Z House is coming up to its third birthday in October (not including the part time period to start). We are pretty established now and are starting to get a reasonable amount of quality work. Additions are still the bread and butter but I have enough new or different projects to keep it interesting. It takes a while but some of the better projects are finally starting to filter through to completion. The shots above and below show one I did very early on. Its only just had the finishing touches put on and it went to auction. The client has actually engaged me to do their next home, my first repeat client (other than builders).
With most of my work being local I am developing a specialty in the local issues, being slope, bushfire and vegetation protection. There are a lot of local controls which actually means even the small jobs need quite a bit of documentation - good for me. Another project below shows one of the steeper sites I have worked on, the general fall was about 1:2.5, with the initial descent from the road being about 1:1.3. These sites are all about: 1) having the smallest possible footprint with as little ground disturbance as possible, 2) having an articulated profile that breaks up the outline, minimising the visual bulk and blending into the surrounds, and 3) minimising tree removal and damage, whether they are living or dead. Oh, and putting together a design that satisfies the client.
Software.... It is so hard to implement new things like drawing programs when you are a single person practice. The time needed to become proficient is difficult to find but the efficiencies it brings are a substantial improvement, not to mention the appeal to clients. I've finally started producing on a 3D program that I have had for a while and its going.... good.
Annemarie is slowly getting more involved in the office. Mainly admin still but the plan is for her to begin to step up to productivity when Jenna starts kinder. She does my energy ratings and hopefully will be getting the website going too, but its drawing production that I am aiming for. We'll wait and see where we end up. At the moment its just a very family friendly business that if its still going when they are all at school we might get a bit more serious about it.
Here is Ben flying high for a mark. Although he enjoys kicking the footy with me in the back yard he is not really getting into it at Auskick. Reckons its boring, which could just be a bit of Ben attitude. Could also be that his friend has been away the last couple of weeks. We will give it a go for a few more weeks to see if he gets into it. 
Z House is coming up to its third birthday in October (not including the part time period to start). We are pretty established now and are starting to get a reasonable amount of quality work. Additions are still the bread and butter but I have enough new or different projects to keep it interesting. It takes a while but some of the better projects are finally starting to filter through to completion. The shots above and below show one I did very early on. Its only just had the finishing touches put on and it went to auction. The client has actually engaged me to do their next home, my first repeat client (other than builders).
With most of my work being local I am developing a specialty in the local issues, being slope, bushfire and vegetation protection. There are a lot of local controls which actually means even the small jobs need quite a bit of documentation - good for me. Another project below shows one of the steeper sites I have worked on, the general fall was about 1:2.5, with the initial descent from the road being about 1:1.3. These sites are all about: 1) having the smallest possible footprint with as little ground disturbance as possible, 2) having an articulated profile that breaks up the outline, minimising the visual bulk and blending into the surrounds, and 3) minimising tree removal and damage, whether they are living or dead. Oh, and putting together a design that satisfies the client.
Software.... It is so hard to implement new things like drawing programs when you are a single person practice. The time needed to become proficient is difficult to find but the efficiencies it brings are a substantial improvement, not to mention the appeal to clients. I've finally started producing on a 3D program that I have had for a while and its going.... good.
Annemarie is slowly getting more involved in the office. Mainly admin still but the plan is for her to begin to step up to productivity when Jenna starts kinder. She does my energy ratings and hopefully will be getting the website going too, but its drawing production that I am aiming for. We'll wait and see where we end up. At the moment its just a very family friendly business that if its still going when they are all at school we might get a bit more serious about it.
