happy birthday...

it has been a grueling 3 weeks. fingers crossed the office renovation will soon be completed. of course then i realised that its only part 1. part 2 has yet to start... and office retro fitting is a much tougher task. but lets not think about it for now.

now... you would think that after 3 years in the field, by now i would had already completed a project. well indeed i have done many designs and proposals etc. but all of them are merely on paper.

so this small ID job will mark the completion of my first built work. pretty exciting innit? well initially, i had hoped my first completed job would had been the ID works for the Urbana penthouse. unfortunately that didnt materialize. the client decided to just sell off the place as it is. he managed to sell it for a decent 10 mil. the renovation work would had cost him around half a million... and he thought that was expensive.

i must say, and it is true that Architects are late bloomers or should i say it takes years before we can see the fruits from our labours.

think about it, a doctor gets to save a life in a matter of seconds, a lawyer can complete a trial in a matter of weeks or days, a accountant would complete an audit in say 3 months, a structural engineer gets to see his superstructure frame completed in 6 months atleast for a high rise building, heck a professional runner can complete his task in a matter of seconds, anyway, well... you get my drift.

let me give you the breakdown of how long it will take before an architect gets to see light at the end of the tunnel:

1 year... spent in finding the right client. client's rarely come to you.

0.5 year... to find the right site

0.5 year to convince self that its the right site

1 year... to study and analyze the site

2 years spent on designing

1 year to obtain the authority approvals

1 year to sort out all the strucutre, mechanical and electrical system

1 year to get the cost right

another 1 year to convince the client that the cost is right

1 year to find the right contractor

0.5 year to negotiate with the contractor on the agreeable price

1 year for the contractor to study and understand the designs

5 years for the contractor to built it ( with constant squabbling with the Architect as of what should be the right way to built it)

1 year spent on rectifying the defects

1 year arguing with the client insisting that this was the design that he approved

0.5 year trying to justify the money spent or more like explaining why the final cost was beyond the stipulated budget

before finally handing over the building back to the client.

and an eternity to be bothered by the clients incessant complaints.

so thats 20++ years to finally have a building completed. its no wonder all architects only become famous in their 50s. sigh.

haha... i know this is an exaggeration... but still... you get my point.