Year: 2013

Online CE Series for Architects: Growing a Small Firm

By Lynda

One way a/e ProNet supports the design community is by promoting continuing education for Architects and Engineers.

Growing a Small Firm Marketing
Mark Cavagnero, FAIA, discussing marketing strategies specific to small, growing firms with panelists Cass Calder Smith, AIA, and Melissa Werner from CCS Architecture, Sam Fajner from TEECOM and Sylvia Kwan, FAIA, from Kwan Henmi Architecture Planning, Inc.

aecKnowledge, in collaboration with AIA San Francisco and Mark Cavagnero, FAIA, has created an exciting new online series called “Growing a Small Firm”. This set of talks provides targeted advice to design professionals who have recently branched out on their own or are considering starting their own firms. Each panel discussion, filmed live at AIA San Francisco and moderated by Mark Cavagnero, features some of the Bay Area’s leading design professionals, contractors and owners generously sharing valuable insights gained from decades of experience. Among the topics:

  • Developing effective marketing and diversification strategies
  • Developing a clear, distinctive identity
  • Pursuing public design opportunities
  • Cultivating repeat clients
  • Teaming with larger firms
  • Elevating the role of women
  • Collaborating with other design and construction professionals
  • Forming partnerships with other small firm
  • Managing a small firm (while staying sane)
  • Leveraging online media and social networking

Click here to access the first in this series, Growing a Small Firm – Marketing.

This course delivers targeted advice on marketing and business development and captures decades of insights into how best to meet potential clients, expand a firm’s portfolio, implement a vibrant marketing program on a limited budget, create an identity that resonates with prospective clients, and successfully collaborate with larger firms and allied professionals in the pursuit of widely sought-after commissions.

Why Architects Need to Use Their Ears

By Lynda

Can you hear me now?

“It’s time to start designing for our ears.”

Classrooms, work spaces, restaurants, airplanes. These are just a few of the places we experience every day which should be reevaluated in terms of the audio experience. In this recent TED talk, Sound expert Julian Treasure demonstrates the importance of audio considerations in the design process.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5nbWUOc9tY]

Shout-Out Credit: 

Earleen Thomas
Account Executive/Professional Services Specialist of Cornerstone Specialty Insurance Services – Irvine, CA
Email: earleen@cornerstonespecialty.com / Phone: 714-731-7700

The Construction Contract: 3 Essential Rules

By Lynda

pronetworknews_201301For design professionals, it’s good business to have a solid, fair contract in place before you begin work on a project. So, what are the three essential rules of putting together a construction contract? Our January 2013 ProNetwork News newsletter has the answer:

In the construction world, the contract rules the parties. It is the blueprint (pun intended) that says what you can be sued for, when you can sue the other party, and what your damages will be. If you do not have any written contract, the law presumes certain things that you may not want it to presume. Therefore, you must treat the contract seriously, and consider these three essential rules.

  1. Put all agreements in writing
  2. Negotiate or strike through unfair or one-sided terms
  3. Deal with discrepancies between the Proposal for Services and the Contract

(1) Put all agreements in writing

Design professionals who rely on “handshake” or “gentlemen’s agreements” are playing a game of Russian roulette. One bad project, and you’ll wish that you had a well-written, reviewed and negotiated contract.

Written contracts are crucial to enforcing binding agreements once the dirt begins to turn. Memories fade, records are lost, and key employees leave. Having all the crucial terms in writing eliminates the need to argue over how changes are handled, how compensation issues are dealt with, and how disputes are decided.

(2) Negotiate or strike through unfair or one-sided terms

While a written contract is important, it is almost better to have no written contract than to have a poorly negotiated, unfair, or unclear written contract. Continue reading “The Construction Contract: 3 Essential Rules”

Architecture Billing Index (ABI) Shows Improvement

By Lynda

A steadily improving economy is spurring on construction activity in most regions of the county, and stimulating speculative development.

