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Long tenure: Kerry Haber President of Bernardon (Hot Firm #39 for 2018), an 80-person architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture firm based in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“K eeping everyone focused on the big picture when we are working hard to meet short-term project dead- lines,” says Haber, referring to his number one role at the firm. A CONVERSATION WITH KERRY HABER. The Zweig Letter: With technology reducing the time it takes to complete design work, how do you get the AEC industry to start pricing on value instead of hours? Kerry Haber: This is a topic that we’ve struggled with for many years. Finding knowledgeable clients who appreciate and understand the value that we as architects and design- ers bring to the design and construction process is the key. One could say it’s a matter of “educating” those clients who have not had experience working with an architect by mak- ing them aware of what we do. We find that with repeat cli- ents it’s an easier “sell” because they’ve observed the value that we bring to their projects. When the project scope is well defined, we prefer to work on a fixed-fee basis, which
takes hours out of the equation. However, when the project is not well defined, we find that hourly invoicing is still the most equitable arrangement. “Technology has increased productivity significantly over the past 10 years, but it can only take you so far. It’s the creative talent of the design staff that makes a firm successful.” TZL: If the worker shortage continues, do you see wag- es increasing to encourage more talent to enter the AEC space, or will technology be used to counter the reduced work force? KH: I already see wages increasing because of the shortage of experienced architects. Technology has increased pro- ductivity significantly over the past 10 years, but it can only
THE ZWEIG LETTER Mar
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