Architekwiki
  • Home
  • WIKI
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Other
    • Reading List
    • Ochre >
      • Ochre
      • Ochre KB
      • Ochre FAQs
      • Ochre Help
    • Details
    • The 3 Aspects
    • About
    • Subscription FAQs
    • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • WIKI
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Other
    • Reading List
    • Ochre >
      • Ochre
      • Ochre KB
      • Ochre FAQs
      • Ochre Help
    • Details
    • The 3 Aspects
    • About
    • Subscription FAQs
    • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe

Architekwiki

A Resource For Architects
Click here to get good stuff in your inbox

Categories

All
Business Development
Business Management
Design
Detail
Miscellaneous
Project Management
Resources

Archives

January 2023
November 2022
October 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
June 2021
May 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012

Building Committees

2/12/2017

 
Building Committees
This is what I have learned about working with Building Committees. First, make no mistake, Building Committees are very different. 
​

Building Committees
​

Let me put everything into perspective by giving you my experience with building committees. I am by no means an expert. I would say that about 1/4 of our work involved a Building Committee. At least 3/4 of those were for parochial organizations - church schools, diocesan high schools. The other 1/4 were not-for-profit organizations - a rehabilitation center, a water district, a fire district and similar. 

You might draw the conclusion that when you are spending other people’s money, a building committee is the way to go. 



Some Observations

My experience is that almost no one on any of the building committees that I worked with had any design or planning expertise. Nor had they ever been through the design process before. In other words your committee is likely to be novices.

Not once in my career did I receive the program, budget and schedule that is anticipated by the standard Owner - Architect Agreement. Chances are good that your Building Committee doesn’t know what you mean by a program.

What got you hired may not be what they need or even want. So you will need to figure that out together.

The engineers and contractors on the committee will balk at developing an actual program so that you know what you are supposed to be designing. They usually say, “Just do it”. Like Nike. And, “We know what we want”. 

You will be asked to do things their way or out of sequence at least once. It never seems like that big of a deal, but it is definitely a slippery slope.

There is a tendency for a Building Committee to want to get bids from every contractor they have ever heard of. They want to pay the least amount for the building. They don’t want to disappoint anyone. They want the bid to resolve all their decisions. 

The project budget may be set based on a fund drive that won’t start until you have drawings they can use, and the fund drive won’t end for a year from now. Most projects don’t have this large gap, and they will want you to keep working so they don’t lose any time.

If they are lucky enough to land a major donor, there is a fair chance that the donor will be allowed to direct the project. It is hard to imagine circumstances where this goes smoothly or well. I never experienced one that did.

This link to an earlier post that I did will fill in the picture.  About Building Committees



Some Advice

Don’t rush into design. Make sure you know the project’s goals and its background before you start. The Mandeville process is intended for Sales, but make sure you know all about the work you are about to do by visiting that process. This past post explains what I mean and the forms are downloadable there. One Sales Tactic You Must Use 

Use the kickoff meeting with the Building Committee to explain your design process. You need to make it clear that you are in charge of the design process. When they want to deviate, you will have the basis for disagreeing - or at least getting paid extra to do it their way.

Make a formal request for the Program, Budget and Schedule. Document what the response is. Offer to help them prepare the documents for a fee. At the very least, get paid by the hour for Schematic Design while you figure out the Program as well as complete SD.

As soon as possible prepare a Project Cost and Project Schedule. This is the only way I know of to get everybody on the same Time and Money pages. For Cost include everything that they will have to spend money for. My experience is that no one else will do this if you don’t. If they don’t know the bottom line, there will be a problem sooner or later. Here’s the format that I used.

Stick to the standard design phases and get approval before moving on. You will be surprised at how difficult this is, which should tell you how important it could be. There is always a big change. They will want you to make it without cost. You are a fool if you do. 

Most of the time Project Delivery is not an issue. They are thinking Design-Bid-Build. If they are thinking something else, make sure you find out about it early on - and make sure you are comfortable with it, and make sure their parent organization permits what they have in mind.

Try to steer the Building Committee toward bidding the project to three pre-qualified general contractors. That takes the sting out of the ‘Low Bidder’ syndrome. You may still end up with six, but at least it won’t be twenty firms you never heard of.

Make liberal use of alternative bids. On Bid Due Day you want to have a clear path to construction. Having 15% of the project in alternative bids is the best way I know of to achieve that.

​
The first few times that I worked with a Building Committee, I got killed on changes. Slowly the nature of the beast became clear. Here’s your chance to learn from the mistakes of others.
Building Committees
If you would like articles like this sent to your inbox, SUBSCRIBE.

Here's how to forecast your revenue. OFFPLAN

Create your competitive edge. Trello-PM. A Project Management guide.

Use FeeCalqs, a digital Fee Calculation tool.

​
​###

Comments are closed.
    Resources

    Start Here

    YouTube Channel

    Join The Mailing List

    Terms of Use
    Your use of Architekwiki is implicit agreement with the 
    ​
    Terms of Use.
    Thank You for your donation

    x
    Get Good Stuff in Your Inbox
    Picture
    Subscribe

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Business Development
    Business Management
    Design
    Detail
    Miscellaneous
    Project Management
    Resources

Picture

Picture
VISIT ARCHITEKWIKI'S RESOURCES
​
START HERE
ABOUT
SIGN UP
TERMS OF USE
Architekwiki | Architect's Resource | Greater Cincinnati 
© 2012-2022   Architekwiki​