The Fohlio Podcast

Ancient waterproofing technologies (pig's blood mixed with lime powder, anyone?) and not taking every project that comes along: Award-winning architect Calvin Tsao talks about life and career lessons learned.

Fohlio is a product specification, procurement, and data management software for the AEC industry. With Fohlio, you can manage your budgeting, specification, purchasing, inventory, and product data processes from end to end. Go to https://www.fohlio.com and schedule your demo today.

Ashwani Jha is building "the ultimate database" for the AEC industry. His plan involves teaching a database to recognize different types of information, learn to validate them, and ultimately make it easier for any architecture firm or related trades to work together.

Fohlio is a product specification, procurement, and data management software for the AEC industry. With Fohlio, you can manage your budgeting, specification, purchasing, inventory, and product data processes from end to end. Go to https://www.fohlio.com and schedule your demo today.

Sorry about the audio! This is a recorded webinar.

Learn how leading firms:

• Categorize products according to different project types.
• Group variable components for faster specification and more efficient value engineering.
• Remove product duplicates.
• Get buy-in from stakeholders like suppliers.

And much, much more!

Moderated by Esteban Reichberg, Senior Project Manager and Fohlio Board Adviser. Esteban earned his Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and his Master of Architecture from Columbia University. He is the recipient of the Latino Leaders of Tomorrow award from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the EPFL ThinkSwiss Scholars Grant from the U.S. Swiss Embassy and the Building Technology Honors Award from Columbia University’s GSAPP. As a founding member of AIANY’s Civic Leadership Program, he is committed to strengthening leadership roles for design professionals in the public realm.

We’re honored to be joined by:

• Gerald Lock, Project Architect/BIM Manager for Katsalidis Architects. Gerald is an ARBV-registered architect with extensive experience in the residential & lifestyle sectors, having worked on projects in eight countries in Australasia, Europe, and the Near East since 2003. Gerald has built a solid foundation of experience, a working knowledge of local planning and building regulations, and a network of trusted consultants and collaborators in the State of Victoria, Australia. His central professional aspiration is to continue to practice architecture with the utmost pride and integrity.
• Monica Ortiz, FF&E Manager for Yossi G. Monica majored in architecture at Francisco Marroquín University, the top university in her native country. She trained as both an architect and a developer: remodeling homes, building townhomes as rental properties, creating a development proposal for a gated community in Nicaragua, and helping design hospitals in Dallas. She is currently the FF&E Manager & Fohlio Specialist for a successful architectural design company in New York. Her many travels have exposed her to many cultures and therefore widened her world view and design sensibilities. Her latest project is a beautiful residence on a double lot in Chicago.
• Scott Barrington, Founder of Modlar. Scott was born in New Zealand into a building family. From the time he spent as a young boy watching his father on building sites, he knew that he would follow in his footsteps as an architect. While working at an architecture firm, Scott created a digitized library, from which came Modlar, a platform which now services 385,000 professional architects globally throughout every step of their design process.

Standardize, digitize, and automate your design and construction workflows with Fohlio. Schedule a demo or book a consultation with one of our account managers to explore these features today.

Special thanks to Monica Ortiz, Esteban Reichberg, Gerald Lock, and Scott Barrington for participating in this webinar.

Differing site conditions is what happens when you’re working on a project and you encounter conditions in the field that differ from the drawings that you were provided, what was represented to you, and what you could have reasonably anticipated.

Unfortunately, no matter how well any project is thought out and arranged, it’s rarely the case that everything goes exactly according to plan. This is why you’re going to need agreements for how to deal with those unexpected situations and the changes that follow.

Of course, both parties have a lot at stake and this is where change clauses can become a really fertile ground for dispute — not just legally but emotionally, as well.

It’s important that those change orders get paid, from the contractor’s perspective, because it could be the difference between a profitable or unprofitable job.

On the other hand, there’s nothing a project owner hates more than having a contractor come to him and say, “I couldn’t have anticipated encountering these conditions and so it’s going to cost you 25% more to complete your project.”

So how do you avoid disputes? This is where clauses for differing site conditions and change orders come into play.

Construction and real estate attorney Wally Zimolong has one piece of advice to anybody in the business: "An overwhelming amount of these disputes could have been avoided if the contractor, designer, or architect had reached out to me first and had me review the contract, terms, and conditions that they were agreeing to."

In 18 years of practice in construction contract law, Zimolong represented contractors, developers, and professional designers. Disputed amounts range from $2,000 all the way up to several million dollars, but one common thread unifying all these cases is this: It really all comes down to a matter of contract.

"I often tell clients that the time and expense that goes into a dispute don’t necessarily have anything to do with the amount in controversy. It has to do with the facts in the case, and really, it underscores the expense that goes into litigating a case involving just a dispute over a construction contract."

This is part 1 of a 5-part series on how to make sure your contracts are protecting your firm’s interests. We will discuss:

- Laying out scope and payment terms so you can get paid faster

- Avoiding disputes with change orders

- Perfecting your claims so you can recover losses

- Preventing litigation in court that could drain your assets

After more than a decade of the open office, critics are convinced that it's the worst thing to ever have happened to management. Is the closed office making a comeback?

Actually, according to Noam Hazan, you're asking the wrong question. "It's all about offering a variety of spaces within the workplace where people have the flexibility to work." Areas for privacy, collaborative work, rest, and more, are doing a better job keeping employees happy, which means fewer sick days and more productivity.

Noam is a UK-trained Architect who has worked for critically acclaimed architecture practices in London, New York and Toronto. 

Since moving to Toronto in 2014, Noam established Noam Hazan Design Studio, a boutique design firm focusing on Architecture and Interiors. 

Applying his design and entrepreneurial skills, he co-founded Northspace, the first coworking company in North York, Toronto. Under Noam's leadership, Northspace was featured in Forbes magazine as one of the Top 10 coworking spaces in the world. 

In 2017, Noam sold Northspace and merged his design studio with SDI Design where he is the creative director. 

In his spare time, Noam runs InvestTO, an events based investment community of over 1000 members. He often writes about design and workplace strategy and has been published in various publications such as Toronto Life, Workplace Magazine, ThePointsGuy and the FarmSoho.

Friction in a project is inevitable and to be expected. With so many personalities working together, there’s bound to be some disagreements.

However, it becomes a problem when delays occur, pushing back your schedule and forcing you to spend more money and time than you had planned. This happens most commonly in situations where teams and individuals have to work together when they haven’t before.

Imagine how great it would feel if your business created and maintained great working relationships with professionals that make your projects go smoother. Smoother projects, of course, make for a happier client, which means more referrals, more money, fewer headaches, better efficiency, and on and on.

Worrying over the fees you're charging a client is often the very thing that makes them obsess over it. Enoch Sears explains how to effectively sell your services by focusing on value instead of cost. You will learn how to ask questions like, what really matters to this client? How can you present your proposal in order to reflect its value as a premium service? Would pricing your offerings at the higher end of the spectrum actually bring in more high-end clients? (Spoiler: Yes.)

In this episode, you will learn:

1. Understand 4 critical mistakes architects make when they write proposals.
2. Discover 4 tips for writing an effective, client-getting architecture proposal.
3. Discover 3 psychological triggers for enhancing a proposal for architectural services.
4. Learn how to deal with fee proposal objections using value propositions.