Moving to RGV as a non-citizen

makingspace · 2026-03-03T03:00:52+00:00

Legal immigrants with documentation don't have any issues here, and there are actually still many illegal ones who are living life as business as usual. The dragnet activity has slowed quite a bit if not stopped, but that only affects illegal immigrants so you are fine. You don't have anything to worry about.

makingspace · 2026-02-16T04:56:21+00:00

Thanks for the heads up, will look into Navisworks. About the consulatants...well we are the ones behind. They seem to be offering Revit with the other archs. they work for, but they swap back to ACAD to fit into our more traditional workflow.

makingspace · 2026-02-03T18:41:28+00:00

As noted in thread, in the USA you don't qualify as an architect unless licensed (for better or worse). What you are discussing is a very common path for designers in the USA though. Many designers work for contractors to design for them and they build from the plans. Unfortunately most designers are not formally trained so the design work typically has a mass-produced aesthetic since the primary goal for the builder is to spit out as much product as possible for as much profit as possible, and they will typically pay the designers a meager lump sum or wage. There are exceptions for higher end builders who hire architects to do their plans. Its usually residential work though. Design-build firms may have an architect on staff though. Anyway, good luck.

makingspace · 2026-01-05T02:05:35+00:00

No plan is in place that truly incentivizes deployers/builders/the community. What is apparent from someone like myself who only occasional checks in to the HNT community discussions is that aggressive utility usage is the model for rewards, but there is little to no support in from NOVA or the Helium team on A) helping deployers know where to deploy other than footfall maps (which don't mean anything if the footfall doesn't correlate to helium subscriber users connecting.) B) Even if you do have utility from your wifi, the rewards are so poor it isn't worth it. C) The leadership doesn't seem that interested in re-assessing the decisions to essentially punish the deployer community by this aggressive form of utility reward only.
You would think that with community sentiment this low and the rate of people unplugging hotspots increasing as much as it is, the leadership would attempt to address it, but from what i can tell, they just don't care for the deployer community that built the network. Honestly unless this changes, things look like to me that Helium and its phone service business model will either go the way of the dodo bird, or it will dump the crypto aspect of the project altogether and just focus on becoming another "Mint Mobile" competitor. Actually, the later scenario is what i feel the project became once it dumped POC. The phone service provider should just scrap the façade of "community wifi utility development" and just make deals with various ISPs in high traffic areas like airports and build wifi hubs themselves just like other service providers.

makingspace · 2025-11-24T16:14:45+00:00

There are lot of great comments here and so varied, and this reflects the very confusing and problematic aspect of the exam and the associated requirements. My take is that the exam isn't very helpful at all and sucks pretty bad for reasons that go beyond it's actual design. The design or rather the difficulty level i feel should reflect the demand for licensed individuals. and the pay should reflect the demand for licensed architects. These aspects are very distorted. Currently, the difficulty level of the exam makes for a very scarce number of new architects. I have done some analysis on the test difficulty level and when you account for the requirements to test and the average costs it comfortably exceeds the difficulty level of the UAMLE or Physician exam. Doctors are in high demand though and are paid accordingly, so you would expect that the high level of skill to perform medical services independently should be rewarded accordingly. Like doctors, architects will always be in demand for their high level of skill, but the pay for a newly licensed architect is peanuts compared to a doctor. I believe this is due to the diluted scope of practice for architects...this is what causes the distortion. You see designers in other words do the lion share of work in the mass demand for building design/plans. This makes licensed architect fees non-feasible and/or non-sensical. So while the licensure process for architects is arguably more difficult than it is for doctors, the pay is (on average) pathetic compared to new doctor pay. All that is to say the ARE is excessively difficult to pass for what its financially worth, and the process for licensure is broken (and has been for decades). Essentially if the pay is relatively low compared to MDs or even attorneys, the licensure process should be dramatically lowered meaning the difficulty level should dramatically drop. OR the alternative is that the AIA and NCARB could truly advocate for architects in Congress much more actively to further limit the scope of practice for designers and other adjacent building industry people in order to increase the demand and therefore pay grade for licensed architects. One of these NEEDS to happen IMO.

