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CONTRACTORS & ARCHITECTS7/17/2017 A prospective client asked me a great question today:
How do you best transfer a set of beautiful plans to a contractor who can execute the plan? The prospective client's experience has been exclusively with design-build firms, so the question is coming from a unique perspective. Usually the way we transfer beautiful ideas is to start with a 3d-model, and then turn them into production drawings. It's the quality and density of these production drawings that can help or hurt the project and the contractor. Sometimes the drawings are full of every material, bolt size, color, wood grain direction, etc. And sometimes they are left to the craftsman to build something wonderful based on a few artistic directives. And other times the details are basic construction details that most contractors can follow without a hitch. It depends on the level and quality of the project. What's important is to match the drawing level and the people reading and building the drawings. The important thing is that there is a clear understanding between owner, architect and contractor of where design ends, where construction begins, and that we don't step on each other's toes. Now the easy way to we like to solve this dance is by having the contractor hire the architect. Then the dance becomes a little more controlled, easier to manage, and keeps the Architect from doing anything too outrageous. And it's true - at times architects do need to be reigned in. Their ideas are too difficult or expensive to build. And it's also true that contractors can do the same, although most err on the opposite side: of being too pragmatic, practical, or simply cost-driven. For in the mind of the contractor - what else could be important? But let's say that the Architect tells you that the arrangement of rooms in a home or even the location of the cooktop at the island can result in huge changes in the dynamics of how a family functions? Or that the addition of food and water to a park that only has grass has the power to triple the amount of people who use it? Now this information could be immeasurably valuable and it might be important to listen to ideas that are not simply cost-driven. Ideas like this cannot flourish under the controls where the left brain rules over the right brain in all cases. There must be a balance. And if not... well that's the difference between Apple and Blackberry. So design-build can be a delicate dance as well... It has certain controls... and can be just as fragile or possibly more fragile than conventional builder-designer relationships. But whatever the system, the result is that the owner will need to deal with the product of the two... Which comes down mainly again to people, integrity, and their communication ability. DESIGN-BUILD I love design-build! It's efficient. The designer comes up with an idea, and since they are in-house the contractor can then translate the design into something that they can build. It's fast, direct and works well. For those of us in the design-build industry - we can't see it any other way! But my fellow engineers (yes - I'm a civil like you guys - I just chose architecture) who own Design-Build firms... what happens if the designers you have on staff are in need of fresh ideas? What if they are so stuck in their ways of design, that they can only design what you tell them you are capable of building easily and simply? Where's the challenge and ability to innovate? It takes a great designer in your firm to push your limits... make you think like engineers again... and take you out of your comfort zone? Now what happens if you don't have that designer? How do you stay innovative? How do you keep challenging your capabilities and evolving so you can stay competitive? You do what everyone else does: take on custom work from the old-school. Yup - we must admit it! Sometimes efficiency causes us to lose innovative ability. We are so focused on making money efficiently we forget that innovation is what makes capitalism so damn fun! And HARD! We've all got stories about this. Hope you can share some! So to answer the question above: Yes design build is a great way to translate design into physical... but IF the project needs a bit of innovation, different thinking, or just something cool and original... then it takes an independent designer who is conditioned to think that way. Not that my fellow creatives in design-build firms can't do it.. Uh, uh. You got the goods... but it's tough when your boss doesn't give you the FREEDOM. You know what I'm talking about. Design-builders - you also know that you have a limited palette, right? Your firm has built relationships with specific suppliers so you can efficiently deliver. When you get a design that specifically calls for something different - efficiency goes out the window! So now you're about as inefficient as a regular firm. Let's take cabs as an example. You build them in-house or with a supplier that knows exactly what you need. But let's say I come along and say that the cabs need to be sleeker with a thin profile top and are going to be full-box, don't need a sub-top (because the client hates spatulas and tongs getting stuck under there every time they open the kitchen drawer) - we're going to use a thin 5/8" top right on top of a whole solid box... and I need a 5/8" gap behind all boxes because we want to run LED lights driven by a brain needs to be in there. So now your millwork supplier is going nuts trying to figure out what I just specified, and your design team is reeling as they modify your details that have not changed in a decade. It's been so long since they did a custom box that they forgot how to re-draw the cabinets. ALL your efficiency goes out the window. You eat your shirt, and know that at least the next job you'll have innovated yourself - but in the mean time you are starting to bleed on this job. You have to smile at the client because it's not their fault... it's the damn architect (me) who threw a wrench in the whole operation because you bid this as your typical custom cab job. Didn't mean to do it... and I'd have the heart to tell you to read this blog and give you very specific details about this when I have you price a job... So don't worry. But if it's not me - watch out guys. Efficiency also could mean you are more fragile. The goal is to be antifragile. OLD SCHOOL So old school had a method of checks and balances so that the Architect and the Contractor had no relationship to each other but to help the owner's interests. The Owner had to manage 2 contracts - one with the Architect, and one with the Contractor. Design-build came along and crushed that. So now it became a 2-part contract - Owner and Contractor(Design-Builder). There's all kinds of ways that the Architect and Contractor could now collude to make the job as affordable as possible... Or as profitable as possible. So you can see how this can be a double-edged sword because it's like trying to play 3-way poker with the dealer and a card counter who belong to the same team while you the owner are left to put all your money on the table. No one is watching for your interests.. That was the reason why the Old School said no way, you keep the Architect separate from the Contractor. But in our modern wisdom, we also supposedly became more honest, so we began to do away with what the old-school said, and invented design-build. So to get back to answering the question of translation of my architectural drawings to getting them built. It's a matter of putting together drawings that specify exactly what the owner wants - while still giving the contractor ways to find efficiency in achieving the result. If we go back to the cabinet example - I would draw the cabinets and the details so that the millworker understood the changes needed. And I'd even meet with the contractor to explain it to the millworker. The Millworker would redraw my drawings based on his understanding of what was specified, and I would check his shop drawings before he proceeds with fabrication. Ineffecient? YES. Effective? yes. There's a system of checks and balances in place. If the millworker decides not to redraw before fabrication - he does so at his own risk.... NOT the owners. Let's say he makes a mistake and produces the cabinets with a conventional open top. He'd have to re-do it, unless the owner says "I can live with it, but you must give me some credit because I don't think you priced the cabinets to be built this way." So a credit would be extended and received, and the owner is left with paying less (but still a lot) for their ladels and tongs still getting stuck when they open their brand-new cabinet drawers. And we end up blaming the architect. Damn architects - they give us headaches, and stuck drawers! Yes, that's my life, and hence the blog. PROJECT MANAGEMENT Now the chance of success in a project - with nothing going wrong, or delays happening is roughly 5%. That's not me... that's with all US construction projects which are managed the way they are. If you doubt it, and want to learn a more reliable way of project management then read this VERY important book: SCRUM. SCRUM is used in the development of software, but has not yet made it to the building industry except in a few rare cases. It has made it to the design industry... well at least for some of us.. Me included. But until it reaches construction... yup the success rate will still remain at about 5%. Design builders and fellow engineers. Read SCRUM, and your life will change... guaranteed! Construction has gotten so complicated that the general contractor can barely manage it... So Owners have hired Construction Managers to help keep track of all of the complexity. This works relatively well (5%) on large jobs. But on small projects (under 30,000 sf) a good General contractor should be able to manage the job with no issue. So how is the architect involved in all of this? MEANS and METHODS. Architects come up with the design, and engineering. But how it is put together and by what means is up to the Contractor. This is where the line is drawn between design and build. I can depict the result with first hand knowledge of HOW it is built... But i cannot dictate or enforce the MEANS and METHODS of a project to a Contractor. He is licensed to figure that out. Admittedly I have "unofficially" given ideas on HOW things can be done, but it's only "unofficially". It's important that a design is made so a product can be built easily, and also maintained easily. We as architects must understand this in order to keep the costs of MEANS and METHODS low. Well at least good architects do this. TRUST Trust is the foundation of capitalism. Without it we are nothing. No lawyer can write a document to cover all risk and liability when it comes to dealing with untrustworthy parties. There is no room for deception, greed, and looking out exclusively for your own interests in capitalism. Capitalism works best when parties look out for and consider each other's interests. And so it is with Contractor and Architect. When we look out for the owners interests as well as the contractors, then we begin to find ways to build good will. (yes another intangible). Trust and goodwill are the intangibles that are difficult to identify on any balance sheet... And yet it is the glue that binds successful project teams together. So when Contractors and Architects work together with the Owner in mutual trust relationships... Wow. That's when real architecture magic happens. So how do you get there? I can't tell everyone to fear God, be good, and behave like Jesus... But I can say that it would be very beneficial to follow the 4-way test of Rotary.: IS IT THE TRUTH? IS IT FAIR TO ALL CONCERNED? WILL IT BUILD GOOD WILL AND BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? WILL IT BE BENEFICIAL TO ALL CONCERNED? AND THE 5th tenant: WILL IT BE FUN?! i'm actually working on putting this into my terms of agreement language so that all of my clients need to follow this. It seems weird, and not very "legal" sounding. But it works in setting a tone and culture of how the job and relationships on the job need to work. IF you have any thoughts, games or tests that can detect integrity in a person's character in one meeting or interview... Please let me know. Even if it's a card game. These are all great ways for clients to interview both architects and contractors. that's it for now! stay creative!
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7/18/2017 01:37:31 pm
Bravo Hale!
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