My Built Environment: Good, Bad, and Really Ugly

Recently a friend of mine asked me the following question (excerpt):

“I’ve been wondering about somethings, and thought you might have an opinion…..when the economy starts to turn around and we start pulling out of this mess, do you think how we do business as landscape architects and the development business as a whole will be different than it was before? Do you think we as landscape architects will continue to become more of an integral part of projects, team leaders as we were in Colorado? Or is our status shrinking again? Do you see developers developing entire projects for just building the infrastructure and selling paper lots? Or do you see things changing to a completely new way of doing things? Are things still headed toward the muli-discplinary firms?”

The following was my reply:

“Good questions. I do think we are going to be seeing a huge consolidation of firms, and more multi-disciplinary firms. I also see things going far more in the direction of design-build… particularly public projects. We are seeing Fort Collins going that way for all public buildings, and I bet it will head more in that direction for other public facilities as well. I don’t think that is a bad thing, and I have enjoyed the ones I have worked on. I see a big disconnect between us design types, and the way things get built in the field. I have never been convinced that architect/designers/engineers know all about construction when it comes to designing things. On the other hand, as we both know, contractors don’t always have an eye towards design. Of course I am generalizing. There are certainly some craftsman contractors out there with a strong eye for design, and vice verse. I like the idea of being able to get solid budget numbers as we design projects. I think LA’s in particular, do tend to over design projects and add unnecessary costs. But then most civil engineers who think they are designers tend to under design… costs drives design.

I think the best projects is where all team members respect each others discipline and work towards the same goal. I have always tried to do that, and found the projects that are most enjoyable are where that has occurred.

As for the state of development, unfortunately what you are witnessing where engineers and architects rule the world is more the norm than not. What you saw in CA and Denver with the big builders dominating the market is not the rule. In fact, I think that the days of big builders are numbered, at least as large as they have been. I forsee a rise of the smaller builders again, at least for several years. Eventually the big builders will take over again. I do see that builders, esp. big ones, will quit developing their own land and buy finished lots from developers. That has been shifting for several years.

As for what developments will look like I am not really certain. For the short term, I see smaller 10-20 lot developments getting done, as they will be easier to get financed and absorbed by the market, and ones that fill particular niches. On the other hand, economies of scale are hard on these small projects, something I know first hand. Over time larger projects will again come to roost. I do kind of like the model that Lowry and Stapleton have formed, where builders only buy a block of lots here, and a block of lots there, so it is truly mixed.”

While this is kind of long and rambling, I would be interested in knowing what you all think.

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Recently I was staying at a nice hotel during a conference in Denver. A curious thing happened at this hotel, and it follows the pattern of various hotels I have stayed at over the years. Why is it, at so-called low cost hotels, such as Holiday Inn Express, with the price of the room, you get free wireless internet, usually a free breakfast, and occasionally a free drink thrown in at the bar. When you stay at the so-called luxury hotels, not only do you pay more for the room, but you have to pay for wireless, breakfast, etc! So then, why do we stay at luxury hotels? To be honest, the only luxury ones I have stayed at are either ones where we got fabulous weekend deals, or someone else has payed for it. This has always been a curiosity to me.

This time I have attached a picture of the exterior of the home. It is pretty intact from the original construction 105 years ago, other than I can see where a porch roof used to attach to the home. Hopefully, this week or next I will get time to go down to the assessors office to explore the history of this home, and maybe even find some photographs of when it was built.

There are some things on the interior that are greatly amusing me. I have heard about some of things before, but have not witnessed them myself, not having been involved with a home this old before. First of all, there are many different styles of doors, and many different door heights! There is one door that goes between the bedrooms that I don’t think is even 6 foot tall. I do have to duck through many of the doors. I wonder if we built a new today with mismatched doors, and varying sizes if it would even get through building inspections, much less be able to sell it. Oh well, the charm of older homes.

One of my business associates has a rental home he bought a year ago. Last month the tenants unexpectedly moved out, leaving quite a mess. After we got the got the junk cleared out of the house, we decided to fix it up, and rent it out again. This home is part of a larger piece of ground he is looking to develop, and the plan was to demolish this home. Now we are looking to keep it, and rent it out again for awhile, and possibly convert it to a commercial use.

In the interim, my wife has put a tremendous amount of time into cleaning it. We don’t think it was cleaned once in the 10 years or so the tenant was there. Structurally the house is in good condition, but it needs some TLC. The owner tore out the old kitchen floor, and I took on the painting.

In the spirit of sustainability and being green, we are going to attempt a green remodel, on a tight budget. Part of the picture is of course, saving the structure in the first place. For the paint, I selected Olympic paint since it is a low VOC environmentally friendly paint. The floor was purchased off of Craig’s list as a left over piece of sheet flooring.

Over time we will have to replace the wiring, rebuild the back lean too addition that house the kitchen and bath, replace the roofing (structure is fine), replace the heating system, etc. I will keep you posted on the progress. For now, enjoy the picures of us actually working on the place!