Solutions For Architects

The Risks to Design Intent

Architects bear the prime responsibility for delivering an optimal designed solution supported by high quality construction documentation. When forced by expedience or economics to make design decisions based on inadequate data or to provide documentation out of sequence, the results can trigger problems that extend across the entire project continuum and linger long after.

One of the most onerous of the consequences is reactive value engineering (VE) driven by construction costs and budget constraints. VE can occur almost anytime during each design phase. When it does, design teams often face the dilemma of whether to continue to work in the owner’s best interest or to preserve the design. All too often, value engineering efforts compromise the design intent, alter project scope, and significantly disrupt schedules. Obviously, VE also requires the architect to expend more time and resources, which can seriously erode efficiency, productivity, and profit margin.

The Risks to the Firm

As a standard part of their responsibilities, all architects must constantly address and set priorities, resolve conflicts, and manage a relentless stream of cascading issues — many arising from circumstances not fully within their control. This effort consumes a great deal of the firm’s time and talent. If not managed and solved carefully, it can result in inefficiencies, loss of profitability, and even damage to the brand value.

The comprehensiveness and quality of contractual and construction documentation lie at the heart of many of these commonly encountered problems. RFIs very often result in change orders, which in turn trigger schedule disruptions, project delays, and unanticipated costs. Faulty documentation also embeds permanent risk for litigation, which can have lingering impacts on the firm’s fiscal health and reputation.

The Risks to Project Success

Regardless of the metric used to measure success — whether it’s time, money, quality, or client satisfaction — when downstream contractors can’t understand or execute on the contract documents, project outcomes are in jeopardy. Typically, when contractors encounter this problem, they submit a request for information (RFI) to the architect for a timely response to clarify the documentation.

Aside from the obvious delays and inefficiencies associated with RFIs up and down the project team, design decisions made hastily without complete data and documentation can embed problems that can surface anytime during and even after construction. When RFIs mount, the contractor can lose faith in the quality of the documentation, and the owner can lose faith in both the design and construction team. Once this loss of confidence occurs, it encourages opportunistic behavior from all the parties and increased costs to resolve differences.

Sometimes, to keep the project under control and on track, the architect must shift focus from what’s right for the design package to what’s expedient for the construction package. This often requires additional research, revisiting or reworking designs, rethinking decisions, and producing documentation — all out of sequence and exacerbated by not knowing the rationale for the original design decision.