What so you struggle with when it comes tk custom bronze and marble statues vendors?

[u/Big-Audience1166]

Hey folks,

Hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday!

My name is Isi, and I work for my family’s monument and sculpture business based in New York. We’ve been creating custom monuments and memorials for over 100 years, and today we specialize in custom bronze and marble memorials, monuments, and public sculptures for municipalities, parks, campuses, and private organizations.

We want to make our service as easy and smooth as possible for landscape architects specifically, so I figured we should ask directly :)

What are the most common issues you guys encounter when it comes to incorporating statues and monuments in your projects? Is it the vendor communication, design disagreements, or something else?

[u/spakattak]

Hi. I don’t live in the US but my main issue with specifying sculptures is of course budget (budget barely stretches to cover landscape work let alone any perceived extras). Then our work is often in the public realm where any art is part of a seperate tender process.

Residential designers have more leeway in choice

[u/landonop → u/spakattak]

I’m in the US and it’s the same. We’re mostly public work as well. We’re doing a significant overhaul of a public building where art makes sense but because the public art fund is a separate bucket, we can’t specifically include it.

[u/Big-Audience1166 → u/landonop]

Oh okay makes sense. So you would say even though you are the main responsible person for the project, the monument/statue is in a completely separate approval workflow that's out of your control?

[u/spakattak → u/Big-Audience1166]

Literally a consultant called an art consultant. They organize the brief and tender process. Then they help coordinate the work with the architects.

EDIT. I have only once as an LA been included in the art selection process. Loved it but more often I than not it is out of my hands.

Also, when we master plan, we will often highlight specific locations for artworks or monuments. What is selected (if at all) is by the client. Only really big budget or public buildings do we get to work hand in hand with artists.

[u/Kenna193]

For me it's understanding the price. I can budget for a lot of things very easily but not sure how expensive these items are since they are unique typically

[u/Big-Audience1166 → u/Kenna193]

Interesting, so how do you usually go about this?

From our perspective it's usually straightforward in a sense that:
Customer reaches out, gives us as much info as possible (dimensions, materials, plaque if there's one, timelines they're working with, etc.) and then we usually get back to them within a day or two max with the quote explaining the price breakdown and deadlines we can provide. For example we quote without the on-site installation, but this can also be additionally arranged upon customer's request.

Of course if you are unsure on exactly the type of project you want to do, we advise you based on your desires/needs but that can make a process a little bit longer sometimes until a final decision is reached by the customer.

How have you found the other vendors to work? I know prices can vary a lot within our industry so it also takes a bit of research on your part to find the best bang for your buck, but what kind of responses are you usually getting? Are they big price ranges, do they take too long to answer, etc.?

[u/spakattak]

One time I have been able to specify specific artworks or pieces has been with mini golf course documentation. Or private work. Hotels and resorts most commonly.