Category Archives: Project Management

Deltek’s Clarity A&E Industry Report

The 39th Annual Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Report is ready, and Deltek has webinars for you to learn more about the data it has collected.

Register to attend one or all of their webinars.

More continuing education credits – only 5 months away!

SDA National is at it again! Here comes another EDConnect—a convenient way to get continuing education credits in all things A/E/C. It’s a three-day webinar conference that you and others in your firm won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for more details/registration.

They’re coming . . . are you prepared to modify your contract agreements?

image The FAA recently proposed regulations for the commercial use of drones, according to Jim Yand (partner at the Seattle law firm of Miller Nash Graham & Dunn). Jim presented an interesting session on “Construction Photos: Avoid Putting Your Selfie in the Crosshairs.”

If you have been thinking about using drones to capture construction photos, make sure you are covered, in more ways than one: Get proper insurance to safeguard against property damage caused by crashes, trespass claims, and invasion of privacy.  And make sure your contracts spell out everything, like who owns the drone images, and how those images will be used (can they be posted to social media?).

Drones can be beneficial to our design industry: Think cost-effectiveness, ability to reach difficult project areas, efficient inspection processes, and even sophisticated marketing and bid presentations.

“Stay tuned,” Jim said. A number of states and municipalities have passed or are considering limitations on unmanned aircraft, and the effect of such restrictions depends on the precise nature of the limitation.

Making Golden “Golden” Again

WelcomeToGoldenChapter members Carrie Thompson and Judy Beebe are in Golden, Colorado at SDA’s EDSymposium15 (October 8-10, 2015).
The keynote speakers, Steve Glueck and Marcie Miller, talked about the development of Golden, made possible by GURA (Golden Urban Renewal Authority), which was created by Golden’s City Council. What a difference GURA made! Check out this video they shared, which gives a great overview of the impact and effectiveness of GURA, which made Golden what it is today. If you ever get to Colorado, be sure to visit Golden.

FlatMountainAs Steve said, “One of the reasons Golden is so cool is the topography—the shape, the hills.”

 

 

 

 

Photos by Carrie and Judy

More on OSHA’s Confined Spaces standard

After we blogged/tweeted about OSHA’s new Confined Space standard, The Ferri Group tweeted us back with more information—OSHA has granted a Temporary Enforcement Period until early October. Continue reading →

OSHA’s new Confined Space standard for construction

under-constructionOSHA has issued a new Confined Space standard for construction. The new standard, 29 CFR 1926, Subpart AA, goes into effect 8/3/15. If you have employees working on construction sites with confined spaces, they need to become familiar with the new standard, and ask the controlling contractor or the client how the new standard will be implemented on the project site. Continue reading →

Should you fire your bad client?

FireSomeoneFire your bad client? Whoa, that sounds drastic! Why would you want to get rid of a client? June R. Jewell, CPA, President & CEO of AEC Business Solutions has done just that. Why? It’s one of 3 steps that can help you increase your fees.  Read her blog post here.

Make some space on your plan set

Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) will reject your set of plans right from the beginning, if you don’t allow a space for DPD’s approval stamp.

I am a Project Manager . . . now what?

A golden oldie excerpt from an SDA member’s white paper published in 2012.

I’ve just been made a project manager.  But now what do I do?

The first thing is to understand the key components of project management: Continue reading →

Marshmallow Towers

Who knew learning about design charrettes could be so much fun? Presenters Lucas Branham and Pepe Izquierdo, architects with Studio Meng Strazzara, walked us through a hands-on charrette at our February 19 business practice dinner. We broke into teams, trying to design and build the tallest marshmallow structure using only 20 strands of spaghetti, one marshmallow, a length of masking tape, and an even shorter piece of string.

In Round 1, Continue reading →