best practices
Billable Ratio: Architect's Little Helper
Watching your billable ratio can help keep your firm afloat, according to Douglas Robertson, AIA. Every business has one or two "essential metrics" that a company has to get right just to stay in business. Many additional measures will be particular to your firm or market. But in the architecture trade, one figure you have to get right is the billable ratio. Every firm that has managed to stay profitable and, hence, stay in business, has an innate understanding of this measure. Tally up your direct labor costs and divide the sum by your total labor cost. If your sum is more than .65, your firm should be okay.

Architect’s Business Promotes Use of Reclaimed Building Materials
Community Forklift, a clearinghouse for reclaimed and salvaged materials near Washington, D.C., operated from a 40,000-square-foot warehouse by founder James Schulman, AIA, redirects materials bound for disposal to people who need low-cost building products. Community Forklift is also dedicated to promoting community-based sustainability initiatives and developing training, jobs, and career opportunities for low-income residents. One of the store’s main services for architects is that they can donate to get their clients a fair-market tax deduction, help them meet LEED™ standards, and be a part of a green building project.

Update on Condominium Liability Laws: Which States Are “Safest” for Your Next Project?
Which states are the safest in which to do condominium projects? Alaska, Florida, Georgia, and Indiana, according to architect-lawyer G. William Quatman, FAIA, Esq., Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, P.C. The much-longer list of riskier states is depicted in his “At-a-Glance Matrix of 50 State Condo Liability Laws,” which is part of the AIA Trust’s report on Risk Management Ideas for Condominium Projects. To build this matrix, Quatman examined right-to-cure laws, how laws specifically address condos and protect architects, and state-specific joint liability.