The following article comes from Qingpei first-class registered architect, author: Yu Yue
I remember that when I just graduated more than ten years ago, I went to a "design office" in a small county town in the mountains (in the past, there was a design office in the county-level area, most of which were C-level qualifications), and I went there mainly to interview for jobs, because the school background was not good, I didn't know anything at that time, I just wanted to see more.
After I went, I found that although it was a design office that was too small to be small, and the ability was so low that it could not be lower, the designers in it lived a very nourishing life, because the market was relatively closed at that time, and the system was also more public-owned, so they belonged to a category of people with relatively good social status and income in that small mountainous county.
But then I didn't go to work there, although the pay was pretty good. But I still went to a private Grade B design institute in a third- and fourth-tier city.
At that time, developers were also small developers, and there were not many companies that could be called real developers, and they were all locals doing local affairs, so the Grade B courtyard with dozens of people like us was living well in small cities, half of the industrial and public construction business, half of the residential business, and it was quite full of the market. I just graduated, and I actually got more than 5,000 yuan in a monthly salary + commission, and I am already very happy. My master was about 1-20,000 yuan/month at that time.
In that era, developers have shown signs of transforming from development enterprises to capital enterprises, and some development projects have been done by developers from other places. However, at that time, there was no such company as the current TOP10, that is, Vanke, and at that time, it was just beginning to prepare to launch the "100 billion plan". (Popularize the history of real estate: At the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Vanke's establishment (2004), Yu Liang officially proposed to achieve 100 billion yuan in 10 years.) This "100 billion" refers to annual sales, and Vanke was less than 10 billion at that time. ）
But sooner or later something unfortunate will come.
With the rapid development during that period, developers began to frequently carry out large-scale activities in different places, and many developers paid more attention to "effect" in the early stage (in fact, there was no concept of quality management at that time, just good and bad things), that is, those developers who seemed to should take the technical quality route, tasted the sweetness of capital accumulation at that time, and vigorously marched into the capital route.
Then the planning industry emerged, and some logic that you didn't seem to understand was pushed out, such as:
To have a good façade, a good landscape, a good advertisement, a good concept, a good design unit, with first-class advertising, to make second-rate products, sell to third-rate people;
Yes, many planning companies have proposed that the design unit should find a big name, which seems to be of high grade.
For a time, the business of large design units in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen went up all at once, and design units were also blooming all over the place.
For example, in Shanghai's large and small design units and design companies, the name starts with the word "Tong", as if they are cousins of the Design Institute of Tongji University.
Needless to say, the design units in Beijing do not have the word "Zhong" but the word "Hua", etc., which at first glance is the domineering spirit of dominating the country or the half-brother of Tsinghua University. The design units of the rest of the cities were dumbfounded, and the cakes at their doorsteps were spread out into multigrain pancakes eaten nationwide!
Then came the price war.
The design units in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, because of their relatively loud names, are not bad, and they can be slaughtered with a knife. However, the local design unit, in addition to reducing the price, what other way can it do? The renderings can't do Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the text can't be lined up in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen (some hospitals don't have the ability to arrange the text themselves, and many have to ask for foreign aid), and only by reducing the price can there be a way out.
So at that time, private work became the new economic method for designers. Whether it's Shanghai (I haven't been in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and don't know much about it), or Xiaodi City, which designer who has mixed up with the rivers and lakes is not doing private work? I remember that at that time, one month, when the money for the smuggled goods was settled, I directly paid a down payment for an apartment!
I later calculated, desperately drawing, about 2,000 a day, 60,000 a month! But it is really hard, during that time, I was at home, and I didn't go to work, and I did private work professionally!
Later, the people in the design units I knew were all mixed up like this, and some of them, in the process of doing private work, opened a design institute by the way, just like cell division, and the design institutes on our side sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and there were many, many more. For some design institutes that do not have the strength to open a design institute, they will be affiliated with the Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen Design Institutes and get a branch. As a result, the streets are full of design institutes.
In essence, during that time, the design units needed so much, because there were more developers, and the amount of construction was also very large, so everyone had food, whether they ate meat or drank soup, they could have meat and oil.
