Zombie projects

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Author Message David G. Axt, CDT, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 2107 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 12:59 pm:    What do you do about "Zombie" projects, that is, projects that stop for a long period of time and then come back to life? Do you charge a restart fee? If so, at what time period? Do you revise your fee and start the project as if it was new? Thanks. David G. Axt, CDT, CCS, CSI, SCIP Specifications Consultant Axt Consulting LLC Dave Metzger Senior Member Username: davemetzger Post Number: 835 Registered: 07-2001 Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 03:04 pm:    Our experience with such projects is that if they're put on hold for more than a couple of years, we revise our fee. In that time period building codes change, products come and go, etc., so it's effectively a new project. We called them "Night of the Living Dead" projects. Steven Bruneel, Retired Architect Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 733 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 07:33 pm:    We were once contacted by a client we had never heard of wanting to restart a project. After a bit of digging we learned that a previous firm had started the project which was then paused as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. That firm, let's call firm A, was then bought by firm B. Some years later, firm B. still on a growth binge, bought Firm C, meaning us. Time passes, allowing firms to marinate, allowing for staff turnover, etc., until no one is still around from the original project. Amazingly, after finding the ancient files and a couple site visits to acquaint ourselves, the project went very well. Dan Mayer New member Username: danmayer175 Post Number: 1 Registered: 02-2025 Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2025 - 09:08 am:    Discontinuity creates tasks. That effort should be compensated.