Contracts Governing Delivery of Services (CE) (PjM)

The practice of architecture is a profession that is deeply satisfying. The practice of architecture is also fraught with legal pitfalls. The relationships between all participants in very expensive projects must be carefully planned and detailed. The prudent seek out and use, already developed documents defining rights, responsibilities, and relationships of project participants, which have been tested over time.

When a lot of money is changing hands, which is a good description of construction, there will be many potential problems. Most of these do not typically occur because of dishonesty. Many stem from misunderstandings due to miscommunication, especially expectations which were not communicated and therefore, not met.

Excellent documents and agreements are already in use. They were developed by the American Institute of Architects to establish a smooth path from project inception to completion and protect architects from many dangers of the profession. These interrelated forms set expectations for all project participants, helping to insure potential misunderstandings, as described above, are eliminated before the project begins.

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Identify the pros and cons of different project delivery methods
• Examine the reasons behind the preferred use of AIA documents to establish relationships and responsibilities of participants in projects
• Discuss the services usually provided as part of the typical phases of a design project
• Recognize insurance policies commonly required of architects contracting with owners
• Interpret the agreement forms governing a design-bid-build project delivery
• Differentiate between the various standardized methods for calculating various types of building square footage

Paul Spite, BS, BA
AFD Consulting, Founder and Principal

Paul is a Registered Architect with over forty years of experience, a course developer and has been a teacher in multiple venues in the past. He is also a writer in many venues, having developed many studies, a few published articles, numerous short stories, multiple screenplays, two non-fiction manuals for church design and one novel. More to the focus of this endeavor, Paul has also created presentations for twenty-six lunch and learn presentations for building material manufacturers, webinars covering the subjects of Aging-in-Place and Architectural Acoustics and eleven distance learning courses for architects, engineers and contractors. As he nears retirement from managing his small architectural practice, Paul hopes to focus even more of his energy on teaching and on course development.