Question for Designers in the Business

[Kalen Braley]

I know its hypothetical, but if you had to pick...

Would you rather have a client with deep pockets, on sound footing in terms of his financial viability/holdings (aka the course will definitely be around for awhile), who would pay you and your crew very nicely....but also would be adamant on what kind of course he wanted, and the second the course is done your input/control is gone?


Or would you prefer one who is barely scratching by to make it happen, can only pay you and crew a minimal fee, and long term has little to no financial stability..but yet has understanding/vision to want to build something really special and puts full trust/freedom in you and crew, and will likely always be welcomed back?


Granted I understand there are lots of variables here, but keeping things as simple as possible....its a longevity of someones else vision, vs a highly variable outcome of your vision?


P.S.  I'm going to guess that Mike K does both of these things fairly well...but I may be completely wrong.

[Tom_Doak]

I've done both, as have most of the professionals in the business, I'd guess.


I'd guess most of us choose "some of both".  If you can't have it all at once, you still want stability and to be paid fairly wherever you can be, but you might also want to do a couple of type-B projects if you think they're really special.


But then the real solution would be to find the financial backing or independence to be able to build project B without being at the mercy of someone with poor finances, which can end in tears for a lot more people than just the architect!  I think the big players in the business have done this a lot over the years -- recognizing when someone comes to them with a good project but no way to pull it off, and bringing in the pieces that are missing.  That solution is not foolproof, either, but at least the designer gets to build it and (usually) gets paid before the problems arise.


If you were trying to take the finances out of it, as in your next to last paragraph, wouldn't everyone want to get to build their own vision?  It's just that sometimes sacrifices have to be made to get to do it.  I've had more than one designer say to me, "I wish I could build projects your way, but I can't," and usually their holdup is the financial sacrifice involved.  I haven't gotten rich doing them my way!  (Yet.)

[Ally Mcintosh]

Sometimes you need jobs that pay you, sometimes you need jobs that inspire you.


Like the actors who do the big blockbusters so they can afford to choose more indies.


But paying your mortgage aside, definitely better to have the guy who has the understanding and wants to keep you involved, especially if the site is good.

[Kalen Braley]

Tom,


I suppose a little bit of both makes sense.  Paying the bills has always gotta take precedence at some point, even if I assume legacy would be a big deal to most in the biz.


 With option 2, I was thinking more along the lines of a potential owner who had the land and resources to fund the project, but not much more to keep it a going concern for a couple years where at that point it would depend on the financial success of the project. 

[Jeff_Brauer]

Hypothetical, and as mentioned, over the course of a career, you get some of each.  Honestly, they say the key to success is picking your clients as much as they pick you. 


I shy away from those who have too little money might be more prone to sue an architect or contractor...although, those with too much would be the next most likely type of client to sue....those in the middle probably have the most realistic expectations of what can be done and what their financial results might be.


And truthfully, the amount of client input doesn't really vary inversely with money to spend, its an entirely different factor depending on the personality, not the pocketbook.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I'm not an architect so I will keep this short: it sounds like the latter client might not be around to "welcome you back" very much, and so you'd have to weigh the chances that your design may be sold to someone else within a few years and radically changed in that scenario.


I suspected most architects would answer "some of both" and they seem to have done so. Gotta pay the bills, but sometimes you just want to create. Like the lawyer or firm who takes pro-bono cases now and then, the doctor who gives time to a local free clinic, etc. (Except with a creative angle, rather than a charitable one per se.)