Hi Eugene, you are so right. I used to work for a large firm in a major metro area, where I was the project manager/co-designer on a high-rise multi-family project and one of the owners of that firm would always say: "The contractor is the ****bleeping enemy." I really didn't agree with that philosophy, but can understand why we could be thrown under the bus by ill-intentioned GCs, trying to earn more profit by convincing the owner that we don't know what we're doing, so the owner should allow the builder to change things so that they are more cost-effective, without regard for the design or the positive aspects of what the architect has designed and detailed. With the architect out of the picture, the GC has free rein to desecrate our creations and pocket the difference. Got that. This has probably happened to all of us.
I'd appreciate hearing other comments about how to start off on the right foot with the contractor and owner and develop a cooperative spirit of sharing the common goal of helping the owner achieve his goals. Going down the path of sniping at each other will only lead to litigation, which doesn't really help anyone but the attorneys. Better to form a Design and Construction team (whether under conventional design-bid-build or not: it's more a way of thinking and respecting each other), where we do not allow anyone to fail and help each other to understand what's going to happen next and help each other to prepare for that and Kumbaya.
I had the opportunity to be the senior architect at another different, large design-build firm in Orlando, where a senior General Contractor sat at the desk next to mine and the cost estimator was only a couple of desks away, and my Cad guy was only about 10' away and we all had lunch together every day and went out to jobsites together. Man, what a difference! Nobody failed; no one was thrown under the bus, and we all made money for the company and saved money for the owner, with an excellent design. The GCs actually became one of my best marketers, telling potential mutual clients what a great architects I was! I saved the builders from making huge mistakes regarding code issues and they pointed out constructability issues to me.
We worked as a team, finding and solving problems together. I think the goal of our architectural practices is to strive to find a process that gets everyone's heads to this shared objective mentality. Something in how we approach the GC and Owner needs to be the catalyst for this process. We in this forum should develop an AIA CCA Project Process that becomes the "go-by" for the profession. Call it:
CA Teaming or whatever. The idea is:
to have a common goal to help the client obtain their objectives and to help each other. None of us is perfect, but we should try to be. Even so, there will be something, somewhere that each of us misses. That is where our CA Teaming method can help each other. Sniping should be discounted as counter-productive. Problem solving and improving the project should be the goal, but not at anyone's expense.
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Rand Soellner AIA
Architect/Owner/Principal
Home Architects
Cashiers NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-22-2012 12:06
From: Eugene Ely
Subject: Contract Documents
An inherent difficulty with the CA process as architects currently perform it lies in the fact that the architect has sporadic access to the project, the construction conditions, AND the owner during construction. The contractor is there 24/7 and has the opportunity to be in contact with the owner as much as he/she wants and thus give the owner the contractor's perspective on any issue that might arise. Unless you've built up a deep reservoir of trust with an owner during the course of the design process, it can all come undone with a couple of small mistakes or one large one that persuasive contractors can use to plant the seeds of doubt and distrust in the owner's mind. Once you're on the defensive it's very diffcult to pull back from this.
This is not to contradict all the admonitions to prepare good documents and be extremely vigilant during construction administration. Just be aware that all of the good intentions ( and performance) in the world can be undone by persuasive contractors who have the ear of the owner constantly during construction. And fee structures for architects typically don't come close to providing the architect with full time access to the job site that would counteract this behavior.
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Eugene Ely AIA, LEED AP
Architect in Waiting
San Jose, CA
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