01
Wedge-tung
A while ago, Ruan Jingtian's "Removing Three Evils Around the World" caused a very big response in Chinese mainland. Compared with many domestic movies, the subject matter of this movie is heavier and more thought-provoking.
This reminds me of the shortcomings of the design industry in which I live, do I also need some such deep thought, and do I also need "determination to eliminate harm"?
Around, the word is hidden, and the righteous Xingyang envy people are also. Father bream, Wu Poyang is too shou. The place is less lonely, not weak crown, brawn and unbeatable, good galloping field hunting, not cultivating meticulously, indulging in wanton desires, and the state is in trouble. Knowing that people are evil, he has the ambition to change, and his father said: "Now and the year is abundant, why suffer and not be happy?" The father sighed and said: "The three evils have not been eliminated, why be happy!" He said, "If this is a problem, I can get rid of it." The father said: "If the son gets rid of it, then the great celebration of a county will not be harmed in vain." "The place is to go into the mountain to shoot the beast, because of the water to fight Jiao, Jiao or sink or float, travel dozens of miles, and everywhere with it, after three days and three nights, people say death, all celebrate. Killing Jiao and reversing, hearing the celebration of the township, I knew that people were suffering from themselves, and they entered Wu to find two lands. When the time was not there, when he saw the clouds, he told him with affection, saying: "If you want to self-cultivate, you have already lost your years, and I am afraid that you will not be able to do it." Yun said: "The ancients have heard that the dynasty has changed, and the future of the king is acceptable, and if the will is not established, why worry about the lack of fame!"
"Removing the Three Evils in the Week" is from "The Book of Jin: The Biography of the Zhou" and "The World Speaks New Words"
In today's article, Liangzi talks about the "three evils" of the design industry from the dual perspectives of practitioners in an industry and self-media people.
As for whether the "scourge" can be eliminated and where is the "surrounding area"?
The chairman of the board of directors of the Central South Architectural Design Institute once said amazingly: the architectural design institute will only have a way out by free design in the future, and they want to build a Didi taxi in the architectural design industry...
02
The first evil: free design
In the design industry, there are often "rude" requirements such as "you come up with a plan to see" from the owner, in fact, every designer is disgusted in his heart, and he may greet his eighteenth generation ancestors in his heart for the first time.
But "the situation is pressing", if you don't do it, there will always be people "kneeling and licking". Many people will also comfort themselves that "it is better to earn money on your knees than to starve to death", so there will always be someone to do in the end.
This phenomenon of "bad money driving out good money" is becoming more and more intense in the design industry, so the chairman of the board of directors of Zhongnan Architectural Design Institute said amazingly: only free design will have a way out in the future.
It has to be said that the existence of this phenomenon is either "disease" or "harm"!
Feng Yuan, deputy to the National People's Congress and chief engineer of China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd
At the two sessions a while ago, Feng Yuan, a representative of the National People's Congress, a national engineering survey and design master, and chief engineer of China Southwest Architecture Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., once again appealed: strengthen the guidance on the billing of architectural design services, improve the level of rate rationalization, and ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the construction industry.
In the proposal, she pointed out that "the vicious competition in the design industry is more serious. ”
Reasonable charging standards play an important role in maintaining the fairness of market competition and the rationality of service quality.
For a long time, the design fee has been maintained for more than 20 years, and even continued to be discounted under the original standard price, resulting in a relatively low income in the industry.
Under the pressure of low "market price", architectural design enterprises can only seek profits through volume growth. Too much design and less design time can easily cause the design quality to deteriorate, and even leave potential safety hazards or cause major accidents. In order to grab limited projects, some companies do not hesitate to win bids at low prices, resulting in fierce competition in the industry and the formation of an "involution" phenomenon.
"Winning the bid at a low price, vicious competition" is the first harm of the design industry, and "free design" is the "harm" that designers hate the most.
03
The second evil: unfair competition
According to people familiar with the matter, on September 28, 2023, a number of waterproof companies proposed that the "General Code for Waterproofing of Construction and Municipal Engineering" is suspected of violating the "Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China" and other laws and regulations, and is suspected of setting obviously unnecessary or beyond the actual need for access conditions in the waterproof practice of the general waterproof specification, excluding and restricting operators from participating in market competition fairly.
As early as September 2021, fifteen waterproof companies jointly reported to the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation that the general waterproof specifications being prepared were suspected of excluding and restricting operators' fair participation in competition. (as shown below)
In the design industry, it is not new to exclude and squeeze competitors by setting "thresholds", and setting "thresholds" into specifications has to be said to be "really unique". The consequences of such an approach are very serious.
There is a phenomenon in the plant kingdom that when there is only one tree species in a forest, it will cause instability in the ecosystem, lead to the intensification of pests and diseases, reduce the level of biodiversity, and gradually reduce or even extinct the animals and insects in the forest; it will also lead to the reduction of soil and water conservation capacity, and the problems of land barrenness and desertification.
