This is a very common theme. I sound like a broken record, half of the time. Managing help is the biggest obstacle in going from ideas to reality. Most of us enjoy designing, selling, and interacting with clients. Quite honestly, it is theeasy part. The hard part is getting things built because it requires people and equipment. That is the comodity that is not a dime a dozen. Those that can do it are in the drivers seat. They are in control of buying and marking up materials, providing and making money on labor, and have to deal with all of the other contractors, utilities, physical surprises on the site,... All of the greatest designers in the world are worthless if the design can not get built. The idea of hiring a contractor as a sub usually comes with a number of assumptions. The first being that they are eager to work and will welcome work from a designer because it will help their business. The second is that even though these people are tough people managers, they will eagerly do everything your way. The third is that because the job is yours, the contractor understands and accepts that you are going to make the money on the marked up material and he will make the money on getting the work done. The fourth is that you understand that #3 won't be acceptable, but that the client will be eager to pay a mark up on the whole job for the priveledge of having you do the design work. The fifth is that subbing a contractor to manage the part of the job that you can not manage makes you an effective manager of the job. Before you get into the head of the contractor, what do we hear over and over again on this and other forums from homeowners that want to hire a contractor? They don't return my phone calls. They don't seem interested in my project. Now, try to get into the head of the contractor. He has experience doing this kind of work and the ability to get it done. Although maybe not specifically trained in design, he has done installation for years and can put together at least a reasonable designed landscape that he is in total control of. He can plan to use materials that are readily available, efficient to install (if he has his crew does the same type of work over and over it is faster), he knows what plants he can effectively mark up and have a good survival rate, he can control the sequence and timing of everything on the job in conjunction with his other jobs. Now compare that to having to be respond to a designer who is going to inherently interfere with timing, technique, material procurement, and profit. Why would a contractor want to do that? Now get in the head of the client. If someone before you, as the client, can show you a portfolio of built work that he (he or she) has taken from design to construction for the previous clients and will design your project, price it, supervise it, and see it through completion you will feel pretty secure that the process will move smoothly. The cost of the job is materials, labor, and profit for the contractor who is also the designer. Because the design work is often the marketing tool for a design/build contractor, the design cost is only for the design since the job is already managed in house and therefore substantially less than if done by an independent designer. As a client, do you honestly believe that you would rather have an independent designer add to the cost of the construction cost and add another level of management between you and the contractor? Most hate the process of selecting and hiring a designer and do not wish to go through it all over again when it comes time to hire a contractor. If all things are equal, they are much more likely to hire one person that they can deal with from start to finish, they would like to do it as cost efficiently as possible, and they would like to avoid any unknown variables (such as a subcontractor). Those are my observations. Many of which a lot of people will disagree with. It is just one view from a person that has been in many different roles in this business.

Wow, so many terriffic idea's!! I'm really loving the black and white parkay floor! I really like that Boutiqueie thing since this is a "Market" and not a normal store. Inside we'll have dairy, breads, dried fruits and nuts and coffee, homemade goodies (lemon tyme tea bread is a specialty of mine) and really good coffee. Just a couple of tables for the men to sit at and drink their coffee while the women shop. There will also be the fruits and veggies, candles, aprons and garden hats. I'll manage to throw in a straw bale here and there to keep it "Outside-ish". I need it to be welcoming and not stand offish. I want people to be able to come in and relax and take time looking and not be intiimidated by a "too ritzy" decor. I also don't want that "country as cornbread" look either. It's Texas and we have enough of that! Please keep posting with any ideas. I love it!!

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your "Jurassic Park" in the PNW -- that one must keep you busy to allot of love and attention to not feed on any unexpected visitor or friends. (LOL haha). Beautiful; and the rest of the pics was a nice shot of spring explosions to boot, since the ground hog didn't see his shadow -- spring is coming early. We have sunny day in Seattle (WOW). Motivated me to get out after all your pics to get some work done. Cheers,

New Years Greetings all!! Note: I’m posting this intro and then posting the quotes in the “replies” because when I C&P from Word I’m informed the character count is too long….Go figure! Last year about this time I posted 100 quotes from some of the forums (Building a Home, Renovations, Kitchens and Design Dilemma) for the 2016 year. It was a fun outlet for my creativity and looked like it was fairly well received so, with one reservation, I decided to do it again this year. As some of you know, I love lists.reading them and composing them. And I’ll say what I said last year that this list IS composed, the order is not random nor is the number arbitrary. Creating a great list is a no different task then creating say, a short story or a poem. A creative list has to be short enough so not to bore but long enough to have weight. Seriousness enough for importance but funny enough for laughs. Ordered enough for sub themes, but random enough to keep interest. Light enough to poke fun but heavy enough for lessons. The number of 100 is critical. Sure, some might say it’s arbitrary but at the same time for any good list to have weight there has to be a constraint so the list doesn’t get boring or watered down. I pared it down from over 300 which was difficult but at the same time a creative outlet for me. If I selected one quote for inclusion in the 100, it meant another had to go. So if somebody remembers reading something that’s not here, it’s very likely not that I didn’t see and flag it, but very likely it became a victim of creative crafting. Therefore, I had a big reservation this second year, almost to the point of not posting this. Last year no one knew I was collecting these all year so there was no “I know the list is 100 but I thought this was mildly amusing also” add- ons thereby entirely missing the point of a limited list. Last year’s list remained as it was intended, an undiluted, standalone composition without morphing into something like the monthly “Build” thread. Of course for anyone who was inspired by my effort last year and flagged some quotes over the year, they are entirely welcome and encouraged to start a thread with their own list. As a fan of lists, not only would I be flattered to have inspired, I’d love reading your lists! And trust me, it would have been far easier to just haphazardly slap up all 300 willy-nilly without any creativity, thought, crafting or order and call it a day. After all, any fifth grader can do that. But I looked for a composed 100 to become a greater sum than a haphazard 300 much the same as a well designed house is greater than the sum of the walls and roof. So, since last year went well, I really hope my list accomplishes that, doesn’t degenerate into the latter in the replies and simply enjoyed by everyone for what it is just like last year’s list. Ok, with that said, hope everyone enjoys it and thanks to everyone for all the great material!! After all you all are the authors!!! With the exception of the one with the photo and the “bonus” section, no thread is represented twice, another criteria I had for creating my list, and why some other quotes may not be here. Also, last year, none of the quotes are mine but I included one this year. And there’s a subtle joke embedded within my list this year. Another outlet for my creativity so please read carefully! The first person who sees it gets a free original ARG “cloud drawing”. And finally, I kept the same anonymity format as last year but if anyone recognizes their words I don’t want my format to stop anyone from jumping in and claiming a number…. or two! Last year worked well that way I thought. So here’s wishing everyone here a Happy New Year and for 2018 may everyone’s projects come in under budget and ahead of schedule!!