Do you know the difference between Delegated Design vs Design Assist vs. Information Involvement as your firm is developing the design and construction documents? For a long time, it seemed like every industry, every contractor, and even most architects, had different definitions and understandings of what each of these phrases meant, which often lead to unmet expectations, or worse, unexpected liability.
It's important that you do, including what the expectations are regarding payment, reliance, and liability for the information that is provided by the contractor, trade subcontractors, and suppliers. AIA, in partnership with AISC, has produced two whitepapers that attempt to codify the definitions of each of these items and the expectations for each.
AIA Contracts also has created formal agreements to include in your contracts if you are inclined to make these expectations legal requirements, which may or may not be needed depending upon the extent that architects are asking for and relying upon information provided by others.
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Arlen Solochek, FAIA
Owner/Principal/Founder
Arlen Solochek FAIA, Consulting Architect
Phoenix, AZ
ArlenSolochek@gmail.com------------------------------