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Tom Donoghue, AIA, Principal
Donoghue Project Consulting, LLC
Pittsburgh, PA
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Michael,
The range of replies, so far, illustrates the possible spectrum of positions.
All good opinions.
I am more businessman than designer. I spent the largest part of my career as the client and did a lot of renovation work. We architects tend to stand inside the profession, looking out. The first rule of business it to stand in the customer's place, looking in. Then look at it from inside. And, do consider the risks and rewards.
Customer's point of view:
"What a schmuck. He won't even share a simple drawing of what I can see in the building. What is the secret?" OR "There is a lot more to this than I realized. This guy was really helpful. Maybe I should get on my team?"
Architect's point of view:
"What a pain. I'm not going to spend my time digging out some old drawings, getting them printed, and putting them back in the archive." OR "For a small fee we can dig out these plans and share them as a form of paid marketing. Might even pick up a client!"
Risk & Reward:
"This guy misuses our documents and we get dragged into some mess." OR "We cover our costs plus a fair profit by serving this small part of our market." Maybe it leads to nothing. Maybe we get a friendly, cooperative reputation and that helps us land more work. You measure risk by considering the likelihood and severity of the negative outcome. You mitigate risk with disclaimers or indemnification. You measure reward by considering the likelihood of the positive outcome. You enhance the reward by building reputation and fertilizing the opportunities.
My response:
"Sure, glad to help. I can have someone retrieve those documents early next week and have them copied. Stop by our office on Thursday to pick them up. I also have a short release form for you to sign. You will want to be careful that someone doesn't use those documents in the wrong way and cause you a lot of trouble. Retrieving and printing the drawings should only cost about $(Some reasonably small amount that leaves you whole.)
Of course, you don't give them copies of stamped drawings.
You have them sign a simple release about how they are not to use the documents.
You ask them about their project and how they are going about it.
You educate them about the opportunities they have and you ask them a leading question like "What project delivery methods are you considering?"
They ask you to explain that question and you have a sales lead.
Works for me.
Happy Marketing,
Tom
Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2014 15:50
From: Michael Kemp
Subject: Requests for re-printing of CD's for third parties
This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Retail and Entertainment and Practice Management Member Conversations .
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I completed the TI design and CD's for a restaurant back in 1997. The building shell was already existing. All went well with the construction and relationship with the client. The original owner (my client) sold the restaurant about 2 years ago. Since then the restaurant has been closed down. I recently received a call from a RE broker saying that he represents a new owner, in escrow, and they would like to get a copy of the old plans. As a general policy we do not reproduce plans for a third party that we have no contractual relationship with. And, additionally, since the plans were done 17 years ago, there may have been renovations done to the space that we were not involved with. I therefore am inclined to tell the broker that we can not provide a copy of the old plans to their client. I would greatly appreciate any feedback from members who might have run into a similar situation when asked to re-produce old plans for a new third party. Thanks!
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Michael Kemp AIA
Principal
Michael Kemp Architects
Los Angeles CA
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