Category: General (Page 8 of 28)

Meet an Architect – Help the Homeless

April 29, 2020 / barros / 0 Comments

RIAI Simon Open Door is a partnership between the Simon Communities of Ireland and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).

The Simon Communities of Ireland work with people who experience homelessness and housing exclusion in Ireland.

We are delighted to announce our participation in this important campaign for the 10th year in a row.

The RIAI Simon Open Door initiative has been a permanent fixture in the calendar of the RIAI and it has been decided to maintain that as the Simon Communities are now dealing with the severe implications of COVID-19 to their services across the country.

COVID-19 poses very serious challenges to people who are homeless or living in homeless services, and Simon Communities need your support to ensure they provide the strongest possible service during this crisis.

The RIAI and the Simon Communities feel it is important that we continue the campaign, but in an online format in 2020.

Anyone hoping to build, renovate or extend their home/office/shop may be interested in this initiative. Isabel Barros Architects in Wexford will offer an hour long consultation in return for a donation of €95 to charity. This generous donation of time and expertise will help fund Simon’s work assisting people to move on from the crisis of homelessness, to independent living in quality accommodation. All of the money raised goes towards the work of the Simon Communities of Ireland

You can sign up for an appointment with Isabel Barros Architects between Tuesday 5 May 2020 and Friday 15 May 2020, just log in at www.simonopendoor.ie.

Read Testimonials about the Simon Open Door.

Time to Design and Plan

April 20, 2020 / barros / 0 Comments

This post is written as we experience the Great Lockdown – this is nothing ever experienced in the history of humanity as we try to stop the already 155,000 deaths worldwide caused by this new virus and disease.

Our kids have been out of school and locked at home for 5 weeks. We have been forced to work from home for the last 3 weeks. We have seen the full spectrum of emotions everywhere and anywhere. Life goes on slowly as we adapt to this new way of living.

The uncertainty is big and it is surrounded by many questions that do not have answers. Uncertainty is a difficult thing to bear. But let’s focus on things that are certain:

New treatments and potentially a vaccine for Covid-19 are quickly developing.
This storm will pass – we will get through this.

This is the time to PLAN.

It is in moments like these that the best ideas are born. We are working hard in all our projects that are not yet on site.

A big part of any construction project is spent in designing and planning for construction. The graphic below shows how designing and planning can easily take more than 50% of the overall time in a typical construction project.

Typical construction project life cycle IS: 15883
(Source: ‘A Handbook for Construction Project Planning and Scheduling’ by Virendra Kumar Paul, Chaitali Basu)

If you consider the time that it takes to actually start construction work on site, you may realise that the decision to start the project should not be postponed. Most Architect’s offices have their staff working from home and are available to assist and connect with you through a variety of different platforms.

This is the time to PLAN! Let’s get the ball rolling.

Get in touch with us by email at office@isabelbarrosarchitects.ie or phone 053 916 8942.

When Did You Stop Thanking?

February 28, 2020 / barros / 0 Comments

Last week we received a very nice email from a young couple that came for an initial meeting. All it took them were two lines and maybe one minute of writing. How easy is that?

We spend a lot of time with initial meetings, if the meeting needs to be outside of the office it could take up to 3 hours including travel and meeting time. We then prepare a fee proposal, it could take up to 2 hours to have it ready and sent off. It is a lot of hours that we offer free of charge.

The initial meetings are often very informative and an eye opener particularly for young couples unaware of the complexity of the construction process. It is nearly a master class where at the end their brains hurt with so much information.

The young couple sent an email thanking for taking the time to meet with them. This simple gesture is very unusual and it was highly appreciated.

We have lost the count of how many times we have sent a fee proposal and never heard back from people. It hurts.

When did you stop thanking people?

If you ask someone to prepare a quotation for you at least acknowledge the time they spent taking care of you and say THANK YOU. Never mind if you have no intention of proceeding.

Follow the example of the young couple – It is nice to be nice, it is essential to be kind and grateful.

Here are a few sentences you can use. They are all free and quick to execute:

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us and prepare a fee proposal. We will review and get back to you ASAP.
Thank you for coming from so far in such a wet and miserable day. We have studied your fee proposal but we feel this is not the right time to proceed.
Thank you for your fee proposal but we have decided to appoint a different person.
Thank you for your quotation, we will ask for a pay rise and proceed as soon as we get it. 😀