Total Quality Project Management for the Design Firm: How to Improve Quality, Increase Sales, and Reduce Costs

Staying Small Successfully A Guide for Architects, Engineers, and Design Professionals Frank A. Stasiowski Today’s design professional with entrepreneurial ambitions often has in mind a small firm. Written by a veteran architect and consultant, here is a clear, detailed road map to setting up a small business or guiding an existing one to success. Using miniprofiles of several small successful design firms, the author pinpoints exactly what’s made them flourish. In a step–by–step format, he describes the six elements of the strategic planning process, tips on doubling average profit levels, building a loyal clientele, making your company a magnet for top talent, as well as measuring the financial health of your firm. This all–in–one seminar includes numerous checklists and flowcharts, a list of design firm management consultants, a typical marketing plan, and a survey of typical marketing costs. 1991 (0–471–50652–4) 297 pp. Value Pricing for the Design Firm Frank A. Stasiowski Essential to the design firm negotiating tough economic times, here is a handbook to garnering the most effective price for your services. Making the traditional cost–per–hour approach obsolete, the book teaches you how to price services based on their value to your client. Full of tactics that can be applied immediately, the book outlines the different methods of value pricing, ways to create value, a format for charging minimum fees, and a formula for price contracts. Other practical pricing tips include mini–scoping your services, charging for reimbursables, pricing change orders, as well as advice on negotiating a better contract. Complete with sample forms and lists, the book is a practical, easy–to–implement recession survival kit for the design firm. 1993 (0–471–57933–5) 240 pp. Cash Management for the Design Firm Frank A. Stasiowski While excellence in design and engineering may generate clients, monitoring and planning the movement of cash is central to a company’s survival. This practical guide outlines a det!ailed cash management plan that makes continued financial health possible even during lean economic times. Using a clear, easy–to–implement approach, the book describes: cash management techniques, project budgeting, profitable project pricing structures, controlling project and overhead costs, getting paid, and planning and monitoring performance. The book also includes valuable advice on negotiating a contract, the most profitable contract types, the purchasing process, acquiring capital equipment, and internal financial controls. Numerous checklists and exercises as well as sample reports and financial documents are included. 1993 (0–471–59711–2) 324 pp.

A Commitment to TQPM Is a Marketing Issue. The Design Firm as Fishing Village. Changing the Way We Think About Quality. Improving the Quality of Design Projects. Improving the Quality of Studies and Reports. Improving the Quality of Construction Services. Improving Management, Administration, and Marketing. Keeping Your Clients Happy. Eliminating Quality Problems––Permanently. Implementing TQPM in Your Organization. Appendices. Index.

About the Authors FRANK A. STASIOWSKI, AIA, is President of Practice Management Associates, Ltd., a consulting firm to some of the leading design firms in the country. In his twenty years of practice, Mr. Stasiowski has advised over 40,000 architects, engineers, landscape architects, and interior designers on a variety of management problems. His newsletters, Professional Services Management Journal, A/E Marketing Journal, and Project Management, are read throughout the industry. He is also the author of Staying Small Successfully, Value Pricing for the Design Firm, and Cash Management for the Design Firm. DAVID BURSTEIN, PE, is Vice President and Southeast Operations Manager of Engineering–Science, Inc., a subsidiary of The Parsons Corp. During his twenty–year career, he has managed a wide variety of projects, ranging from small studies to multimillion dollar design construction projects. Mr. Burstein serves on the advisory board of Project Management, a monthly newsletter for architects and engineers, and has published widely on the subject of project management. He has presented over one hundred project management seminars throughout the United States and Canada.