Originally Posted by cloneaholic 
Why can't Iowa State utilize its own expertise to help bowl in the football stadium for a fraction of the cost? We have outstanding architecture, landscape architecture, constuction engineering and civil engineering departments at Iowa State. Why don't we use them? I realize that they don't have the necessary equipment and workers to actually do the construction, but it seems like they could provide all the necessary expertise.
I had my garage built by the local high school building and trades class and I only paid for materials. They did a super job and I only paid a fraction of what I would have paid to have it built by a private contractor.
I know that adding onto a football stadium is very different than building a garage in your back yard, but it's the same principle. It just seems like the university is not taking advantage of its own incredible resources.
I am a senior in Civil Engineernig AND I work at facilities on campus. First of all, only a professionally liscensed engineer can sign off on any design documents. To be a P.E. you must have four years experience. This would rule out all undergrad and grad students. Secondly, our professors would have no time to spend on designs for this. Thirdly, our in-house architects only do projects in house under the capital limit. (
ISU's is 25,000 bucks). It takes a couple years to even go from the conceptual phase to the preliminary design (where the public actually hears about it). WE only have a couple in house engineers, and they spend ALL their time making sure existing structures are functioning properly. This project will always be outsourced because its impossible otherwise.
