WARM-UP VIDEO FOR IRREGULAR VERBS

Instructions. Listen to the interview and type phrases with irregular verbs in Past Simple

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Exercise. Complete each gap with suitable words and expressions you hear from the video.

from their websites. But, here's the interesting part - some do. So, the question I asked myself is: What is it about certain websites that makes them successful? I've spent the past five years researching this question, and I'm ready to share the results. (1) ………….. that there's no silver bullet, but there is a consistent strategy that gets these kinds of results. There are steps you can take to turn your website in to a lead generator. Now, I'm pretty insights, and really dig in to the concept of “Architect as Developer.” >> Great. Sounds good. >> Yeah. So, (2) ………….. off a little bit talking about how in the early days of your firm you got the opportunity to get your hands dirty and build, help an owner build one of their first projects. Then, (3) ………….. a practice for about seven years until (4) ………….. your first development project walk in the door. Tell me a little about these seven years when you were growing that practice. What was that experience like? >> Once again, it was a very small firm. I think (5) ………….. up to four people at one point. But, it was all about creating the most detail within these tight budgets that we could really create, you know, a clear concept. where we couldn't do that. >> Okay. >> Honestly, something I want to do is be able to build even some of the larger projects myself. With (6) ………….. , one way is you just team with a contractor. Once again, you've got a relationship where it's not… What I'm talking about is you've got this bag of money, and architects, I think we have the best skill set to know where to place which is quite a lot easier to structure in terms of insurance, or if it's a for sale product, specially for residential because it's all just based on the amount of litigation. That increases what's called a Wrap policy. We haven't looked in to it, but (7) ………….. a ton of money on the Ice House to create this Wrap policy, which is only for a certain length of time. It's really a shame because that money could have been used in the project. are published that have that, but to kind of get the, as you say, the nitty-gritty, it can be a choice of whether you'd do a project or not. [Inaudible] avenue is available. Even with the Wrap policy (8) ………….. it wasn't going to be worth much, but (9) ………….. to do it because otherwise we wouldn't get financing. Development is like that. It's like I wish there were more concrete ways to say, “Here's trying something new even within a financial aspect, which we really learned in the Ice House. The building was so out of the paradigm of what's done here locally, whether it was finding the contractor, the bank. (10) ………….. a lot of effort. >> What's the biggest, the one or two, biggest challenges of that particular project, Rob, looking back? >> You know what? Probably. Which (11) ………….. head on. But, just convincing everyone, whether it was the city, that (12) ………….. to rezone it, it wasn't one or two things, it was just like everyday saying and having the conviction to know that this is going to work and telling ourselves that too. You've got to push, push, push to make these things happen sometimes. the burning down of the Ice House. To this day, we see the fire chief is now retired, but we thank him every time we see him. They were able to control the fire and put it out, but (13) ………….. the decking, but because they were so on it, we didn't lose any of the [Inaudible] steel trusses. I would say that, even just having your own firm as an architect the highs are higher, the lows are lower, but being a developer, it's even magnified. >> Wow. Rob, do you have any personal techniques to deal with stuff like that? Because when (14) ………….. that news, I can just only imagine. I would be thinking, “It's over. I'm doomed.” All these negative thoughts in the head. How do you deal with that? >> Actually, (15) ………….. to our rescue is my wife, Randi, who is really good in front of a camera. She was eight months pregnant with our daughter. Once (16) ………….. that the firemen, kind of, had it under control… It's amazing because the next day, (17) ………….. in to our sales office and bought a unit. Everything was, “Man, that thing was on fire and it didn't even burn down. It's got to be a great place.” You know, any good publicity I mentioned it earlier, but to take on this bigger project as a first development thing, it was really… Once again, it was all based on a really cool, old building, great bones, and (18) ………….. it for $15 per sq ft. >> Yeah. The pro forma needed work then. >> Yeah. After that, it was all just hard work, just keep pushing. >> Okay. Well, bring us in to the present, a little bit more in the present. I guess talk a little bit about the Indigo Modern project, how (19) ………….. about. Just take us from there and tell us about what you're doing today. >> Indigo was, kind of, we were riding high after doing so well with the Ice House, so we started that project in '04. We are in the ground in '06, which meant we were on a, kind of, downfall. By the time we were selling units, (20) ………….. out of it. It was a great project, it won some awards, but it wasn't nearly as financially successful as the first two — just from timing. >> What's the program of that project? >> That was eleven free-standing units on a single lot. So, we re-subdivided it. >> Is it a similar thing with a commercial lot where (21) ………….. residential? How did you get that zoned? >> It required some variance as well as, kind of, an overlay thing. It really was looking What was interesting is instead of having cars that drive up in to the units, we created a shared parking area. So, that was rather unusual, but it worked out really well because (22) ………….. more room for outside areas, and didn't comingle the car with the units. So, that went really well. So, that was, kind of, the last residential project we did. And then, five years ago we