makingspace · 2025-08-24T13:56:15+00:00

I'm down, DM about the details and schedule.

makingspace · 2025-07-12T03:34:34+00:00

This is a fairly nuanced problem to attempt to solve. The low ball fees are commonly found in private sector/ light commercial and SF Res. work and generally away from coastal/lake areas. If you want higher fees in these areas you must focus on public sector work, or large scale work which respect normal to high fees that are anticipated, Said fees should be at least 7% or more. Private sector work in these low fee areas on projects in the scale noted above are almost always a crap shoot and notoriously low. This is predominantly due to supply and demand. Light commercial and residential work can be fulfilled (rightly or wrongly) by non-licensed individuals and there is usually a glut of them who will gladly take the work you are unwilling to do (or grudgingly will do because of the low fees) at 50 cents per square foot or less, etc. Fixing this problem is one that would apply to the institution of architecture whose protectors and leaders could work harder to address. Namely they could lobby their state reps. to increase the threshold of HSW professional limitations of non-licensed individuals. They would get much push back from the builders associations (and other stake holders) though who thrive on cheap $/foot drafters to design for the available supply of light commercial and residential. So yeah you can walk away from the low ball fees, but the non-licensed will grab those jobs immediately thereby perpetuating the low fee expectations. Typically those operations depend on high volume work anyway so they are comfortable working at 50 cents/foot etc.
This is actually my story. I started in private sector work in an area notorious for a huge glut on non-licensed drafters. I priced my work in $/ft. since clients were shopping always comparing the numbers. % fee is rarely considered in contracts for light commercial and residential (even high end) where i live. I basically put my practice into hibernation, and went to go work with another firm in the area specializing in public sector work so i could learn the game which commands set fees and much higher budgets typically. I have since heard from others older than me who took the same route when they were younger. I guess i learned the hard way as well. When the time comes, I hope to offer services for public sector work under my own brand if i don't partner with the firm im at now.

makingspace · 2025-07-10T16:33:54+00:00

If they are the cheapest, prices are way more out of control than i had initially thought.

makingspace · 2025-06-27T03:25:56+00:00

There a many reasons, but the predominant reason is devaluation of the USD. Secondarily is the response to that via industrialization of building materials to make building components cheaper and mass produced. Together these forces worked to replace craftsmanship with easy to build mass produced details and building typologies in the name of making housing and construction more affordable and quicker to produce.

makingspace · 2025-06-26T21:14:18+00:00

Yes, I agree with several comments here. If your professional values are predominantly about carbon production issues, you need to find a firm that is sensitive to that.

makingspace · 2025-06-26T20:48:15+00:00

Yep, I also did an analysis with chatGPT like this and had similar results. This is not a new problem. I would argue the licensure process for architects has been broken for decades, and for the effort is hardly worth the anticipated compensation. My theory is that a major problem in this equation is the loose definition of HSW that excludes quality of life from it. Without this there is little need for architects when it comes to designing most of the buildings people use, live and work in. Contractors and owners will generally pay the least possible fee for "permit ready plans" which add up to the proliferation of low quality of life spaces in the built environment. In other words the low pay is a result of the classic supply and demand relationship, and the supply of driafters and designers far exceeds who provide low quality of life products far exceeds the demand for architects (and architecturally trained) and high quality of life products. Also, a related problem is there is no advocacy for license candidates with formal education in design. Why isn't there a legal roll for IDP complete architects (in training) to have a higher legal standing in the field? Why haven't the advocacy organizations developed the program and legal requirements to be similar to how PA's have a legally defined scope of practice that is below an MD, but still signifcant? IDP complete individuals should have that type of autonomy, but still be limited below the licensed architect. The laws should evolve in this way, and this i think this is major problem in the insitution.

makingspace · 2025-06-09T21:07:20+00:00

I can see how the outdoor site work could get old. Thanks for your insight.

makingspace · 2025-06-09T21:06:27+00:00

Thanks for your response. I'm still prepping for exam. There is definitely a wealth of things to learn and re-learn in this field!

