On occasion, at gatherings of contractors, the discussion drifts to change orders. Someone will say, “I’m glad to see architects and engineers are finally paying for their mistakes.” I have never agreed with that school of thought.

Architects and engineers do not get paid enough. Whether or not a required change is their fault, they do not receive sufficient compensation to cover all the miscellaneous adjustments that occur on a project. If owners are not willing to pay for miscellaneous costs, they need to make that clear at the start, so the architect can charge the appropriate fee for the increased risk.  

• On a recent project, a layer of plywood needed to be added to the roof structure. The client asked why should they pay for the plywood: “That’s the architect’s mistake.” Our response was that the layer of plywood was never in the original bid price, so the client is not paying twice for the layer of plywood.
• Architect can interpret building codes one way and the building inspectors in another way. Result: added cost. Even when the architect wins the argument, it can result in substantial delay of the project. Delays cost the contractor and the client money. In many cases, the best solution is to make the changes requested by the building inspector and keep the project moving.
• On occasions when a client insists that the architect pay for any change orders created by architect errors, change orders are often replaced by lawsuits settled in mediation. The client ends up paying for the changes, and everyone pays the attorneys. Not a satisfying outcome for anyone.
• During a recent project, we encountered a high number of changes made by the architect. It became clear as the design came to a close that the owner had made major changes to the design. These major design changes were not reflected in the contract drawings. In this situation, the owner should have negotiated a fee for the additional design changes. With this additional fee, the architect could have incorporated the changes into the final construction documents. Because this was not done, the architect did his best to incorporate the changes with limited resources and time. Usually, this situation does not work well for anyone – especially the owner.

There will never be a prefect set of drawings. There is never enough time or money for an architect to produce a perfect set of drawings. However, the expectations are that the architect will generate a reasonably accurate set of construction documents, and the client will bear the cost of the miscellaneous changes that occur.  It may not seem fair, but this provides the best value to the client in long run.