Even if there is a monopoly in the design industry, there will not be a phenomenon where only one company dominates. However, there will be a phenomenon of one type of enterprise dominance, that is, state-owned enterprises. Is there a "climate of instability" in the plant kingdom? I think the answer is obvious.
When there is no "competition" in the design industry, no one will engage in scientific research anymore, and technology will not progress.
When the design industry lacks "biodiversity", there will be no scene where a hundred schools of thought compete and a hundred flowers bloom.
In August 2023, the Ministry of Finance issued the Notice on Strengthening the Implementation of Fiscal and Tax Support Policies and Promoting the High-quality Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Cai Shui [2023] No. 76), which clarifies:
- For engineering procurement projects of more than 4 million yuan, which are suitable to be provided by small and medium-sized enterprises, the policy of increasing the reserved share from more than 30% to more than 40% in stages will be extended to the end of 2025.
- The minimum payment ratio of progress payments for construction projects of government agencies, institutions and state-owned enterprises will be increased from 60% to 80%, and qualified projects will be encouraged to implement construction process settlement.
Previously, the Ministry of Finance issued the "Notice on Further Increasing Government Procurement to Support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises", which will be implemented from July 1, 2022. Explicit:
- If the project procurement project below 4 million yuan is suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises, the purchaser shall procure specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises.
- For engineering procurement projects of more than 4 million yuan, which are suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises, the reserved share for small and medium-sized enterprises in the second half of 2022 will be increased from more than 30% to more than 40% under the premise of adhering to the principles of openness, fairness, fair competition and unified quality standards.
Subsequently, 18 provinces and municipalities (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Hubei, Sichuan, Henan, Beijing, Anhui, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Shanxi, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Hainan, Tibet) have issued documents clarifying that projects below 4 million do not need to be subject to public bidding. (The picture below is a screenshot of relevant documents in Shaanxi Province)
"Taking advantage of monopoly position and unfair competition" is the second evil of the design industry, and maintaining biodiversity is the best way to maintain the ecological balance of the industry.
04
The third evil: unpaid wages
In the design industry, and indeed in the construction industry as a whole, the phenomenon of non-payment of wages is so common that some people think it is a "normal phenomenon".
Party A owes Party B money, the general contractor owes subcontractor money, the construction unit owes migrant workers, the design institute owes money to designers, and the compound owes money to subcontracting small teams... Numerous.
This is not a normal phenomenon, this is the "disease" of the industry, and it is the "harm" of the industry.
The party owed wages does not know how much manpower and material resources have been spent on "asking for wages", but in the end they are empty-handed. It would be great if these efforts could be put into the building of the socialist motherland. Let's take Liangzi's salary as a case to share.
The picture above is a record of the time when Liangzi went to the XX Municipal Institute next to Tongji University in Shanghai to ask for money. Because the hospital has a gate, you need to make an appointment to enter. If the people in the courtyard don't "agree", the doorman won't let me in.
He led the team to work hard for several years for his subordinate landscape institute, and as a result, all he earned were receivables. There are dozens of projects that have not even signed contracts, and the earliest projects can be traced back to 2018.
This is the story of Liangzi and the Municipal Yuan, an architect, and also a salary story of an industry self-media person. If they pay one day, I will write an article "Tell the world."
There is a saying on the Internet called "malicious wage demand", which refers to the act of demanding wages from an employer by illegal and violent means.
Here, Liangzi also called on all parties who are owed wages to remain calm, do their best to "restrain their impulses", and never fall into the category of "malicious salary demand", otherwise it will be "losing the wife and losing the army".
Money can be earned again, but the stain cannot be erased after breaking the law, so think twice. Salary seekers only feel that "it is natural to repay debts", and it is estimated that few people know this, but most of the salary debtors know it, because the unit has legal affairs, and they have all been popularized.
Being owed a design fee, and being so polite, only a highly educated designer can do it. Do you think this is a malicious bargain?
Some people will say: "When the people are gone, why do you need money". Do you think this is a malicious bargain?
"I used to call me Britney, but now I call me Mrs. Niu." Employing people in front, not in the back, do you say how to not be malicious salary bargaining?
"Arrears of project payments, arrears of design fees, arrears of designer wages" This is the third evil of the design industry, because there are fewer vicious incidents such as violent conflicts caused by arrears of wages?
Properly solve the problem of arrears of wages, maintain social stability, and everyone live and work in peace and contentment, this is a harmonious society.
05
Conclusion
I still remember that this was when I was in school, and the story of "Eliminating the Three Evils Everywhere" tells us this truth.
It's hard to simply define "whether Zhou is a good person or a bad person". Before getting rid of the other "two evils", he is the "one evil". And when he eliminated the "two evils", he was able to wake up and change his ways, and he was a good person.
The design industry has experienced the rapid development of China's economy in the first 40 years, and it is understandable that there is a problem of "such and such a problem". As long as we "wake up and correct deviations in time" as we do in the "surrounding areas", I believe that we will continue to develop healthily.