5th Question to ask your architect BEFORE hiring them
Rio House by Olson Kundig - Photography ©MairaAcayaba
Introduction
This is the fifth of five blog posts covering key questions clients should ask the architects they are interviewing. It is the result of many conversations we’ve had with clients who were partway through a project with a different architect or home designer but were unhappy or unsure of what’s happened so far and then reached out to us for guidance. If these questions had been asked during the interview process, these clients would've avoided a lot of headaches, stress, and wasted money and time.
Read the first question here.
#5
What is their contract?
When it comes to contracts, there is a tendency for clients to want to see a contract that's really short. Why? Because it's easier to read, it's digestible, and makes one feel more secure… It feels like there's trust and fewer traps hidden within the contract. A really long contract can make one wonder, “What is the architect trying to hide in here? What's going to happen that would make all of this necessary?”
However, short contracts are a red flag.
Taking a step back this contract will be for a multi-year project with 7-8 different phases which are each a little bit or sometimes radically different from the next, which means the work that takes place during that phase for the architect is different and the things they're going to present to you are different. The number of professionals involved in each phase is also different and by the end of the project, you’ll have had dozens, maybe hundreds of different professionals who had worked on the project. The contract should cover each of those phases and all of the bits that can happen during each. It’s unrealistic to have a half-page contract that accurately covers that long and complex process.
The American Institute of Architects has its version of the contract. A fair number of architects use that as a basis and quote it within their contract, but it is not the best and many architects who do large and sophisticated houses have their own contracts.
Contract Length and Content
In terms of contract length, and this will vary greatly depending on many factors, 8-12 pages is a decent range for large custom homes. Of course, this depends on the scope of the project and the services being offered (which are most of the time, not the same from architect to architect).
Some architecture services, phases, or scopes may not be in the contract which would cause it to be shorter. Construction Administration is a good example (the architect not offering construction administration is another red flag) and CA alone may be almost a page in the agreement. Another service that may or may not be in the contract is Specifications. This is the selection of all the finished materials, fixtures, and equipment (FFE). The Specification and Procurement of furniture and decorative lighting is another scope that, although less common, may be part of the agreement and this could be a page or more.
The contract should really be in a way an overview of what's going to happen in the process. It should talk about the process, phase by phase by phase with all the details of what happens if x, y, or z takes place and who's responsible for this and that. That’s what a good contractor should be. Clients should not be turned off by an eight-page contract versus a single-page one. In fact, I would actually flip it. It’s always better to know in advance what may happen and how it will be handled, rather than keeping it vague. An architect being vague is a red flag.
We suggest clients ask their architects to talk through the contract with them. Contracts are always hard to read with legal and professional terminology that the client might not know. The architect should be able to communicate it in everyday language.