Hiring

Projects begin with planning, then move into design and construction. As this process progresses there is more and more certainty about the parameters of the project, what it consists of, where and when it will be built, how it will be paid for. Often, to begin this process, a planning study or project definition study must be done even before you know that you want to build. These initial contracts are often small, but still would fit into the category of architect and engineer contracts.

School districts are famous for making hash of the architect hiring process. The classic horror story is that the district starts the hiring process wanting to save a great deal on fee, and hires the architect whose proposed fee is lowest. Said architect gives relatively poor service, as per their compensation. Owner, near the end of the process, feels wronged by lack of choices, poor design, hasty construction documents, or whatever, and sues architect.

How can this nightmare be avoided? Most larger government agencies, as well as the Federal government, use some form of qualification-based selection process. In this process, the owner hires following these steps (or some variation of them):

1. The school or district establishes a hiring committee and procedures. The committee prepares information describing the project (a request for proposals, or RFP), the site, the budget, and any other pertinent information. This may require some work. The district may want to hire an educational facilities planner to help with this process. If the district has determined that a certain fee is reasonable for this work, the fee is described as well. It is made clear that this is not a design competition, and that design will not begin until after a contract has been signed.

2. In response to advertisements, architects submit proposals. The district reviews those proposals accrording to the criteria outlined in the RFP, either using a point system or at least by documenting their reasons, which most often relate to experience, size, availability, proximity, or references. If the district has a budget for architectural fees, the anticipated amount is clearly stated in the request for proposals.

3. A certain number of firms are invited to an interview (usually at least three, most often no more than five or seven). If references weren't checked when the proposals were reviewed, it is important to check them now, and to forward the information to the committee members (see References, below).

4. After the interviews (usually 30-60 minutes in length), the committee deliberates, and, documenting why, forwards a recommended list of firms in rank order to the district.

5. The district negotiates fee and service level with the preferred firm. If they are unable to come to terms, the district breaks off negotiations and begins negotiating with the second firm. During this process, it is important for both sides to understand the expectations and committments. Sometimes architecture firms offer services which the owner neither wants nor is willing to pay for. Other times, the owner expects certain services to be included in the architects proposal which may not be there.

References
Reference checking is a fine art. It is wise to make more than one check on each firm, and at least one of those should be a reference not listed in the firm's proposal. Make sure that the project references checked were the work of the same people in the firm, as a firm's performance can vary widely depending on the personnel assigned to the project.

References can prevent you from hiring a firm that would be a bad fit for your project. They can also warn you about weak points in a firm that you might be about to hire. For example, if you find that an otherwise excellent firm has an unfortunate tendency to change the personnel assigned to a project while it is underway, you may want to include a clause in their contract that prevents them from doing that without your permission (naming the people by name).

One bad reference need not prevent you from hiring a firm. Every firm has a project that has gone sour. If you do get a bad reference, it is important to continue checking until you are confident of the pattern that is emerging. What is this firm like? Do you want to work with them? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Remember that reference information is confidential. It is considered very unprofessional to discuss a reference conversation with an outside party who is not part of the hiring committee.

The following reference check questions are used at the University of Oregon Planning Office.

REFERENCE QUESTIONS FOR PROSPECTIVE CONSULTANTS

- Get name, position, and current status of person being interviewed.
- How many projects have you worked on in which this firm has been involved? Size of project? Budget? Dates?
- How did you come to select this architectural firm?
- Who were the principals in the firm most directly involved in your project?
- At what point did you become involved in this project? In what capacity?
- Did you deal with the architects directly? Who talked with the architects? (How many meetings? / How often?)
- Were you part of a team, committee, user group, a principal?
- Do you have a standard design and planning process?
- Was the firm (or its principals)
- Easy to work with?
- Concerned with your needs to the expected degree?
- Good listeners?
- Good advocates for the owner before contractors, public bodies, etc.?
- Good at recovering from mistakes?
- Did you get what was promised in the interview? People/Process/Product?
- Was the design team consistent?
- Did they see the project all the way through to completion and during the "break-in" period?
- What was the biggest architectural problem you faced upon beginning the
project? Did the firm resolve this problem to your satisfaction?
- Did the architect recommend any unconventional building techniques or materials? Were these successful? If not, how much of that responsibility is the architect's?
- Were there any surprises regarding their fees? Any unexpected extra charges?
- Did the architect's estimates come close to the actual bids?
- How was the quality of their work with their consultants?
- Do you like the building? Does it work as it ought to? Did you get the building you thought you were buying?
- What don't you like about your building? To what degree is that the architect's fault?
- What do you feel the general over-all reaction has been to the project? Have you received any public feed-back?
- What was the biggest trouble in working with these architects? Were there any hassles or arguments that were difficult to resolve?
- Who else should I talk to who can tell me more on these architects?
- Have you hired this firm again?
- Would you hire them again?
- Make an offer to someday reciprocate the reference.

WHAT'S IN A CONTRACT?
It is very important for a contract to clearly spell out what is expected of each party. Here are a few questions that should be considered. How much is the compensation, and at how and when does payment occur? How and when can the contract be terminated? What are the basic services covered? How are extra services (for extra fee) incurred? Who has what rights to the plans or other product? Is the owner responsible for all survey information (incuding information about existing buildings)? If the bid price exceeds the estimate by a certain percentage, will the architect or engineer modify the plans and specifications to bring the project within budget without charge to the owner?

Even if your district doesn't want to go through the effort of carefully working out details of the contract, be sure that the following provisions are not onerous. They are listed here because they have been problems in cases where districts have signed (and regretted) standard contracts.

Termination: This provision should allow for termination without penalty at the end of each major phase of design (schematic design, design development, construction documents, construction administration). Upon termination, owner should owe architect for the entire amount for that phase, and no more.

Insurance: A provision should clearly require the architect to maintain Comprehensive General Liability as well as Errors and Omissions in amounts suitable to the size of the project.

Extra services: These should be allowed only when approved in advance in writing by the owner .

Construction cost: The contract should clearly state how much the construction is expected to cost, usually expressed as the anticipated bid amount. Most contracts require the architect to modify the plans as needed to stay within this amount.

Design control: It is important to include language requiring owner's approval at the end of each design phase, and language requiring written authorization from the owner before proceeding with the next phase.

The following link goes to a sample contract used by the University of Oregon for a large project. It contains language which addresses the above issues.

TRADITIONAL OWNER/ARCHITECT AGREEMENT

In this arrangement, the owner has a contract with the architect. All of the other design professionals have contracts with the architect. The architect has full responsibility to the owner for all design responsibilities.

Advantages: Owner only needs to deal with one entity, the architect. Disadvantages: Architect may want to use engineering or other consultants that the owner doesn't want. Owner doesn't have direct access to some team members. All information is filtered through the architect.

Advantages: Owner can select team members that they want. Critical team members can be directly responsible to the owner. Disadvantages: Responsibilities may be confused, especially in the area of coordination. Owner is the only means of resolving disputes between team members.

RETAINER AGREEMENTS
Some owners maintain retainer agreements with architects, engineers, or landscape architects. These are especially useful for small projects or emergency work, as the contract is already in place, and no hiring process other than agreement on fee is required before undertaking a project. If you use retainer agreements, it is important to limit their duration (usually one to three years). It is probably a good idea to "spread the work around" either with retainer agreements with more than one firm at a time, or changing from one firm to another, in order to foster a competitve environment.

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