2012_ABIgraph

The following is an excerpt from the AIArchitect Blog post on the annual Architectural Billings Index report for 2012:

Final ABI for 2012 Caps Strongest Year Since 2007

“Architecture firms continued to report improving business conditions in December, with an Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 52.0. (Any score above 50 represents billings growth). While the pace of billings growth slowed slightly from November, it is still the fifth consecutive month of growth, which means eight months of 2012 showed improving business conditions, the most in one calendar year since 2007. Inquiries into new projects remained strong, and firm backlogs for the fourth quarter inched up slightly from the third quarter to an average of 4.5 months.

Business conditions continued to improve at firms in all regions of the country in December with the exception of firms in the West, which continued to struggle to recover from nearly five years of declining billings. Firms located in the Midwest reported particularly strong firm billings last month after suffering a period of softness in the middle of the year. And for the third consecutive month, firms of all specializations reported experiencing increasing firm billings. The pace of growth has slowed significantly from the middle of the year for firms with a residential specialization, but continues to improve for firms with a commercial/industrial specialization.”

You know all this good news makes you want to read on… and you can! Visit the AIArchitect blog for the rest of it.”

Shout-Out Credit: 

Leslie Pancoast, CIC, RPLU
Past President of a/e ProNet
Managing Partner of IOA Insurance Services – Pleasanton, CA
Email: Leslie.Pancoast@ioausa.com / Phone: 925-416-7862

New President Named at a/e ProNet’s Spring Meeting

By Lynda

Last weekend, a/e ProNet held its annual meeting in San Diego, California. Members from across the country came together to discuss industry trends and best practices.

jefftoddThe meeting also marked the end of Leslie Pancoast‘s two-year term as President of a/e ProNet. She is succeeded by Jeff Todd, President of IMCI.

Jeff grew up in Annapolis, Maryland and after he graduated from High School moved to Charlotte, NC.  He attended Wingate College in Wingate, NC where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1994.  Jeff joined IMCI in January of 1994 and specializes in professional liability insurance for Architects and Engineers.  He is a licensed property & liability insurance agent and is currently working on his Certified Risk Management and Registered Professional Liability Underwriter designations.  Jeff is a member of the Board of Directors for a/e ProNet, and formerly of the Board of Visitors for Wingate University and Phoenix Montessori Academy.  He and his wife Cindy reside in Cleveland, NC and have four children, Blake, Mackenzie, Parker and Kendall.

Group picture time! (Don’t forget that you can find an a/e ProNet broker anytime on our website.)

pronet_springmeeting_2013

First Row: Valarie Nunez of Marquis Agency; Mayensi Chavez of Assurance, Ltd.; Cindy King of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Diane Hoskins of Wortham Insurance & Risk Management; Melissa Roberts of Euclid Insurance Agencies; Debbie Christen of Marquis Agency
Second Row: Rich Standing of Prosurance/Redeker Group; Mike Welbel of M G Welbel & Associates; Terry Lee of PDI; Karen McCabe of IMCI; Lynn Campbell of Assurance, Ltd.; Wendy Arnold of Johnson Insurance; Tom Warner of Walker & Associates; Marsha Bastian of Heffernan Professional Practice Insurance Brokers; Alicia Igram of IOA Insurance Services
Third Row: Leslie Pancoast of IOA Insurance Services; Dave Johnston of a/e ProNet; Jeff Steen of IOA Insurance Services; Jeff Todd of IMCI; Meade Collinsworth of Collinsworth, Alter, Fowler & French, LLC; Mark Jackson of Lykes Insurance; Rob Supple of IOA Insurance Services; John Tenuto of IOA Insurance Services; Kyle Damalouji of Klein Agency; Earleen Thomas of Cornerstone Specialty Insurance Services
Fourth Row: Eric Alderson of ProMark Associated Agencies; Steve Wilder of M G Welbel & Associates; Karen Erger of Lockton Companies; Eric Moore of Moore Insurance Services; Bob Coleman of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Brett Coleman of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Greg Kumm, Jr. of Prosurance/Redeker Group; John Feeney of  Heffernan Professional Practice Brokers; Will Leaf of Cobb Strecker Dunphy & Zimmerman; Jeff Gerrick of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Tom Coghlan of Design Insurance Agency

2012 Professional Liability Insurance Survey of Carriers

By Lynda

2012PLcarriersurveyDesign firms go through their Professional Liability insurance renewals annually. Did you know the insurance companies actually get reviewed annually, too?

