IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 22

Do you find clients more apt to embrace
open-plan layouts these days?
We’re seeing elements like more internal glass
walls—ones that aren’t on the window line. But
it really depends on the industry. In a law firm,
it’s great for cost overhead to double up associates’
offices, but if the best and the brightest that you’re
hoping to recruit don’t want to share an office,
then the firm won’t do it.
More brokers are muscling in on design
services like space planning. Do you think that,
in general, brokers are becoming more educated
about design?
The practice of holding firm on your price
but providing more services for that price is now
commonplace to all industries. Brokers work
on commission, and out of ignorance they often
try to force out anybody that gets in the path
of their client. They want no help. The brokerage
community is not particularly nice to the
architectural community.
But the big issue for designers isn’t brokers trying
to muscle in on their turf; it’s really about designers
not cannibalizing each other. And also that
designers are very undercompensated for
what they do; it’s unfair.
You seem to be an advocate for design.
Emphatically. I don’t want to overpay for design
services, but companies need to step it up!
We spend more time in the office than at home,
so make it nice. The architect/designer is a critical
team member. I tell clients that they cannot have
their residential architect—the one who designed
their Park Avenue apartment—do their office.
You need someone who’s worked in office buildings
before, who knows the vernacular. It would be nice
if they knew the actual building. I’m not saying
use my designer; just use a designer.
Do you find that an architect or designer is
already involved by the time clients hire you?
It’s probably 50/50. I prefer if the client has
a designer already. The industry is notorious for
kickbacks and I don’t take them; also, I don’t want
to be responsible for my recommendations.
If I make a recommendation, I always ask that
the client bring in someone else as a sample control,
to show them that the pricing isn’t 10 percent
higher and I’m keeping that 10 percent. Anyway,
you can have the most beautiful office space
in the world, but if you have a bad lease, it’s
not a good space.

22

What are the elements of a good lease?
Most people want lease flexibility, so the lease
should give you the opportunity to extend once or
twice. It should also give you the ability to sublease
to existing tenants in the building, because
they are the ones that likely want your space.
Is that easy to negotiate?
Yeah, but you have to pay for it. And then the lease
might stipulate that you have to use the landlord’s
agent to lease the space. You might be able to
negotiate that you use their agent for 90 days, then
use someone else if it’s not rented yet. Or maybe
you can secure the right to further sublet. If you
sign a 10-year lease and you have to sublease it after
a year, then you have a tenant in there for nine
years that’s not allowed to sublease it.
What no one seems to know or understand—and
I give this away in the book—is that, if you want
ultimate lease flexibility, you should lease space
in someone else’s growth path. A floor in a tenant’s
growth path is worth more money than one that’s
not; they’ll almost always ask to buy you out.
Also, something I always negotiate for—although
I don’t always get it—is a give back, meaning
that one time during the lease you can give back
X amount of space to the landlord for a fi xed fee.
Which is worthless unless you designed your
space in such a way that the piece you give back
wouldn’t impact the rest of your office. So have
your architect/designer make a plan: If you want
to shed space, this is how it might look.
Leases are so complicated!
You want complicated? Design contracts are
as complex as anything that a client could
ever hope to negotiate.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013

IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013
IIDA Post-It initiative
Contents
Contributors
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
IIDA News
Design Dialogue
The Showroom of the Future
Working It
Hire Resolution
Get Your Game On
Design Decoded
Behind the Design
Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA Post-It initiative
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 5
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA News
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Design Dialogue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 20
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - The Showroom of the Future
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 26
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Working It
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 34
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Hire Resolution
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 44
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Get Your Game On
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 50
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Design Decoded
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 54
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Behind the Design
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover4
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