I was focusing on color matching to the fabric on the rest of the chair as well as choosing a fabric that was masculine and “sporty”. I really appreciate having the chance to help with design work and do some material selecting.  

LDG existing laundry room, a small space projectOne of my big projects I worked on this week was the residential marketing books. Lauderdale Design Group already had marketing books for education and corporate design, but needed some for residential. The marketing books consist of project plans, photos, project summary, as well as concepts. I worked on putting together the marketing books for our two completed residential projects: Kiawah Cottage and View Point Residence. I really enjoyed working in InDesign on this as well as editing photos in photoshop to be put in the books. 

I also spent a large chunk of time this week doing programming for our laundry room. Currently, the room is not being used to its full potential and we are hoping to find storage solutions that will help create a multi-functional space. We want to have storage for cleaning supplies, but also have hanging space as well as hamper space. I measured and laid out the plans in autocad before moving on to research different affordable storage options. It is an extremely tight space so meeting to programming needs will be a challenge I am excited to tackle. 

IIDA competition slideshowLastly, I worked on our IIDA competition submissions. LDG has entered to compete in both the corporate and residential categories of the competition and have two projects going into the corporate section. I spent a lot of time organizing the information to go into the slideshow for each entry as well as editing plans in photoshop. I have started creating our entry powerpoint’s and am enjoying this design project. The competitors are given a slideshow layout to use so it is important that we find a way to make our slideshow stand out and really make a statement with our work. 

This Week’s Focus: 

This week the focus was on procurement and related business practices; estimating; project costs and fees; and budget management. Lauderdale Design Group does not have an in-house purchasing department to purchase product goods. The company specifies the products and sends out for bidding and purchasing to different manufacturers. Project fees depend on the client. They are based off the state fee schedule in some cases, especially if it is government work. However, in most situations the project fees are based on hours worked and the different design phases. LDG will create a schedule that has the different phases and an amount of hours for each phase. This is how they determine how much a project will cost. This will add up to 100%, but can be broken down into smaller percentages. In all cases the schedule will be negotiated to make it the best possible situation for LDG and their clients. Costs are handled by phase. After each phase is completed, the bill will be sent before the next phase can be started. The project budget is managed in a digital computer program called Praesto. On the program each program has its own account in which the the amount of hours are divided into phase. This is how the designers track their hours as well as make sure they are not going over on their allotted hours for that phase. It also helps keep track of the timing to make sure the project is being executed in the time allowed.

This Week’s Introduction:

Denise Retallack, photographerThis week I am introducing Denise Retallack, local photographer. Denise went to college to study marine biology. However, a couple years into school she took an interest in art. She took art classes (2d design, ceramic) and her art teacher loved her work and knew she had natural talent. At that time she decided marine biology wasn’t for her, so she switched to an art major. Denise didn’t know what to do with her degree after graduation, so she ended up working as a graphic designer for a couple of years, but knew that wasn’t really what she wanted to do. She ended up taking an internship with a commercial photographer, which really opened her eyes to photography. She decided to go back to school at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. She worked for a landscape architecture firm for a couple years as their in house photographer, where she fell in love with architectural photography. She decided that her time was up there and she wanted to start up her own business. That’s when she decided to move to Knoxville to be close to her sister and start her business. Her business grew in the Knoxville market and she now works in Charleston as well. Some of her hobbies include yoga, walking on the beach, boating, and just about any outdoor activity. Denise has done an amazing job photographing some of LDG’s projects and we have loved working with her. We are excited to work with her in the future!

Week 5:Fowler's Mill

Allied professions

There are many types of professionals that work with preservationist during a project. Within Knox Heritage itself, there are many educational backgrounds including: Historic Preservation, History, Architecture, Interior Design, and Business. In addition, many allied professionals assist Knox Heritage: Engineers, Artists, Contractors, Carpenters and many more. The Fowler’s Mill project that I am working on will have a Historic Preservationist, an Interior Designer, a Farmer, and a Marketing Professional working together. 

Professional organizations related to Historic Preservation

Two examples of Professional organizations related to Historic Preservation are: American Institute of Architects is an Architectural organization that supports and encourages historic preservation. The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions is “the only national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting local historic preservation commissions and the historic resources they help protect.” The East Tennessee Preservation Alliance is a Knox Heritage Initiative which supports local counties in preserving their historical structures. 

Type of registration/certification available to historic preservation professionals

The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers training and a leadership forum to professionals in the Historic Preservation field. Many colleges offer various degrees in Historic Preservation including undergraduate and graduate levels. 

Conflicts could arise because of the variety of professionals on a project. The Interior Designer and the Artist may want the structure to look as it did initially, whereas the Engineer may focus on the structure more than the aesthetics. 

Mill EquipmentThis week

This week I worked on writing Thank You letters to donors. It is important for an organization such as Knox Heritage that relies upon donations to operate, to reach out to donors. This letter also serves as proof of donations for tax purposes. I also took pictures of new inventory and delivered some of the new inventory to Nostalgia. I also removed paint from door hardware by putting then in boiling soap and water then scraping the paint off. 

The main project I worked on this week was the Fowler’s Mill Project. I will be doing as-built drawings and renderings of the mill as well as renderings of what it will look like as a residence. We met with the owner of Fowler’s Mill and learned about the history of the mill. I took measurements of the entire mill to prepare for my drawings. Ethiel photographed the mill so I can use the photos for references when rendering. 

Fowler's Mill OwnerNew Person

Earl Alexander is the current owner of the Fowler’s Mill. He is around 90 years old and has lived near the mill for many years. He has a passion for preservation the mill and believes Knox Heritage can do it. He has a daughter who lives beside the mill on the same property. He also lives in a historic home in Loudon. He showed Ethiel and I around the home after we toured the mill. Both the home and the mill have many of the original FF&E.  Mr. Alexander showed us old bags from the mill and how some of the equipment worked, and told us what it would have been like when in use. His home was used by the military in the war to store meat in the upstairs area. Almost everything in the home was of the original period of the home. His house has all of the original molding. There is an original fireplace in his bedroom that had been painted so many times it had to be stripped.  He has a piano that was given to his Grandmother that had to be completely taken apart to fit through the small doorway. The chairs and sofas were shorter than modern day furniture.

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!