Facility managers and owners complain about architects who miss schedules, overrun budgets and pursue design awards rather than provide quality service. Why does this happen so often when these two groups do so much work together? It happens because both sides have unreasonable expectations.

     Perhaps this scenario sounds familiar. The company president wants the project done yesterday. The cost of the project has gone sky-high. The efforts to reduce cost have led to a design that resembles a camel --a horse designed by a committee. Thus begins a breakdown in communications and the development of an adversarial relationship.

     The inclination to find someone to blame is only human, and the target is frequently the architect. Sometimes the architect is rightly to blame -- failing to meet schedules through underestimating time requirements and over-committing, or failing to recognize changes in scope or quality that are driving up project costs. Sometimes the owner is to blame -- failing to make decisions in a timely manner, or failing to control the scope of the project by agreeing to the demands of space-hungry departments. But usually, if things are not going well, both sides have created the situation and only by working together can they resolve the issues.

     The following list of suggestions, appropriately implemented, should alleviate the stress and dissatisfaction of your next building or renovation project.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

     Have clear decision making. Today’s clients are multi-faceted. The user, owner, and funding authority are at least three different entities. The facility manager can avoid confusing the users and the architect by clarifying the project decision-making authority.

     If everyone is in charge, then no one is in charge.

     Establish an adequate project budget. Base budgets on recent comparable experiences and estimates before the project starts, require estimates at the midpoint and at the end of schematic design. Design both development and construction documents. Cost is the single most important issue for any project. Many owners approach budgets on an it-ought-to-cost basis. Budgets should include all project costs, escalation to the time frame of construction, and contingency funds for unanticipated costs.

     Communicate effectively. E-mail, fax machines and detailed meeting notes are key to effective communication. Beyond these, you can encourage communication through partnering. This is an organized effort to bring the owner, designers and constructors together to discuss goals, communications and problem-solving methods. Additional techniques include establishing project Web sites and establishing a project office that can be shared by the owner, designers and constructors.

     Develop a complete program. Net square feet, adjacency diagrams, narrative descriptions of project goals and expectations, and other salient project characteristics should be included. Without this information, you are crossing into the wilderness without a map.

     Set a realistic schedule. In order to open the facility on time, it will be necessary for everything to go right. Start your contingency planning now. Remember Murphy’s Law.

     Guard against scope creep. Make it clear to all concerned that any additions to the project must be matched by deletions of equal value. It is easy for a facilities manger to allow influential individuals to impose their wants on a project that already has too many needs and too few resources. Using the architect to resolve these kinds of resource issues confuses the users and destroys communication.

     Deliver bad news in a timely fashion. In an environment where messengers are shot, many facilities managers are tempted to use the architect as a fall guy. Bad news will not smell better with age. The sooner and more directly it is dealt with the better.

WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T DO

     Do not rely on the clairvoyance of the architect. Architects aren’t nearly as smart as you think. In particular, they do not know your institution or company as well as you do. As a consequence, the architect will probably guess wrong in figuring out how to deal with the politics of your institution. This is your job description under "other" duties as required or assigned.

     Do not promise project delivery when you do not control all of the variables. Without control over weather, project deliveries, labor shortages, bureaucratic processes, and decision making, you will be hard pressed to deliver on promise.

     Do not expect perfection. Change orders, errors and omissions are a part of life. Even the best project will have some. If you expect perfection, you will be disappointed. A facilities manager or owner should expect complete, thorough and coordinated construction documents to have errors. The value of change orders resulting from errors should be less than one percent of construction value for new construction. A higher value is appropriate for renovations.

     Do not expect architects to respond to increasing scope without an additional fee. This is part of being fair. You don’t expect those you supervise to work for free. Why would you expect that from an architect? Or do you expect them to lose a little bit on every project and make it up on volume?

     It will take a concerted effort to put these suggestions into action. But once you do, you’ll see that the effort was well worth it. Your projects will run more smoothly and your internal clients, departments and staff will have a higher level of project satisfaction, and you may feel less like firing your architect.

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3D/Group, Inc.
266 North Fourth Street, Suite 200
Columbus, Ohio 43215-2565
email: 3dinfo@3dgroup.com
phone: (614) 464-3600
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