As soon as her architectural practice began to take off, Helen had recognized the need for an office staff that could support her design work and keep things going while she traveled and, after her move to Cap d´Agde, provide a Paris location for her consulting business. She had looked for an office for some time, but wasn´t satisfied either with dingy quarters near Montparnasse or elegant offices on the Right Bank. It didn´t seem to matter where they were, they were all expensive. And she wanted a place that was convenient to the airports and railroad stations since she spent so much time traveling.
In the end, Helen had chosen a location mainly because of the romance of it all – a fairly roomy first-floor flat in a funny old building facing the Place Dauphine on the Isle de la Cité. The Place Dauphine itself is a small, bare patch of dirt with a few trees and benches. But it is just behind the Palais de Justice, and from the front windows of the apartment she could see the spire of the Sainte Chapelle. It was an extravagance, in a way, but one she treasured and never regretted.
Today, she walked to the Pont Neuf and crossed to the Cité, climbing the narrow, dingy stairs to the office.
“Good morning,” she called as she entered the sunny front room. There were several workstations, and in front of one, her project architect, Marie Dutoit, a handsome, sturdy woman with dark curls and a sunny smile.
“Bon jour, Helen.”
“Where is Céci?” Céci was the drafter who worked with the details of the plans and related materials.
“She went out to get a baguette.” Marie looked out the window. “Here she comes, now.”
Shortly, Céci, her drab dress and mousy hair appeared with not one, but two baguettes. Coffee was poured and they sat down at a table in front of the window, overlooking the Place.
“As I told you on the phone last Friday, we got the Schellen project, the Wald Sauna,” Helen began, “I´ll have contracts in a week, and I have a signed letter of intent. But, we have a lot of work to do because we´ve changed a lot from the proposal in the competition.”
Marie looked resigned. “You did say you didn´t think they could build it as requested.”
“Right. Schellen said so, right at the start. He wanted us to use some cheap-jack contractor to ‘cut costs.'”
“Is that this guy, Sauter, we found out about?” Marie asked.
“Well he never said so, so perhaps not. And I said ‘no´ right away; insisting on our condition of being the prime contractor. But Rummy and I had been working on an alternate proposal, and that´s what he went for.” She patted her laptop. “I´ve got it here.”
Céci sighed, “I suppose that means we have to change everything.”
“Well, no, not everything. You know I don´t work that way, Céci,” Helen said with a trace of irritation: Céci did not take well to changes.
“We´re going to do the same structures, but with all the custom details and finishes replaced with off-the-shelf stuff. And we´ll get the outside saunas as well as the boutique saunas from Majava in Finland.”
“In fact, here´s what we´ll do,” she said, turning to Marie, “I think we can go through the Bills of Material and simply modify them. We´ll use stock Hansgrohe plumbing fixtures – just, top of the line – and the same for hardware and so on. Where they wanted custom tile, we´ll use something that doesn´t have to be made to order. Then, we can back those into the drawings.”
“I´ll still have to make some changes.” Céci objected.
“Yes, but you´ll be making corrections, not major changes. I don´t want to change the structures at all.”
“But what about all those boutique saunas? There are five of them,” Céci whined.
“Use the same space, block it off and show it ‘By Others´. Same for the outdoor sauna structures.”
With some reluctance, Céci nodded, taking a note.
Marie was more positive. “I think that can work pretty well. We won´t have to re-do any basic drawings, really only some of the details. How did you manage to get him to accept this?”
“He made the mistake of starting out by saying he couldn´t afford to build the place as specified, which we were pretty sure of.”
Marie and Céci both nodded.
“So, I told him either to pay us the award or consider our alternate proposal. The award would have covered our costs anyway. And I also hit him with what we´d learned about the other locations he´s lined up. Essentially, I made him realize that he could actually make legitimate money on these projects as long as he doesn´t build shoddy stuff.”
“Great,” Marie said, “But what gave you that idea? If he wanted to build shit, he would have.”
“Well, I thought, when I saw the competition specs, that there was something funny about them. And when we found out those financial and legal things, I decided he´d spec´d it like that so no one could build it at an acceptable price, unless it were shoddy.
“But, when we won the competition, I thought there was an option to turn it around. And, we did, because we can offer a turnkey operation and we have the reputation.”
Marie stared out the window. “I´m sure there´s someone who won´t be happy about that,” she said.
“Tough,” said Helen. Marie looked over at her and slightly shook her head. Helen ploughed right on. “Now, let´s get down to the details, here.” She turned on her laptop and signed on to the office network. “Rummy and I spent some time in London going over a lot of this, and I need to pass it on to you.”
They spent the morning going over the details of finishes, fixtures and fittings, Helen leaving many of the decisions to Marie, while Céci fussed over minor items. Helen knew from experience that Céci would turn out excellent drawings, but at the price of a stream of complaints. On the other hand, she also knew that Marie could handle Céci – even liked her – and that she herself would be in Cap d´Agde where she would not have to listen to it.
When they were done, Helen gestured to Marie to follow her downstairs.
“How busy are you, Marie?” she asked. “Have you got time for a little shopping?”
“I have plenty of work, but nothing urgent, and I always have time for shopping,” Marie agreed with a smile. “I´ll tell Céci.” She ran upstairs and was back in moments. “I told her I was taking a break.”
The two women walked across the bridge over the Seine toward the 19th century building that is the core of the department store La Samaritaine. They spent an hour or two wandering through the main building shopping, but Helen could never ignore the wonder of the great exposed cast-iron structures that supported it.
Helen looked up from a dress rack and said to Marie, “I never tire of this building, Marie. The fancy stores like Printemps and Gallerie Lafayette just don´t have what this place does.”
“I know, Helen. They may have better clothes sometimes,” she commented wryly, “but the building is unique. Like the Museé d´Orsay.”
Helen nodded and turned her attention back to the clothes she was looking at.
In the end, they bought nothing, but had a pleasant time talking about nothing special and enjoying each other´s company. As they walked back to the Cité, Helen said, “Marie, on your time sheet? Call this a staff meeting. On the Freiburg Project.”
“Thank you, Helen.” Marie responded.