14 ways to get better performance from your architect.

Having reasonable expectations of your architect will help prevent dissatisfaction with your next building or renovation project.

Facility managers complain about architects who miss schedules, overrun budgets and pursue design awards rather than provide quality service, Why does this happen so often when these two groups do so much work together? Because both sides, have unreasonable expectations.

Perhaps this scenario sounds familiar: The school board wants the project done

yesterday. The superintendent is grumbling about the incompetence of the facilities department. The cost of the project has gone sky-high. The efforts to reduce cost have led to a design that resembles a camel: a horse designed by a committee. Thus begins a breakdown in communications and development of an adversarial relationship.

The inclination to find someone to blame is human and the target is frequently the architect. Sometimes the architect is rightly to blame: failing to meet schedules through underestimating time requirements and over-committing, or failing to recognize changes in scope or quality that are driving up project costs. Sometimes the owner is to blame: failing to make decisions in a timely manner, or failing to control the scope of the project by agreeing to the unfunded expectations of some constituencies. But usually, if things are not going well, both sides have created the situation and only by working together can they resolve the issues.

The following list of suggestions, appropriately implemented, should alleviate the stress and dissatisfaction of your next building or renovation project.

1. Have clear decision-making.

School building clients are multifaceted. The board, administration, educational planners and taxpayers have at least four different perspectives. The facilities manager can avoid confusing the architect and all other participants by clarifying project decision-making authority. If everyone is in charge, then no one is in charge.

2. Establish an adequate project budget.

Base budgets on recent comparable experiences and estimates before the project starts. Require estimates at the midpoint and end of schematic design, design development and construction documents. Cost is the single most important issue on any project. Many owners approach budgets on an "it-ought-to-cost" basis. Budgets should include all project costs, including escalation to the time frame of construction, and contingency funds for unanticipated costs.

3. Communicate effectively.

E-mail, fax machines and detailed meeting notes are key to effective communications. Beyond this you can encourage communications through partnering: an organized effort to bring the owner, designers and constructors together to discuss goals, communications and problem solving methods. Additional techniques are appropriate if you are undertaking a major development program. These include establishing project Web sites and establishing a project office that can be shared by the owner, designers and constructors.

4. Develop a complete program.

A comprehensive educational program plan, net square feet, adjacency diagrams, narrative descriptions of project goals and expectations, and other salient project characteristics should be included. Without this information, you are crossing the wilderness without a map.

5. Set a realistic schedule.

If, in order to open the facility on time, it will be necessary for everything to go right, start your contingency planning now. Remember Murphy's law.

6. Hire a firm with a compatible attitude about design.

If cost and function are the key elements of the project, hire a firm with a track record for cost control with detailed knowledge of the building type. If you are looking for a new approach to education or establishing a new image, a more design-oriented firm may be required. Such a firm will challenge preconceived notions and "stretch the envelope." In any case, clarity of expectations will prevent confusion and conflict.

7. Resolve conflicts about resource allocation and guard against scope creep.

Make it clear to all concerned those additions to the project must be matched by deletions of equal value. It is easy for a facilities manager to allow influential board members or other constituencies to impose their wants on a project that already has too many needs and too few resources. Using the architect to resolve these kinds of resource issues confuses the users and destroys communications.

8. Expect to pay realistic fees.

In the final analysis, fees are determined by service. As more school boards opt to bid architectural services, the level of service being provided declines. Architects have no choice but to reduce the number of hours provided to a client for a fixed fee. Owners need to be prepared to pay for the level of service they want, and the architect needs to deliver that service. When this equation is not in balance both the owner and the architect feel abused.

9. Deliver badnews in a timely fashion.

In an environment where messengers are shot, many facility managers are tempted to use the architect as the fall guy. Bad news will not smell better with age. The sooner and more directly it is dealt with, the better.

10. Do not rely on the clairvoyance of the architect.

Architects aren't nearly as smart as you might think. In particular, they do not know your school or district as well as you do. As a consequence, the architect will probably guess wrong in figuring out how to deal with the politics of your situation. This is in your job description under "other duties as required or assigned."

11. Do not promise project delivery when you don't control all of the variables.

Without control over weather, product deliveries, labor shortages, bureaucratic processes, decision-making and the architect's production schedule, you will be hard-pressed to deliver on the promise.

12. Do not let the architect get away with sloppy work.

Just because it is a tough business and you beat them down on fee; you shouldn't accept shoddy or incomplete work. Make your quantitative and qualitative expectations known. If you are not satisfied with an architect's performance, tell him or her, and make your terms for satisfaction clean Sometimes, clients who are disappointed just get angry. This may feel better but it doesn't lead to the resolution of problems.

13. Do not expect perfection.

Change orders, errors and omissions are a part of life. Even the best project will have some. If you expect perfection, you will always be disappointed. However, a facilities manager should expect complete, thorough and coordinated construction documents without significant errors. The value of change orders resulting from errors should be less than one percent of construction value for new construction. A higher value is appropriate for renovation. Each project is unique and contains varied conditions. The facilities manager who demands no change orders and no errors or omissions is relying on wishes rather than realism.

14. Do not expect architects to respond to increasing scope without an additional fee.

This is part of being fair. You don't expect those you supervise to work for free. Why should you expect that from an architect or engineer? Or do you expect them to lose a little bit on every project and make it up in volume?

It will take a concerted effort to put these suggestions into action. But once you do, you'll see that the effort was well worth it because your projects will run more smoothly and your internal clients, departments and staff will have a higher level of project satisfaction. You may feel less like firing your architect, and chances are they will be less worthy of firing and more worthy of rehiring.

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

Here are just a few differences in expectations you and your architect may have experienced while working on your last project. Any of these differences can trigger a cascade of additional difficulties leading to the development of an adversarial relationship. The key to avoiding these issues is developing mutual understanding of goals and expectations, and commitments to clear and consistent on-going communication. When issues arise, they are addressed as routine, rather than allowing the development of crises that will threaten the successful completion of the project.

THE ARCHITECT MAY EXPECT:     THE ARCHITECT MAY GET:

* Clear direction             Ambiguity, conflicting direction

* Instantaneous decisions     Extensive collaboration

* Tightly defined scope       Scope "creep"

* Comfortable construction    Inadequate budgets
budgets

* Fair treatment              Unreasonable contract provisions

* Profitable fees             An opportunity to invest in the
                              project

* Quality design              Limited aspirations
expectations

THE FACILITY MANAGER MAY EXPECT:   THE FACILITY MANAGER MAY GET:

* Exceptional service              Nonchalance

* Adherence to limited budgets     Budget busters

* Meeting schedule milestones      Delays

* Comprehensive services           Requests for additional services

* Complete construction            Errors and omissions
documents

* Cost effective design            Extravagance

Michael Haggans, AIA, is an architect with St. Louis-based Hellmuth Obata and Kassabaum (HOK), director of HOK's firm-wide Education Focus Group and a former education facilities manager. This article was adapted from "Fire the Architect!" which appeared in the Facilities Manager publication of APPA.