FOF: Will Sustainability Change the Future of Design?

Financial Management and Profitability

10/06/08 Is Construction Productivity Really Declining? Or are Census of Business definitions just making it look that way? Charles M. Eastman and Rafael Sacks
02/15/08 Driving Out Failure Costs Effective cost control covers two distinct realms: opportunity cost and failure cost. While opportunity cost retards growth, failure cost is an anchor that drags down the firm. Scott Simpson
09/26/05 Designer Compensation: How Important is Money, Really? As the economy grows stronger and the range of new work expands, there is a renewed focus on the importance of attracting and retaining qualified staff. In the scramble to attract and keep top talent, compensation once again becomes a much-discussed topic for both employers and employees. Robert Smith
09/08/05 Firms Report Fees, Profits Edging Up This headline is not a mistake. *DesignIntelligence* is currently conducting research on the growth rates at several hundred firms in the United States and Canada. James P. Cramer
09/08/05 Confronting Commoditization Commoditization is a big, handwringing topic that conjures up any number of nuisances in the path of what should be an enjoyable professional practice. In this era of rampant consumerism, still no one wants to pay more than is necessary for goods and services. [Admit it, dear reader, neither do you. Or me.] Problem is, neither does anyone want to pay even reasonable fees for design and construction services. Not the private sector and certainly not the distrustful public sector. Joan Capelin
07/26/05 Redesign Your Profits: Value-Based Fee Structure A brutal fact of reality for architecture and engineering firms is that prevailing pricing and compensation methods—setting fees on the basis of direct labor cost (whether selling hours on a time-and-materials or lump-sum basis)—provide only minimal profits for most firms.
06/15/04 High Profile Architecture Considering the Bottom Line For many architects, “business” is a necessary evil—the compromise and the obligatory price paid to function in a competitive environment. Architects with interest in business are seen as “office managers,” lacking in creativity. Ellen M. Taylor
05/15/04 How Building Products Can Reach, Markets Faster, More Profitably Achieving [these] goals above will also allow building product manufacturers to more effectively serve their customers, architects and general contractors. Richard D. Voreis
04/15/04 Ascendancy vs. Gravitational Pull This issue of DesignIntelligence is primarily about the facts and trends in baseball park design. But between the lines here is a story about professional ascendancy. James P. Cramer
04/15/04 Sports Engineering Requires Speed, Skill, Endurance Few building structures rival the complexity of Minute Maid Park. Walter P. Moore says retractability made the analysis of the curving roof at least six times more complicated than a fixed roof of the same configuration.

Financial Management and Profitability

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