[log in to unmask] wrote:

>     **
>     GC 101... always make sure there is an architect in place in order
>     to place blame later.  *That's the problem with contractors (in
>     this case a tin knocker) thinking they don't need no stinkin'
>     architects.  Of course before that there was the owner who thought
>     he didn't need no stinkin' architect. ***
>
>

Joking aside, I have found over the years, particularly when working on
privately owned townhouses, that residential clients can be such a PIA
that it is absolutely essential to have an architect involved in the
project simply to maintain a sense of balance about the client's
expectations. Architect as a buffer in the least. Client's never seem to
know when they are getting what they paid for and a contractor can talk
themselves blue on this and get nowhere. The work can be done
excellently and for a fair price, but the client will not know this, or
will not want to know this, unless an architect (or other authorial
person) tells them so -- and even then sometimes they don't want to know.

If the client does not want to know then when I insist they retain an
architect or don't bother me, it tells right off that if they are cheap
over design then they will cheat over paying. I have also found, over
the years, that I am not really interested in sorting out all of the
alternative choices that a client will have. I'm curious though, to what
extent architectural schools teach that an architect's careers may be
devoted to working through multiple choices with ill informed amateurs?

For me I think in terms of optimal path to desired results and I much
prefer being involved in a situation where there is an architect who has
worked with the client to narrow down the desired results, who has the
experience to know clearly what is being delivered by the contractor,
and the guts to tell the client if they are getting what they paid for,
or not. In the end I believe that we can all come out the better for it.

][<

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