Keeping the Project on Track

Design and construction are team activities. Many individuals and firms come together to do a project. Often they will not have worked together before, and they may not work together again. They collaborate to produce a complex and often unique result on a specific site. As the project unfolds, hundreds of individual design decisions and commitments are made. Needs and conditions change, and work is modified. A strong and healthy relationship between owner and architect is essential to keep the project on track.

Recognizing the Owner's Responsibilities

The owner-architect agreement and general conditions of the contract for construction provide clear guidance on what is expected of the owner. AIA Documents B141 and A201 (General Conditions) outline several responsibilities. Your architect will assist you in clarifying them.

The owner typically provides the following supporting services, although if need be the architect's supporting services may be expanded to include some of the services instead:

• Design objectives, constraints, and criteria, including space requirements and relationships, flexibility, expandability, special equipment, and site requirements.
  
• Budget (including contingencies for bidding, changes in the work during construction, and other costs that are the owner's responsibility) and a statement of available funds for the project.
  
• A legal description and survey of the site (including available services and utilities), as well as geotechnical engineering services and professional recommendations (including test borings or pits, soil-bearing values, percolation tests, air- and water-pollution tests, hazardous materials testing, and groundwater levels).
  
• Necessary services during construction, including testing services and (on some projects) an on-site project representative.
  
• Timely information, services, decisions, and approvals.
  
• Prompt notification of any observed faults or defects in the project or nonconformance with the contract documents governing the project.
  
• Legal, accounting, auditing, and insurance counseling services needed for the project to meet the interests of the owner.

Recognizing Some of the Fundamental Realities of Building

We spend more than $300 billion annually for new construction and renovation projects in the U.S. Architects and their clients have had the opportunity to gain some collective wisdom from these projects--wisdom that may be of value to you in project planning and follow-through.

Project scope, quality, and cost are inextricably related. Any two of these variables can be fixed and controlled in design; the marketplace takes cares of the third. You will need to establish priorities among them and set acceptable ranges for each one.

A good architect challenges the client's program, schedule, and budget. Even when these have been developed through painstaking effort, it is in the client's best interest to encourage this challenge. In this way, the architect comes to understand the project requirements in detail. The analysis may also reveal  latent problems or opportunities.

As design proceeds, important issues will surface. The architect's services bring increased client understanding of the project, and the project evolves as a result. Each milestone, usually marked by the  submission of documents to the owner from the architect, should be used to assure continuing consensus on project scope, levels of quality, time constraints, estimated cost, and the owner's budget. It may also be necessary to adjust the services required from the architect at these points.

The secret to successful projects is effective project management by both owner and architect. Following is a summary of what the owner can do to keep the project running smoothly through design and construction.

 Schedule for Architect's Services.Carefully review the architect's schedule for services. Ask that the  schedule be updated on a regular basis and after any major change in scope, services, or time requirements.

Team Member. Take part in the appropriate portions of the project-planning process. Be sure that your own deadlines, as well as your own decision processes, are reflected in the schedule.

Client Representative. Identify a single person to represent you and to speak for you at planning sessions and project meetings. The scope of the client representative's authority should be understood by all involved.

Internal Coordination. If yours is an organization in which several people or departments must be involved in the project work, make it clear that the client representative is authorized to speak for you. Multiple sources of advice or requirements will inevitably cause problems later.

Meetings. Plan on regular meetings of the project team and participate in them. Meetings should have clear agendas. Persons with assigned tasks should have them done in time for the meetings. Be sure that minutes are prepared that clearly identify what was discussed, and what items require further action and by whom. Minutes should be circulated to all team members.

Documentation. Require that contacts between architect and client (for example, phone conversations and data-gathering sessions) be documented, and the results shared with appropriate members of the project team. This system keeps everyone informed of what's being discussed and decided outside of formal project meetings and presentations.

 Milestones. The AIA standard forms of agreement designate three documentation submissions by the architect: schematic design, design development, and construction documents. You may wish to  require additional submissions, recognizing that each can add time and cost to the project. Use these milestones to review what has been done and approve it as the basis for moving forward.

Decision Process. Be sure that both you and your architect understand the process by which you will make decisions: Who requires what information, whose approval is required, how much time-with contingencies-should be allocated for review of submissions? 

Decisions. Make decisions promptly. Keeping the project on hold increases the possibility of changes in conditions that may upset the delicate balance between project time, cost, and quality.

Agreement Modifications. Keep the owner-architect agreement up-to-date. Modify it when project scope or services are changed.

Questions. When you have questions, ask them. Pay particular attention to design submissions, since the work reflected in each submission will be further developed in the next. All questions should be resolved before construction begins, as changes beyond this point will most likely result in increased time and cost.

Problems. Address problems when they arise and before small ones become large ones. Regular project meetings provide a natural opportunity.

The Project Team: Owner, Architect, Contractor

At some point, the project team must be expanded to include the firm or firms that will build the project. There are two basic approaches:

The owner and the architect may select the contractor or contractors based on the construction contract documents prepared by the architect. Public entities generally must engage in an open competitive bidding process. Other owners may choose open competitive bidding, competitive bidding by a few invited firms, or negotiation with a single selected contractor or builder.

The owner and the architect may choose to include the contractor as a member of the team at the outset of design. The contractor may be paid a fee for consultation during design. A method of compensation for the construction work is negotiated when the design has progressed in sufficient detail to serve as a basis for a cost proposal.

However and whenever the contractor is selected, it is likely that the architect will assist with the bidding documents and the owner-contractor agreement forms as part of the architect's responsibility for preparing the construction contract documents. It is sound practice to engage the architect's assistance in the bidding or negotiation process and selection of the contractor.

Maintaining the Professional Relationship

The architect's services should continue following the award of the construction contract. During construction, the architect can:

Administer the construction contract. This includes evaluating the work for compliance with the contract documents, checking shop drawings and other submittals to confirm the contractor's understanding of the design, and checking the contractor's payment requisitions against the progress of the work.

Make design changes during construction. These may be required due to unexpected conditions in the field, the need for further refinements in the design, or changes in your own requirements as construction proceeds.

Inspect the facility to determine that it is complete and ready for use, and that the contractor is entitled to final payment.

Your architect's involvement with the project does not end there. As a design professional, the architect has a continuing interest in knowing that your building works. You may wish to retain the same firm to assist with start-up, to review operations at a later date, for tenant-related services, or for later alterations and modifications. You now have a working relationship with your architect, and no one knows your building better.