http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/garden/21architects.html?em So how is everyone in the business doing? For me moving to Dubai, financial crisis and all, was about the smartest decision we could have made. 2009 was abysmal for work but the last month has brought in 3 major projects that pay the labor budget for the year (ironically none of them are in Dubai). So things are looking up. I can't image how different things would be if we were still in NY
As of yesterday a major university project I was working on - 2 1/2 weeks out from completion/issue of the design development package - is being put on hold. The $6M earmarked from the state doesn't come anywhere close to the $15-18M needed based on the latest cost estimates (after the elimination of value engineered items). There is another higher ed project in the office which is sustaining half the staff, and barring any setbacks, will do so for at least a year or so. A handful of small projects are possibly coming into the office, but nothing of any major substance, and definitely not large enough to make up for the $300K+ in fees we will be losing. Should I be grateful to have a job in this - UGH - economic climate? Absolutely. But it's only a contractor/consultant position, one that was to become a full-time, salaried employee position with benefits as of the beginning of 2010. Unfortunately they keep extending it an additional 30 days ... end of January is now end of February, and I'm not going to hold my breath that it'll extend much past that. Once we get the DD package done come mid-February, and officially mothball it, who's to know how long the "inevitable hold" will last ... 6 days, 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years?
So the "hold" lasted all of 9 days ... last Friday we were told to finish up DDs, then plow through the Construction Docs. They may not actually build the project, but it'll give me a few more months of work to get through, and hopefully we can start to fill up that "job jar" so there are projects to work on as it finishes up.
Bumpage. We were very slow about 2 years ago, we let 2 people go, in a firm of 10. But it gradually started picking up, and then we got a big Chinese client who's bringing in money from China, buying a lot of big unit developments, 150 units here- 320 units there, other smaller ones of 70 odd. Its not the most interesting of work, but the money's flowing into the firm, and I might even get a payrise this year.