August 2003

If you received this email and would like to be added or removed from the list, please send a message to us at news list.  If you have received more than one copy also let us know and we will correct that as well.

If you would like additional information about FSF Architects please contact us by email or call, 770-729-8433 or 1-800-463-3732.

If you have not yet visited our website, please do so.  It contains information on the firm as well as selected projects.  Also on the site is a collection of church design articles meant to assist the church committee in the planning and design process.

"Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittist in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
     - Deuteronomy
           6:7

How many of us expect someone else to be in charge of all of the teaching of our children?  Educating a child is a full time job.  While schools have the resources to provide advanced learning, the parents must provide daily reinforcement and supplement.  Teaching moments can be found at all times and in many situations.  Share the responsibility of teaching your child.

Previous issues of our  newsletters are available on the web site

Peachtree City, Georgia

This addition to the existing facilities was completed as a design-build project with Lusk and Associates of Alpharetta.  The entire project, including site improvements was completed for a price of $85 per square foot.

Visit other church projects on our website.

Selecting an Architect solely because their design fee is lower could be a very expensive decision.   The typical architectural firm bases their design fee on the amount of time and effort they expect to expend completing the services necessary for the project. Typically, Architects do not sell a “product;” they are selling their time and expertise, or their professional services.

There is a misconception among some clients that significant differences between the fees of different architects for the same project are due to differences in profit margin. There may be minor differences in profit between different architects, but profit is usually only a small part of most firm’s fees.

When clients shop around for the lowest fee, they do not realize that they are looking for the architect who is doing one or more of the following: 
1. Completing the work in less time (providing less or fewer
     services). 
2. Paying employees and consultants less (lower quality help). 
3. Working with less overhead and/or profit. 

A professional office’s largest single cost is personnel. Any significant reduction in fee will only come from using fewer personnel hours, paying employees less or using less expensive engineering consultants.  How much might these kinds of “savings” really cost over time? Seldom does an unhappy Owner make the connection between the fee and the quality of service they received. When people seek out the lowest fee, they should expect a lower level service. 

While a higher fee is no guarantee of better service, selecting an architect based on low fee is one way to assure more problems during construction and higher cost over-runs due to change orders, resulting from the level of services. It can also result in a building that is not only more expensive to build, but more expensive to maintain. Thus, a low design fee may not be a savings at all. 

When comparing similar qualities of service between qualified architects, actual fee variation is negligible.  Selection of the architect based on reputation and experience is far more cost effective in the long run than selection based on fee.

To read more articles visit the design resources on the FSFarchitects.com website.

Buford, Georgia

The basement houses additional classrooms and a 500 person fellowship hall with a commercial kitchen.  The $3,000,000 facility should begin construction this Winter. 

While founded by Bob Foreman in 1985, our current name of Foreman Seeley Fountain turned 11 years old this week.  Happy Birthday to us !!!

FSF has begun working with Sagrada Familia Lutheran Church in Doraville for renovations and fire damage repair.

We welcome our newest intern, Teri Telega, to the FSF family.  Teri is a recent graduate from Southern Polytechnic and originally from Macon.   

Foreman · Seeley · Fountain    Architects
5855 Jimmy Carter Boulevard      Suite 218      Norcross, Georgia  30071
(770) 729-8433      fax (770) 729-8466     1-800-463-3732