But when the forest was big, all the birds flew out.
Many design units have no foundation, don't talk about technical background, even talking about the word "technology" with them is swearing! So a very bad phenomenon has been created, that is, the pursuit of technology is getting lower and lower. Strange to say, this did not delay them from making money. Anyway, in order to make money, what to train new people, what to step by step, what to talk about seniority, everything is fake, Nima is a person can draw high-level, any designer must give me a big public building. So at that time, people who had just entered the (non-brand) design unit made "fast" progress, and most of the technologies were not solid, burying a big thunder for themselves!
At this time, it is a dividing line, because of the large amount of development, the number of design units suddenly increased, many people's thunder exploded, the level of designers on the market is uneven, and the market and living environment of the design institute are very chaotic. The nightmare snoring is about to sound!
From four trillion in 2008 to destocking in 2016, this market has more or less prospered. As a result, the developer was capitalized, the design unit was capitalized, and even the commissary downstairs of my house was capitalized and baptized into a chain store.
However, the good times did not last long, and the excessive capitalization of developers entered the stage of reshuffle, and in the second-tier and eighth-tier cities where I was concerned, local developers were forced to have no land to take within their means. I guess this is especially the case in most second-tier cities.
The problem finally emerged, the general design units of the general prefecture and city, simply cannot reach the real estate in the TOP50 (the old compound of the general prefecture and city, the construction drawings can also be painted), and it is not possible to rely on local developers, and the industrial construction is not so large, and the construction of public utilities is also the main courtyard.
I remember last year, a middle-level manager of a large domestic design unit came to visit me. After a brief chat, I asked her: Is it difficult for your boss to be for you again? Why are you sighing so much? She said: Brother, our family leader has given me a task for next year, a business volume of 80 million!
Well, it's impossible to talk about this day, we are seriously inconsistent in the calculation unit of business volume!
This is the status quo, which is already seriously polarized!
The future direction of the design institute industry, I think it is likely to be the same as the fate of the real estate development industry:
Those who can enter the TOP live, and the others are ready to clean up the bed, die on the spot, or die and go home!
In this case, the way out? To be honest, everyone is confused!
Some time ago, I chatted with the director of a state-owned enterprise compound and exchanged ideas, and the two of us came to the conclusion that it may be necessary to develop in the direction of general contracting, and the possibility of general contracting of the project of the design unit and the construction unit will be particularly large. From a political point of view, it is still hoped that the large unit will preside over the project as a whole; unified design, construction, cost, and monitoring of all openings, so that the "problem" of the project will be rubbed on the ground, and there will be some problems in the past, looking for design, design and construction problems, looking for construction, and construction will be a design problem, or some problems will not be clear at all in cost, design, and construction;
After all, it is necessary to solve the dilemma of having the idea of beating people, but there is no one to fight.
It occurred to me that this might really be the way to go in the future.
So, what about other design institutes?
Those who can enter the ranks of "little elites" can live, and those who can't enter the "small elites" will decide when to close the door!
Many people will think that we have one or two hundred people in a design unit, how can we be "small and sophisticated"?
In fact, this is all a fake!
When the market gradually empties, layoffs and disguised layoffs will be common, and the last thing that will be left is desks, computers, printers and competent people. Naturally, it was called "little elite". Those who have no business source and no technical ability, no one will support. The surplus grain of the landlord's family will not be divided for long.
It can probably be said that the way out for most design units is to become "small and sophisticated", and a small number of design units will become "big general contractors", maybe now the number of our design institutes is relatively large, and a process is needed to evolve, but with the baptism of the market and economy, I think we will have to take that road after all.
For the old bird of the design institute, no matter what, if you buy a house, buy a car, have a wife, have children, have a deposit, and have a registration, you can live this life after all, no matter how the market environment changes, it should not affect your life.
For newcomers to the design institute, as well as those students who were still popular majors in architecture and civil engineering when they filled in the volunteers, this road will be much more difficult to walk in the future!
I hope you all get through this time smoothly!