In the bag…

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Singapore 20^th September 2011

Let me get a cat out of the bag….you never have a project in your “bag” until it is signed, sealed and delivered…It has happened to me many times over the years that I have very positive talking potential clients, developers, project managers, architects and so on telling you the project is “in the bag” leaving an impression they are in control and everything is hunky dory, not to worry, you are the man. Then the communication gets gradually less and whilst at first they were the ones talking to you, going after you, you notice it gradually changes to you chasing them for news, to the extend that suddenly there is no news, no communication anymore, they don’t respond to your calls and when you finally get to them the project is gone…

Sounds familiar? We lost another project more or less this way today, though there was no obvious mal intent form the client…but you could just feel it coming. From the initial hyped up discussions telling us we were “in”, it had slowly gone quiet over the last few weeks and when I eventually got to talk to the PM to be, he confirmed that the client had changed his mind and the project team (of which we were part) was no longer the prefered choice…

But even when you have signed a contract, it is not a guaranty you are on the job. A few years ago we had successfully negotiated a new project all the way to receiving the signed contract and all. But as we were pushing for our appointment fees, things got delayed and that’s when we started to get worried…It’s a long story (which can be told over a glass of beer…) but in the end let’s say the client had a change of heart and decided to remove us from the project. They felt bad however and offered us a replacement project, but it was not of the same caliber as the original one. We could have fought it legally but did not really see the point as there was nothing to win other then maybe some financial compensation.

So there again until you have money in the bank the project is still not secure in the bag….!

In Light Watch today a recently completed project in Australia, the redevelopment of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. I could not find who the lighting designer is but I must say that contrary to many LED projects this one looks to have purpose and thought. It does not fee like an add on design rather a well harmonised addition to give this centre a new modern look. Well done!