I agree with Mr. Rawlings. I have followed the posts and finally got to the point I feel I need to comment. I spent 16 years, from the date I entered undergraduate school, till the date I obtained my license. Becoming an ARCHITECT was something I had my sights on since I was in 9th grade and took my first drafting class. I DID NOT want to be a draftsman. I did what it took, stuck it out, worked UNDER a licensed architect, completed my IDP, took the exams, etc., etc., A graduate from Law School could not practice Law until he takes the bar exam. Our Profession should not be any different.
Telling someone to start up a business as a draftsman, providing services to ARCHITECTS, is not a recommendation I would make. In our small metropolitan area of 150,000, the few licensed architects here are embattled against a generation of engineers, and draftsman who have performed architectural services for the public at large and the local governments have allowed this to happen. Only recently has Utah revised the state laws limiting the work an engineer could do within his scope of work and not have to hire a licensed Architect to perform that work. Engineers have been stamping drawings of commercial project, strip malls, corporate hotels, and stretching the law in saying "the architectural work is within my scope, since I did the structural design and its all CMU wall, or, the architectural was done from a prior project, we're just placing it on a site, making minor revisions for location to the architecture, so I can stamp it as the architect."
This is the SINGLE most difficult thing to get past when generations of local citizens, government leaders, etc., have seen this as the norm for decades. They dont' want to pay for "PROFESSIONAL SERVICES!" They want a draftsman. And the local architects allowed this to happen. Add to that, the plethora of "draftsmen" who do commercial work and get their friend "architect" to stamp the drawings, and the suggestion of opening up a drafting firm, becomes one I adamantly oppose! I think you could say that "I just want to do drafting!" Then get a job working under a licensed architect who can sign off on your mentorship and daily supervision to complete the IDP. Guaranteed there will come a day, a friend, a relative, a local businessman or developer, will come to the "draftsman" and ask him to do a small job. "The Architect down the street wants too much!" It is my opinion that anyone offering drafting services PERIOD, should be under the supervision of an Architect. That's just my opinion. To complicate the matter even further, there are local firms who provide FULL services, MPE, structural, civil, have their in house draftsmen do all the detailing and design, and pay local engineers a minimal fee to sign and stamp.
What are we doing to change the status quo? Well we are setting up a local section of the AIA Utah Chapter. One of our first tasks as a Section and organized group of Architects, is to organize a seminar / meeting for local governments and officials and inform them, educate them, whatever, about what we as PROFESSIONALS offer for a service. Help them to understand what the AIA SHOULD be doing. What the State Laws say is acceptable for ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES and who should be performing those services. We have tried to get the state to come down on those acting and performing architectural services as 'draftsmen', and have yet to see any thing come out of those complaints by the governing powers that be. We must, as the NEXT GENERATION OF ARCHITECTS, take matters into our hands and educate the general public about why they should hire an Architect, and NOT A DRAFTSMAN! Let's not ADD to the status quo by implying any of us are OK with a "draftsman" performing architectural services.
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E. Rogers AIA
Principal
CRSA
Saint George UT
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