Key: Look at the key and say aloud the script from the video to improve your English.

from their websites. But, here's the interesting part - some do. So, the question I asked myself is: What is it about certain websites that makes them successful? I've spent the past five years researching this question, and I'm ready to share the results. (1) (I found) that there's no silver bullet, but there is a consistent strategy that gets these kinds of results. There are steps you can take to turn your website in to a lead generator. Now, I'm pretty insights, and really dig in to the concept of “Architect as Developer.” >> Great. Sounds good. >> Yeah. So, (2) (we left) off a little bit talking about how in the early days of your firm you got the opportunity to get your hands dirty and build, help an owner build one of their first projects. Then, (3) (you had) a practice for about seven years until (4) (you had) your first development project walk in the door. Tell me a little about these seven years when you were growing that practice. What was that experience like? >> Once again, it was a very small firm. I think (5) (we got) up to four people at one point. But, it was all about creating the most detail within these tight budgets that we could really create, you know, a clear concept. where we couldn't do that. >> Okay. >> Honestly, something I want to do is be able to build even some of the larger projects myself. With (6) (that said) , one way is you just team with a contractor. Once again, you've got a relationship where it's not… What I'm talking about is you've got this bag of money, and architects, I think we have the best skill set to know where to place which is quite a lot easier to structure in terms of insurance, or if it's a for sale product, specially for residential because it's all just based on the amount of litigation. That increases what's called a Wrap policy. We haven't looked in to it, but (7) (we spent) a ton of money on the Ice House to create this Wrap policy, which is only for a certain length of time. It's really a shame because that money could have been used in the project. are published that have that, but to kind of get the, as you say, the nitty-gritty, it can be a choice of whether you'd do a project or not. [Inaudible] avenue is available. Even with the Wrap policy (8) (we knew) it wasn't going to be worth much, but (9) (we had) to do it because otherwise we wouldn't get financing. Development is like that. It's like I wish there were more concrete ways to say, “Here's trying something new even within a financial aspect, which we really learned in the Ice House. The building was so out of the paradigm of what's done here locally, whether it was finding the contractor, the bank. (10) (It took) a lot of effort. >> What's the biggest, the one or two, biggest challenges of that particular project, Rob, looking back? >> You know what? Probably. Which (11) (we took) head on. But, just convincing everyone, whether it was the city, that (12) (we had) to rezone it, it wasn't one or two things, it was just like everyday saying and having the conviction to know that this is going to work and telling ourselves that too. You've got to push, push, push to make these things happen sometimes. the burning down of the Ice House. To this day, we see the fire chief is now retired, but we thank him every time we see him. They were able to control the fire and put it out, but (13) (we lost) the decking, but because they were so on it, we didn't lose any of the [Inaudible] steel trusses. I would say that, even just having your own firm as an architect the highs are higher, the lows are lower, but being a developer, it's even magnified. >> Wow. Rob, do you have any personal techniques to deal with stuff like that? Because when (14) (you got) that news, I can just only imagine. I would be thinking, “It's over. I'm doomed.” All these negative thoughts in the head. How do you deal with that? >> Actually, (15) (who came) to our rescue is my wife, Randi, who is really good in front of a camera. She was eight months pregnant with our daughter. Once (16) (we knew) that the firemen, kind of, had it under control… It's amazing because the next day, (17) (someone came) in to our sales office and bought a unit. Everything was, “Man, that thing was on fire and it didn't even burn down. It's got to be a great place.” You know, any good publicity I mentioned it earlier, but to take on this bigger project as a first development thing, it was really… Once again, it was all based on a really cool, old building, great bones, and (18) (we bought) it for $15 per sq ft. >> Yeah. The pro forma needed work then. >> Yeah. After that, it was all just hard work, just keep pushing. >> Okay. Well, bring us in to the present, a little bit more in the present. I guess talk a little bit about the Indigo Modern project, how (19) (that came) about. Just take us from there and tell us about what you're doing today. >> Indigo was, kind of, we were riding high after doing so well with the Ice House, so we started that project in '04. We are in the ground in '06, which meant we were on a, kind of, downfall. By the time we were selling units, (20) (we got) out of it. It was a great project, it won some awards, but it wasn't nearly as financially successful as the first two — just from timing. >> What's the program of that project? >> That was eleven free-standing units on a single lot. So, we re-subdivided it. >> Is it a similar thing with a commercial lot where (21) (you got) residential? How did you get that zoned? >> It required some variance as well as, kind of, an overlay thing. It really was looking What was interesting is instead of having cars that drive up in to the units, we created a shared parking area. So, that was rather unusual, but it worked out really well because (22) (it gave) more room for outside areas, and didn't comingle the car with the units. So, that went really well. So, that was, kind of, the last residential project we did. And then, five years ago we

Sources: 

Channel: Business of Architecture. 016 Rob Paulus, Architect as Developer Interview Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kUGdZ8cba0&t=1s

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