Practice Management Member Conversations

I agree, we should not be paying for our information. This is typical of the AIA.

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Joel McCreary AIA
Principal Architect
McCreary Snow Architects, P.A.
Columbia SC
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Back a few years ago, there was a discussion about how to create value in membership.  

Access to information is something that AIA can do for its members that provides value.  Should it be free?  In my opinion, it depends on what the information is.  Knowledge is everywhere and readily available.  You can "Google" a subject and get almost anything.  How relevant and reliable that information is something else.  AIA could provide value by validating information and making targeted access easier than just an internet search.  That has value and, depending on process, costs very little.  However, a double blind study that validates something might cost more and, therefore, AIA would need to charge.  

I find it interesting that a group that aspires to create a culture of sharing within the profession does not practice that with information that, I believe, has limited value.

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Walter Hainsfurther FAIA
Kurtz Associates Architects
Des Plaines IL
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This isn't really a case of reselling "our" information.  It's a case of collecting and aggregating data, and then making it available to those who might be interested. 

I don't recall answering payrate questions when renewing memberships for a firm of 35+ or as a sole practitioner.

It's a case of 1) figuring out a useful format for reporting (locations, job titles, etc.); 2) soliciting the information, separately from other AIA activities; 3) sorting and analyzing and presenting the information.

If you just want to know what your employees are paid, look at your payroll records.  If you are a sole practitioner, and planning to continue to be one, with no employees, the report probably doesn't interest you (unless you are researching what larger firms in your area might pay you as an employee, if they were to hire you).

If you want to know what other firms in your area, or across the country, pay their employees, then you can either call a lot of them (expect to have the phone call hang up pretty quickly -- why would they divulge this to a potential competitor?) or buy this report, which those who respond to the questioners consider to be somewhat anonymous when they answer.

If you want to know what firms charge clients for services -- well, for that you have to go to a non-AIA source due to the "price fixing" issue.

Finally, you really only get out of the AIA what you put into it.  I personally feel there's enough value there, in the areas I place value on.  The money spent on the things I don't give a hoot about -- well, that's how it goes.  I rationalize how my tax dollars are spent the same way.

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Joel Niemi AIA
Principal
Snohomish WA

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