Mark,
You are right, and every architect has those. I know we discussed this in some thread, and I postulated that I might have built about 1 in 3 to 7 projects that I looked at, and had been selected for, not just lost in a fair competition. Tom claimed to have almost 100% follow through on projects he seriously looked at, but that is rare for most of us. For a young, up and coming architect, the ratio might be as low as 1 in 10 projects, only lowering after they establish themselves a bit.
Some of those 5 to 7 do come to fruition, often years later, due to permitting, financing, etc. issues, sometimes with the new money suggesting a different (usually big name) gca. Others lag a decade, still use the original gca, but give no consideration to doubling the original cost estime/budget, and the project is sorely underfunded as a result.
And, I would say, gca's like you and me probably need an unexpected "Christmas Gift" like a new project, or unexpected return of a project we had long since written off for dead, to have a good financial year.
And, BTW, I did get one of those very unexpected phone calls just yesterday that a project I worked on 7 years ago just to permits and will be moving ahead, so happy new year to me!I know guys like Ron Whitten and similar, who tried to get in the biz as consultants, were pretty dismayed at just how hard it is, and how much rejection was really involved in becoming a gca. If I have time later, I may try to come up with my depressing "never got built" list to, you know, tone down the New Year's joy/optimism, LOL. At least, near the end of my career, despite the objections and problems, I can see the finish line, and still have enough money banked to retire comfortably, so it seems unfair to complain too much. While I was never sure in 1977 that I could finish my career as a gca, I did. I do feel sorry for the current crop of young gca's who probably won't get a chance to build that many new 18 hole courses.