John,
The good-cheap-fast triangle reminds me of one I often use with clients
during planning:  dollars-size-finish.  You can pick any two, and the third
can be quantified, but you cannot pick all three.  The current climate seems
to be that we in the industry, desperate for work, tend to be hesitant to
make this clear to our clients.  A typical expectation is the client will
pick the size and finish and we estimate the dollars, however, the clients
expectation is that the dollars will be thirty percent to half what we
estimate.  Where is it written: 1) There is a reverse proportion to cost and
number of bidders, i.e. the more bidders the lower the cost, and 2) The best
quality can be had for the lowest price.  Here is another adage or rule over
the long term that I do believe in:  In a given geographic area, a given
quantity, with a given quality, has a given cost.
Yesterday, I went to yet another walk thru with over fifteen bidders
attending.  Dang, this is getting tiring.  When will we pay for all this
wasted human energy and time?
PS  A recent project just selected an architect, from 96 RFPs.  How much
design potential and trained professional time was wasted for the 95 firms
that were not selected?  I'd like door number one please: Hiding Inflation,
Crouching Depression.
On a lighter note:  67 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, December 3rd,
Connecticut, Northeast, 2009.
Best,
Leland

-----Original Message-----
From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Leeke
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 11:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BP] Our Incredibly Precious Trades Heritage

Ken writes:
> One of the themes that is slowly evolving least ways w/in PTN, ...
> there was an evident 300 year history of building 
> technology that survived Katrina, ...lost during 200 years of 
> industrialization in a 'use and throw away economics' and that there is 
> something more than a symbolic act when you have someone that actually 
> knows how to repair a slate roof, or a house trailer, or to repair and 
> maintain existing wood windows, or to fix the bullet holes in their 
> stone wall, or to take the existing building and make it more energy 
> efficient without causing it to rot away faster.

Leland quotes:
> "We say we want a renewal of character in our day but we do not really
know
> what to ask for.  To have a renewal of character is to have a renewal of a
> creedal order that constrains, limits, binds, obligates and compels.  This
> price is too high for us to pay.  We want character without conviction;
we
> want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt and shame;
> we want virtue but without the particular moral justifications that
> invariably offend;  we want good without evil;  we want moral community
> without any limitations to personal freedom.  In short, we want what we
> cannot possibly have on the terms that we want it."
> James Hunter, The Death of Character

Ken recently sent me (thanks!) a copy of McKibben's "Deep Economy." My 
"take away" from it is his mention of the old saying, "Good, Fast, 
Cheap. You can have any two at once, but not all three at once." Even if 
you have not heard this before you will understand it. You can have 
something Good and Fast, but it will not be Cheap. You can have it Good 
and Cheap, but it will not be Fast, etc.

OK, draw a triangle on your paper. Label the corners, lower left is 
"FAST," lower right is "CHEAP," up top is "GOOD." On the line between 
FAST and CHEAP write "things." On the line between CHEAP and GOOD write 
"relationships." Now, what's the opposite of Good? Bad. So write "bad" 
opposite from GOOD on your triangle, put it down below your triangle. 
What's the opposite of FAST? Slow. So, write "slow" opposite from FAST 
out past the relationships line in the upper right. What's the opposite 
of CHEAP? Expensive, so, you know where to put that, way over in the 
upper left.

Now, it's easy to see, the vinyl pirates and greedy corporateers operate 
along the bottom line providing Fast Things Cheap. It is the consumer 
economy where they grind up the earth into poison wallboard, disposable 
diapers, MacBurgers edible but not healthy, and plastic windows--all 
things with short lives, but cheap and fast, so the corporateers get the 
most money as fast as possible for the least effort. Everything in Fast 
Things Cheap land is related to things. People are not important here, 
in fact people are squashed down and eliminated to keep the production 
of things very efficient and, most of all, dollar profitable. Lay off 
1500 workers at the Kleenex factory? No problem. Kill our sons and 
daughters and thousands of people in far away places so there is cheap 
oil to make plastic windows? Yes sir. Put millions of people out of 
their homes with toxic home loans, and walk away with not only their 
money, but the future value of the house? Sure, we'll do that, laughing 
all the way to the bank. They think: I've got mine, now I'll take yours, 
too bad for you.

Around the corner of your triangle is the Cheap Relationships Good 
realm. Of course, many of us are already here. This is where the PTNers 
operate. A local tradesperson helps their neighbor by fixing their old 
windows. It doesn't cost much (CHEAP), she has to Slow down at the end 
of the work day and have a conversation with the homeowner about how the 
work is going (relationship) We think: that's a good piece of work, are 
you satisfied, do you need anything else?

Of course, the big trick is to get more people from FastThingsCheap land 
around the corner to the CheapRelationshipsGood realm. This is not easy 
because the corporateers have the way around the corner clogged up with 
half a century of marketing myths, lies and brainwashing. Some of us 
have found the way. What is your way?

Last year I thought we had found someone in Washington to help us around 
the corner, but now I'm beginning to wonder. I think once they get to 
Washington they are stuck on the FastThingsCheap flypaper. We might as 
well forget about federal tax credits that support caring for out fine 
old homes. The FastThingsCheap crowd will grind our homes up too, if we 
let them.

It looks to me like we'd better stick together over here in the 
CheapRelationshipsGood realm and help each other out. Got a neighbor 
without a job and a family to keep warm this winter? Show them the way 
around the corner of the triangle. Stop over and help them fix up their 
old windows. It's CHEAP. It will SLOW you down, RELATIONSHIPS take time, 
but it's GOOD.

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