Leland writes:

>>it is standard to set a SF
rate <<
>>but even in the education that is available I don't
remember seeing anything on production.  <<

In my Business Side workshop (that I have given twice for The Preservation
Institute in Vermont, and also out in Colorado and S. Dakota) I do a strong
section on tracking production time and costs, how to analyze those numbers
into real
information that can be used to manage time and work up effective estimates
and proposals. If an tradesperson or contractor can't do business
well it makes it awfully hard to bring them into a project.

I recall talking with some students from Belmont Technical College, and they
were getting at lease a few of the business basics in that program. One of
my interns who was in the Bennet Street program for two years said there was
at least a little talk about business practice in that program, but she was
finding that much of it seemed "backwards and unuseful" based on her
previous 15 yrs of small business experience in another field. In my own
experience over the decades I find that school and books on business
practice can get you moving in the right direction, but the refinements have
to come from experience, which, I suppose, is why we have experience
requirements in our RFPs.

John

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