I'm not convinced that all commercial clients understand the need for an architect either, despite the advice offered to them by building officials. And I am certainly not convinced that the majority of commercial clients understand the architect's role, responsibility, risk and value.
Recently I have worked with small business owners and commercial real estate managers on many remodel projects and I have found that almost all of them believe that all they need is a floor plan drawn up based on their input and that should be adequate for obtaining a permit (in a few days or less) and competitive bids. They are universally surprised when we ask questions that expose that they don't really understand the space needs of their own business, its equipment, the regulatory climate within which it exists or the construction cost climate within which it exists. They are then universally surprised when we propose to charge a reasonable fee to provide the services that will fill in the gap in their understanding and due diligence. Then, they are universally surprised when they are confronted with the reality that someone needs to measure the facility in detail, analyze the functionality of its current layout, analyze its structural condition, analyze its mechanical systems, analyze its plumbing systems and analyze its electrical systems. And they are then universally surprised when we proposed to perform those services for a reasonable fee. Then, they are universally surprised when they realize how many architectural drawings, details and specification pages are needed to satisfy the requirements of the building official and to obtain competitive construction bids.
So, to summarize: while most commercial clients understand that they need an architect, a majority of them do not know what an architect does or what is involved in designing and building a commercial facility.
I am not saying that this lack of understanding can or should be solved with a series of AIA television ads. In fact, I'm pretty well convinced that such a campaign would have little impact. And I'm certain that the ad we've seen so far will have no impact at all, other than perhaps to confirm the existing mistaken impression that architects exist to make buildings complicated, pretty and expensive.
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Sean Catherall AIA
Senior Project Manager
DAVE ROBINSON ARCHITECTS
Salt Lake City UT
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-07-2015 00:27
From: Eric Rawlings
Subject: AIA Campaign creates firestorrm of discontent
At the end of the day we need not convince the commercial market that they need licensed Architects, as one member already pointed out. The plan reviewers do a good job of rejecting drawings without our stamps. The Commercial sector is the smaller sector of the Building Industry and has generated 30-45% less GDP on average than Residential since the 80's (according to the US Census Bureau). At the top of the boom in 2006 the Residential sector generated 200% more GDP. There are 10 new houses built for every new commercial building.
There is no place like home and if there is a perceived need to convince anyone as to whether or not they should choose to hire an Architect or obtain a design from elsewhere, are we not talking about the Residential Sector?
Very few people engage the services of an Architect to design a Commercial Building. Most people purchase houses or have houses built that were not designed by us. We have a reputation that isn't exactly spectacular when it comes to designing houses. In part, we aren't getting the story out there and in part, we aren't the experts we portray ourselves as when it comes to solving residential design problems. Our problem is that we tend to be rather selfish when it comes to "what" design problem we are setting out to solve. In the end people want a beautiful, functional house that can appraise for the construction cost. If the bank won't lend them the money, then they can't build the house. Most people can't afford to come out of pocket for a substantial sum when we fail to recognize where the money comes from. This is part of the reason many of us deal with a very small portion of society that can afford to let us "over design" a house for the area. When we bring "value" to the table, we often think of very philosophical version of the word value except for the money. As much as we arrogantly feel we need to educate everyone as to why they need us, we need to learn why we need them for our profession to be more relevant. We need to learn to solve more than one design problem.
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Eric Rawlings AIA
Owner
Rawlings Design, Inc.
Decatur GA
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