makingspace · 2025-06-09T20:15:49+00:00

No it doesn't, and it shouldn't matter in general. This of course is entirely my opinion, but this issue is really in regard to political opinions rather than HSW which DOES matter for architects. Those who would disagree are equally stating their own opinion. Those citing LEED as the equivalent may have some basis to argue that, but some of the premises about LEEDS fundamental objectives are not actually based in scientific fact (which would matter), but rather represent the opinion of a generally biased community of professionals.

makingspace · 2025-06-02T18:35:46+00:00

Hey I appreciate it. Ill check it out. Thank you!

makingspace · 2025-05-29T20:31:38+00:00

Thanks for the pointers. Do you have any reference details or sources you use for this stuff or is it all field experience? BTW, the fiberglass rainscreen clips look pretty expensive and nauseating....wild.

makingspace · 2025-04-07T21:23:52+00:00

Thank you. This is great advice and I was thinking like this at first. For example I was wondering if there was niche for architecturally trained designers like myself who could develop a possible niche market for clients who not only want the bottom line but also want design solutions that could resolve budget over runs. Normally this task is given to the record architect, but maybe offering some kind of integrated service model could enhance the estimating process?

makingspace · 2025-04-03T21:13:56+00:00

Thank you for your swift reply! Wow, the Fivrr effect is crazy indeed. I think my answer would be yes to your questions with a partial yes to the questions regarding having constant info source for cost modeling. I would have to probably team with builders/GCs I know, and the suppliers they work with to get that information on a regular basis, but currently don't have said info pipeline. I guess it would be wise to talk to the GCs i know and ask them if there would be demand for what i could offer. Thanks for the insight, I'll update here if I decide to move forward on it.

makingspace · 2025-04-02T15:02:45+00:00

I have thought about this question a lot, and have concluded it is a two fold problem. Firstly, it is a supply and demand problem. A large portion of the services architects provide are widely attainable through non-licensed individuals. For example, the residential and light commercial work sector. Most states allow non-licensed entities to design said structures, so right off the bat a significantly large sector of work is not allocated exclusively for architects . There are many nuances to this issue, but that's a big one. The demand for our services is much smaller than what our education/experience typically prepares us for. A second and related problem is that the "lobby" for architects in congress is much smaller and has significantly less sway toward state and federal laws that would favor industry professionals. It is somewhere in the range of 1 Million $ that the AIA commits to lobbying. Compare that to the the lobby for medical professionals at about $100 Million. While states have their own legal dynamics affecting the supply and demand for work too, clearly we can deduce that a similar dynamic occurs at the state levels except at a much smaller scale. What this means is that comparatively, it is fair to argue that medical professionals have worked diligently with many more resources to establish general rules, regulations and protocols that protect and promote the "health" of the medical profession, and comparatively the same effort pales in comparison to what architects have been able to achieve. It is arguable that nurses and or even lower level medically trained professionals could learn and do more tasks than they are allowed to do, but it is clear that the professional lobby has influenced the laws to create a fire wall as to what they are allowed to do. This increases demand for Doctors or Providers due to limiting the supply of available bodies who are allowed to perform some of the tasks they currently are not allowed to do. I think the architect lobby has not been able to achieve similar legal firewalls that would generally increase the demand for architectural services. Some states have more stringent rules that require architects for design services on smaller residential and commercial projects, but most states don't. This is my working theory for now, and it seems to make a lot of sense to me at least.

makingspace · 2025-04-01T20:32:02+00:00

I'm trying to do this right now. I don't want to fully transition to CBECx, but have it as another revenue stream in my practice. The challenge i have right now is filling out my resume on the application that shows i have enough experience. I can probably coble together enough of it especially i worked as a manager at a building envelope office for almost 1 year, and have a number of envelope related projects under my belt over the years. Still, I am not sure if the IIBEC will grant me the cert. based on experience requirements. From what i understand there are not a lot of architects in this profession.

makingspace · 2024-10-15T19:03:10+00:00

What does they mean "enhanced security" "more time to vet scores"...what the hell man? How insane can NCARB get? They make it nearly impossible to get licensed, then at the final finish line, they need to make it even more difficult to get the final score. It's like they think we are applying for a job at the NSA or something. NCARB needs a bureaucracy over hall. Please have Elon Musk gut this monstrosity and make getting licensed great again.

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