ArCH is the international organization of Licensed Architects focused on residential architecture, professional excellence, member assistance, friendship & success, client value & service.
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A quick note to let everyone know that Rand Soellner and Craig Isaac were interviewed by our newest ArCH member Enoch Sears last Friday night for a future Business of Architecture webcast – will let you know when it goes live!
Most Architects have been using 6 mil polyethylene for their subslab and crawlspace vapor barrier since the mid 20th Century. For at least one of ArCH’s members, this just changed. See the related article here:
http://www.homearchitects.com/10-mil-vapor-barrier
Any Architect designing homes needs to read this as soon as possible. Time to upgrade your specifications.
If you have been in other organizations and feel that your voice is not being heard, JOIN ArCH. ArCH listens to its membership. Click here to join ArCH now: Join ArCH
Be part of an architectural professional organization that is at the forefront of residential architecture: issues facing residential Architects and how to deal with them, how to improve your practice, technology advances, CEUs, the CRAfts program (Certified Residential Architect focus team system), ArCH DES (ArCH Design Excellence Selection) awards program, focus groups and more.
Be part of the vanguard in residential architecture. Join ArCH.
ArCH is now on Houzz here:
http://www.houzz.com/pro/archadmin/arch-architects-creating-homes
Drop by and see. Join ArCH (if you are a licensed Architect in the USA & have a constructive attitude toward residential architecture) and have your work featured not only on the ArCH website, but on ArCH’s Houzz page!
Click here to join now:
https://www.archomes.org/membership
Our fearless leader was interviewed the other day by Mark LePage and went live this morning.
Good PR for our organization – pass the link around and spread the word!
Click here:
ArCH Interview on Entrepreneur Architect
Our friend and fellow Architect, Mark LePage, has asked ArCH to be interviewed for the next upcoming podcast this next Tuesday 5/27/2014 at 2PM EDT. This offer was extended to ArCH after Mark saw the reasons for Architects Creating Homes. Believing ArCH has merit, he decided to give ArCH members the ability to reach Entrepreneur Architects’ 8,000 person audience.
So stay tuned. ArCH will be explaining the Advantages of Being an ArCH Member. We will return to the ArCH Blog after the podcast to report on the topics discussed. ArCH welcomes the opportunity to spread the word of why ArCH exists, its purpose and why any residential licensed Architect might wish to consider joining. Any other media is welcome; please let ArCH members know if any other social media outlet might be interested in spreading the word.
Hello ArCH members, My wife and I just bought her an Asus i7 Intel desktop computer from BestBuy for around $840. This tower also has an Nvidia 2GB graphics card and a 1TB HDD, keyboard and mouse. However, there was something else that caught our attention and which we bought before leaving the store.
BestBuy has very smart young people performing computer repairs and diagnoses in the store and also 24/7 online and by phone. The typical yearly great deal = $200 for this support. However, we were offered this for the amazing price of only $99. And before you faint from that great deal, guess what? That’s for support and diagnostics on up to 3 computer devices, even if you didn’t buy them from BestBuy!
Geek Squad is what BestBuy calls their computer support staff. And you can call the techs in the store where you bought the equipment, or dial their 1-800 number, or go online. They will also remote operate/diagnose your computer as part of this service. Every time I have had this happen from other providers, they solved the problem, whatever it was, so this is great quality service.
If any of you has ever had a computer with problems, having a support team like this could cost thousands, or certainly hundreds of dollars, if you can find them quickly. But to have this expertise 24/7 and for up to 3 computers (or iPads, etc.) for this nominal charge is unheard of. So now my wife and I have our own computer support staff from a major company for around a hundred bucks a year. You, of course, must pay for any hardware needed to fix problems (unless you are under a BestBuy warranty), but the main fact of having all these smart whiz kids to analyze the problem and find a solution! That’s the big deal here. Knowing what to do in a crisis is the real benefit. And taking your machine directly to your closest BestBuy Geek Squad is comforting: knowing that they are there when you need them.
Most residential Architects are either sole practitioners or small group practices, with limited budgets. Having resources like this help keep us all up and running and hopefully not having to spend an arm and a leg for the privilege. Hats off to BestBuy and their Geek Squad!
Please click on: New 2015 Residential Codes
to see the new ArCH website Residential Codes page. This new page, on the main ArCH website, is intended to help ArCH members understand what the latest incoming codes are that affect our residential architectural practices. Just one more bonus of being an ArCH member.
ArCH: Architects Creating Homes is on-track and accomplishing goals during the first quarter of 2014. the ArCH website menu is growing, reflecting this. For instance, there is now a crystal clear ArCH Mission Statement, on a very short webpage here:
just click on the above to see the ArCH Mission Statement. The reason the ArCH Executive Committee felt that the Mission Statement deserved its own page on the ArCH website is that it appears to us that many larger organizations seem to have lost their mission statement in the complexity of their evolution. We wanted ArCH’s mission to remain clear and obvious now, and through the future, hence its own simple page.
Also, your ArCH Executive Committee has reached a major milestone: the establishment of the CERTIFIED RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECT sm focus team system (CRAft).
This does not exist anywhere else on the planet. ArCH owns and operates this program. However, much work remains to be accomplished to get this program running and offering educational modules to candidates wishing to obtain their certification. Please contact Rand Soellner (Rand@HomeArchitects.com) if you’d like to be in charge of several modules. The hope is that:
1. The Certified Residential Architect focus team system will become the gold standard for all licensed Architects proving their worthiness to design homes.
2. That all unlicensed “designers” will be viewed as something other than a licensed Architect, because they can never obtain the status of a “Certified Residential Architect” until they too become a real, licensed Architect. This is something that has been eroding the practice of residential architecture for decades and this program seeks to further point out the differences between “the real McCoy” and posers. George Costanza: find another profession in which to be a fake, because, you’ll never obtain this certification.
3. That the educational modules offered in this program will provide useful knowledge that help all practicing Architects to better design, detail and specify residential architecture.
4. Craig Isaac, ArCH has contacted Cox Lumber, residential elevator manufacturers and others, and is being successful in finding material and system vendors who are also willing to provide learning modules for the ArCH CRA focus team system (ArCH CRAft) .
Well, that’s probably enough updating for now. More in the coming days and weeks. Feel free to comment on this and other posts, ArCH members.
Craig Isaac, ArCH, Rand Soellner, ArCH and others are meeting virtually on Skype every Wednesday to refine the ArCH Mission Statement, logo, Bylaws and more. Rand is developing a Certified Residential Architect program and creating ArCH public information videos. Craig is checking with Ron Blank and other about possible CEU credit for ArCH courses. YOUR participation is welcome on all of these committees and focus areas. Just let Rand know (Rand@HomeArchitects.com) what you might want to work on with others. Have a great spring!
