| Description |
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white) |
| Series |
Online access with DDA: Askews (Architecture)
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| Contents |
Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; FOREWORD; PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; 1 BRIEF OVERVIEW: FORMULATING WISE BUSINESS DECISIONS; Making Business Decisions is a Design Problem; The Archetypal Case Study; Decision Consequences; The Master Plan; 2 MEET THE FIRM: MODEL FOR ANALYSIS; Firm History and Structure; Recent Clients and Projects; Office Space; Current Personnel; Compensation; Project Structure; Equipment, Technology, and Process; Succession Planning; Other Challenges; Financing and Cash Flow; Accounting and Financial Information |
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3 ACCOUNTING: CREATING RELIABLE INPUTS AND OUTPUTSWhy Start Here?; The Language of Business; Accounting's Eight Dialects; Reporting is the Key; Accounting Methods; Terminological Implications; A Word about Internal Controls; The Need to Translate Data; Financial Statement Formatting: The What; Financial Statement Formatting: The Why; Financial Statement Formatting: The When; What's Next?; 4 DATA APPLICATION: REFINING ANALYTICS AND CONTROLLING COSTS; Line of Attack; Rolling with the Cash Flow; Receivables Analysis; Impact of Collections; Direct Cost Controls; Comparing Proposal to Budget |
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Timely Organized DataFlexible Contracts; The Compensation Puzzle; Cracking the Overhead Nut; Ensuing Discussion; 5 GROWTH AND ITS CONSTRAINTS: MAKING WISE CHOICES; Organism Analogy; What is Growth?; Thinking Revenue; Baseline Revenue Analysis; The Efficiency Question; Potential Revenue; 6 STRATEGIC FINANCIAL PLANNING: SETTING AND REACHING PROFIT TARGETS; Conundrum: People and Capital; Looking Outward; Looking Inward; Profit Target Analysis; What about Risk Management?; Financing; Other Constraints |
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7 RETHINKING PRACTICE: TACTICAL INNOVATIONS FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY AND PROFESSIONAL SATISFACTIONThe Big Picture: What's Profitable, What's Enjoyable-Can They Intersect?; Entrepreneurial Practice Models; Smart Fees; Backlog Management; Teaching, Lecturing, and Writing; Pro Bono Work; Work Planning to Reduce Costs and Increase Efficiency; Resource Investment; 8 PROGRESS NOTES: WRAPPING UP AND MOVING FORWARD; Staff Involvement with Clients, Administration, and Business Development; Collaboration and BIM; Succession, Principal Compensation, and Getting Personal; Final Words; Index |
| Summary |
A successful design practice requires principals and staff who are creative, technically proficient, and financially savvy. This book focuses on the last component - the one that is so elusive for many architects, engineers, and construction professionals - the business aspects of practice. A successful design practice requires principals and staff who are creative, technically proficient, and financially savvy. Designing Profits focuses on the last component-the one that is so elusive for many architects, engineers, and construction professionals-the business aspects of practice. Not an ordinary book on practice issues or finance, Designing Profits explains the application of design thinking to guide wise business decisions. It is indeed possible to be as creative in establishing and operating a practice as in designing and constructing a building. The book offers comprehensive guidance and objective tools for design professionals to reap financial rewards from their practices, and to discover innovative strategies to become entrepreneurial and implement creative practice models. An extended case study is woven throughout the book. Witness the trials and tribulations of Michelangelo & Brunelleschi Architects as they engage problematic clients, tight project budgets and schedules, low fees and insufficient profits, marketing issues, quirky staff, technology upgrades, and growth, among other difficult challenges. This mythical firm, a composite of several real-life practices, navigates through these various dilemmas, providing readers with insights into superior financial management and a reimagined services portfolio |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
CIP data; item not viewed |
| Subject |
Architectural practice -- Management
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Design services -- Management
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Architectural practice -- Management.
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Design services -- Management.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Pressman, Andy, author
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| ISBN |
9781317560562 |
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1317560566 |
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9781317560579 |
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1317560574 |
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9781317560555 |
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1317560558 |
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1138838470 |
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9781138838475 |
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1138838489 |
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9781138838482 |
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