Architects and Contractors Working Together (May-June-08)
The first and most important responsibility between the architect and general contractors should always be to the customer.
Usually, as subcontractors, our only contact with the architect comes in the form of plans and shop drawings. Otherwise, we may have secondary contact through the general contractor.
In every construction project, a number of functions must take place prior to construction:
A dream or concept of the owner.
The architect's interpretation of that dream and conversion into a graphic form and then layout the building and design it along with engineers and a multitude of other technicians, artists and spec-checkers to bring a set of plans to the point of sending out bids for all the different work involved in the project.
The owner and architect must then choose a general contractor who, until now, has been establishing an anticipated budget for the cost of the project.
This is where the roofing contractor, along with dozens of other businesses in dozens of fields (with as many as ten or more bidders per field) combine their numbers via the GC on the bid date. When it is discovered that the anticipated project price is considerably over budget, we are then asked what we can do to lower the price aka: "Value Engineering".
In my opinion, this is where the crucial aspect of the project lies. We know as we studied the plans and specs, assembled our scope of work and figures that the wording and design of certain details required extra expense. A few potential problem areas can negatively impact our bid. I think this is where good and confident working relationships pays off as we work through and suggest detail changes to fit the project and budget, which may not always be possible.
Most architects that I know like to have ownership of the plans and details. As tough as it is sometimes to give our ideas to someone else, providing details is one way to build the architect's confidence in us as roofing contractors that care and take a personal interest in a customer's project.
An example: Years ago we were finishing a project in which the new building joined an existing building and required a special expansion joint along with a new reglet cut into the existing wall. The architectural design was such that I knew it would not hold up. After many phone calls and letters, we were at an impasse. We met on the job site, discussed the situation for a couple of hours, and were still not getting anywhere. Finally, I made a full-size drawing of the problem and its solution. I said, "This will work structurally and aesthetically and we will never have to address this detail again." I went on to tell them, "Don't decide now, and call me in the morning with your decision and maybe a drawing." Folks, I'm here to tell you, the architect sent a fax and called me the next day and said, "Here is what I have decided to do. Tell me what you think." It was a drafted copy of my detail. I said, "That is a great idea! You obviously put a lot of thought into it! It's a workable solution to our problem and we will install it just as drawn!"
In this example, there was no room for arrogance on my part. The architect "won" and was very happy with the results; we were happy to have the project finished on time and, true to what I had told him, we have never been back on that project. This was a win/win solution. Since then, I have received many calls from this architect about other details.
A quote here may be: "If we find a situation that we don't like and can't fix, it may be necessary to change our thinking and work within the situation." I believe the roofing contractors in our Association have the integrity and the expertise to move toward, rather than away from, a viable architectural detail. At the same time, most of the architects that we know realize that they don't know it all and are willing to ask for help on difficult details. When this is the case, all are winners and with mutual respect.
As always, if you have comments or good experiences on this subject, please send them to Carla at the Association Office or me.
Featured article from May/June 2008 Issue.
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