Thank you , Mr Rawlings for sharing your experiences with us. I especially appreciate what you have to say about designing for the 99%. This is where my practice has been. And now that I am living in a working class, midwest city, I will be lucky to have clients in the 99%.
Unfortunately the AIA seems to focus on the 1%, and this is what I find to be most frustrating. The "C" in CRAN stands for custom. I think it really implies "high-end" or "avante-garde", or better yet, "Eurobox" custom. This why I bemoan that the AIA just doesn't "get" residential design!
The AIA published a beautiful brochure years back about hiring an architect for a custom home. It featured "record Homes, most of which could not be built by a residential contractor. Most of the 99% will run right to a contractor when they see this type of material indicating that they should work with an architect. Yes, we architects love the boxy homes made with planar walls of brick and concrete and voids of mullionless glass, but guess what? most prospective clients don't.
I have been advised by two attorneys (both of whom are FAIA members) at AIA seminars, to run from the AIA small contract documents. Instead, they advise using an A201 and B141, which we all know are overkill for a small residential project. Do they really think a carpenter/contractor who works from his kitchen table is going to sign a 17 page contract?!? You gotta be joking!
I question whether the AIA understands the challenges of having a small residential practice and whether it supports it. I look at $650 and wonder if it is better spent on nice books and magazine subscriptions. Since I relocated I am now strapped with $2,200 in reciprocity fees and will have to pay NCARB membership fees (something I really don't want) for the rest of my career. It's hard in this economy to justify another $650, if there isn't much value in it.
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Edward Shannon AIA
Waterloo IA
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