Well, friends, we've hit another wall - but hopefully it is not going to be too much of one. Our subcontractors can't work on the core until our permit is pushed through, which has been our main holdup so far. We are working hard to get everything settled and fixed so that our permit can go through, we can start the big build on site and we can finish the core.
In between writing emails and budgeting and scheduling and other miscellaneous things, I've begun to analyze the situation of being a "free architect" (or unlicensed, architecturally-trained non-architect). Part of the project's concept is about bringing high design to a population that never sees it; this is eliminating an element of the labor cost. In the theoretical situation of only paying for the very materials your house is made of, and the concept of donated time. What a healthy economy, where you only pay for tangible goods rather than services...granted time = money. Who am I to say that my design work has a dollar value? I could price it by the hour, but what if my design is less "high" but slower in coming than the next architect?
I also wonder why I am involved in conversations that have statements such as, "I'd love to continue doing nonprofit, but obviously that couldn't work out. Maybe in the future once I make some money I could come back to it." Nonprofit work destroys your financial situation and drives you deep into debt, and genuinely all you want to do is get by.
Good ol' capitalism, eh? Thoughts in the midst of a construction hiatus.
03 January 2008
the wall
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1 comment:
Don't get too discouraged...the funding for most nonprofits comes partially from donors (who are capitalists of goodwill and conscience) willing to give support to the few who,like you, are willing to eschew the accumulation of material gain for a more humanitarian calling benefiting society as a whole.It is part of a whole...those capitalist donors are choosing to give out of no obligation other than the same humanitarian awareness of the needs of others that drives you to do your work. And more likely than not those capitalists see their work as a way to fund something they believe in...your work.Non-profits depend not only on your work "in the trenches" but also the success of those in the private sector who make the funds available. We are in this together...It is a matter of where we believe we can most effectively use our skills, talents and resourses to bring about good.
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