Check out the 2012 Professional Liability Insurance Survey in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Engineering Inc. Magazine.

Then-President of a/e ProNet, Leslie Pancoast of IOA Insurance Services, offered the following insights:

  • One incentive to switch carriers is better risk management services. Her firm might recommend a switch, for instance, if a designer moves into a specialized industry sector, such as condominium design, or if an opportunity exists to lock in a fixed premium for multiple years.
  • But be careful. Pancoast says that firms that switch PLI carriers too frequently can sometimes find it difficult to find a willing insurer, particularly if a firm begins to experience claims or is driven back to the market by higher billings.
  • Residential work continues to generate a lot of claims, and schools and other  public projects are beginning to experience claims increases.
  • Best practices for PLI coverage continue to include good communication and proper documentation.

Read the rest of the article to learn the status of the insurance industry.

{ProNet Practice Note} The Collections-Claim Connection: Getting Paid Without Getting Sued

By Lynda

One of the many value added resources a/e ProNet brokers offer is access to our ProNet Practice Notes, in-depth white papers prepared by members of a wide variety of professions related to the design industry. They offer insight and advice on topics like risk management, practice management, and litigation issues for Architects, Engineers, and other Design Professionals.

ProNetPracticeNotes_Header

Our most recent edition is titled  The Collections-Claim Connection: Getting Paid Without Getting Sued, authored by attorney David A. Ericksen of Severson & Werson in San Francisco, CA. The full PDF version of this excellent paper, including several helpful attachments, is available for download at our website. The following is an excerpt for your review. We hope you find it helpful!

Introduction

While money isn’t everything, it is the measure and fuel of any business, including a design firm. Without payment for services firms suffer, starve, and even die. Payment issues are also often the single greatest warning sign of a project in trouble.

Perhaps there is no greater indicator of the correlation between unpaid fees and troubled projects and relationships than the remarkable frequency with which efforts of design professionals to collect unpaid fees through litigation result in even larger responsive counter-claims from clients alleging professional negligence. 2011 gave the entire industry the most dramatic and alarming example of this pattern. Having already received over $8.2M in fees, the engineering firm Carter & Burgess sued its client the City of Victorville in Southern California for the final $106,196 on a power plant project that the City had been forced to partially abandon mid-project due to cost overruns. The City responded with a counter-claim for professional negligence. When the verdict came in 2011, it was devastating financially and professionally as news, industry, and internet sources widely reported and publicized the award of $52.1M in damages against the engineering firm.

The results of such a counter-claim need not be as dramatic in terms of publicity or financial losses to be devastating to the firm. In addition to the unpaid fees, there are many other impacts of even a “defensive” counter-claim. They frequently include:

  • Deductible payments for legal fees and costs, which may even include the involvement of a second “defense” attorney.
  • Insurance impacts for rating, pricing, and loss history.
  • Lost internal time and resources for purposes of participation in defense.
  • Publicity and required disclosures in future responses to RFPs for claims history.
  • Potential uninsured exposure for prevailing party attorneys’ fees if negligence claims exceed fee claims.
  • Ultimate discounted or waived fees for expediency of resolving and closing claim.

Obviously, avoiding such collection challenges and the potential for responsive claims is critical to good business and project success.

In reality, a proper approach to collections closely resembles a proper regimen for personal health. Firms which get paid become and remain healthy and strong. Firms which do not get paid regularly and on time become malnourished and increasingly susceptible to disease. Just as health is a life-long process, financial success is a project-long process. The following discussion tracks the relevant phases and provides analyses and strategies for those various phases. Those phases are: Continue reading “{ProNet Practice Note} The Collections-Claim Connection: Getting Paid Without Getting Sued”