Let down by architect - what to do

[jsjsjs]

Hi everyone,

 

My partner and I are working with an architect on a larger house retrofit and update project that also involves a couple of small extensions (to a 1980s timberframe house). We started all of this towards the end of 2021 and were due to start the building work in April 2023. A couple of months prior to that, our architect informed us that the builder he had intended to use, and whom he had worked with successfully on numerous previous projects, was running late on their current project due to supply chain issues. Back then, we were told that the work would be pushed out to June or likely July. During this time, the work with the architect continued, e.g. to get detailed drawings ready for submitting the building warrant.

 

A few weeks ago I checked in with our architect about the likely start date of the work as we're planning to move out during this period. He then informed me that he had irreconcilable differences with the builder and that he would make his priority to look for someone new. So far so good - I'd rather not use a builder who's caused major issues on a previous project. However, this has left us with a potentially further lengthy delay to our project which is not only annoying but also starting to get rather expensive at the current level of inflation 💸

 

Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the bad news. Whilst our architect initially reassured us that he'd make it a priority to find a new builder, three weeks on we mostly have had lukewarm excuses (along the lines of: still waiting to hear back from builders, will ask more people, will come back to you at the end of the week and then not hear anything). We are also struggling to speak to him properly: most communication has been reverted back to emails and we only get short responses when we chase, rather than proactive reassurance and updates. At the same time, the lack of communication is also making it hard for us to talk to contractors on our end. There are several local builders we could reach out to but without knowing whom he is talking to and when makes this difficult.

 

To add to this issue, we found out that the building warrant which should have been submitted at least a couple of weeks ago wasn't actually submitted until earlier this week (after we had specifically enquired about it). Whilst we're trying to be understanding of the pressures that he might be under as this isn't his only project, the whole situation has rapidly eroded our trust, and has left us wondering how he'd deal with difficult situations that could arise during the build. Comparing what we are going through to our own professional experience, we don't think that this level of service is really acceptable from a professional.

 

After a recent meeting was yet again pushed out to the end of this week, we want to seek clarity from him whether this project is still a priority or whether circumstances (workload, health or personal interest) are preventing him from supporting us in this moment of uncertainty. 

 

I'm wondering whether this experience is common or uncommon, and what steps we could take if the relationship deteriorated further. For example:

• Would it be feasible to find a new architect at this stage to take the project forward, or would it even be possible just to work with a builder if they can do the project management?
• What are the architect's professional obligations in this context (looking at the RIBA guidance, these seem pretty vague)?
• From your experience, how long could it take to find a new builder? Maybe our expectations are simply mismatched with what's normal. However, at this stage we are simply trying to get a gauge of which builders would be available from when, rather than detailed costings.
• If we were to ditch this architect and decide to get some of the work done independently, who could we turn to to help us plan the project, if not another architect?

 

Any suggestions or sharing of experience is greatly appreciated - we're feeling pretty stuck and powerless at the moment but just hanging in there and waiting for things to get better also doesn't feel like the right answer!

 

 

[Temp]

Hi @jsjsjs Welcome to the forum. If it turns out to out helpful perhaps consider donating, we have some key fobs to give away to donors at the moment.

 

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/33304-free-build-hub-key-fob-for-donors/#comment-490153

 

 

In our experience dealing with people from the planners to trades is the hard part. We originally planned to have our Architect manage our project but our builder was pretty good and the Architect hardly ever came to the site so I felt we wasted some money on him.

 

Some people use an Architect to manage their builder, some manage the builder themselves and others hire trades themselves. The former is the most expensive but least risk, the latter can be the cheapest but higher risk and a lot of work. There are good, bad and positively ugly builders out there. 

 

There are other ways to go..

 

An option is to hire a Project Manager who might be a retired builder or other profession. With a project manager you pay them a fixed fee and they should be helping you minimise overall costs. They would probably be on site much more than an Architect. Hiring individual trades with help from a project manager might be an option.  

 

Another option is to use a builder but hire a Quantity Surveyor to control payments to the Builder. The QS would visit and assess how much work has been done to date and give you the OK to pay the builder that stage payment. If you decide to make changes the QS can help assess if the builder is charging the right amount - especially if its the builder proposing the changes.

 

Have you tried to find a builder yourself? While looking for plots we did a lot of driving around and any time I saw a nice house being built I asked if the boss was on site. I explained I might be looking for a builder and asked to look around. You can get a good idea what sort of quality they are capable of. Look for odd gaps, neat or untidy plumbing etc. Ask questions and see how they answer you. If they answered with "Oh don't worry about that" I didn't bother to keep their business cards. If they carefully explained their approach to that issue I was more likely to keep it. We found our builder that way. He was working on a fabulous barn conversion. We gave his details to the Architect and he was included in the bidding process and he turned in the lowest offer of three we had. Two other bidders took me to see houses they had built for other people, sure they were nice but I couldn't be sure they wernt taking me to see one they built for their mother 🙂  

 

Are you living in the house? If the house has been unoccupied for more than two years and is still unoccupied you should be able to get renovation work at the reduced VAT rate of 5% instead of 20%. The rules allow you to move in after work starts but not before. 

[Marvin]

Hi @jsjsjs

 

Stepping back a bit, the weather has changed for the better and it has become busier out there, being a good time for building works to gear up, so finding a reliable builder who is not already busy is a challange.

 

@Temps view on being proactive searching for a builder yourself, as well, is sound advice, after all, good communication between you and the people working at your home day in day out for months might be something you would prefer to find out about before work starts!

 

Good luck

 

Marvin

 

[Alan Ambrose]

It's hard to be let down by professionals - you assume that they're 'professional' after all and have a higher standard of work and ethics than the general population.

 

Here's my 10 cents:

• Would it be feasible to find a new architect at this stage to take the project forward, or would it even be possible just to work with a builder if they can do the project management?

If you're at the stage (or nearly) of house designed / planning approved / building warrants done - then you now need a builder and/or project manager.  Some architects can and do project manage with varying degrees of success. Similarly, some SEs. And some builders also.

It may depend of the complexity and innovation level of the design. If a builder has built a very similar house before, then they probably don't need a project manager. If there's a bunch of new stuff, materials, construction methods etc then you might need a dedicated person - probably an engineer type.

I would say you need someone looking after quality. On a commercial job that might be called 'clerk-of-works'. Maybe that's a project manager, maybe that's you if you know what you're doing, maybe an SE if you can be sure they're going to be on site regularly. 

• What are the architect's professional obligations in this context (looking at the RIBA guidance, these seem pretty vague)?

If your agreement / contract doesn't commit you both for the build / project manager stage then feel free to use someone else. During this conversation, make sure  you have access and rights to all the drawings etc you need - maybe in digital (i.e. cad) form. Read your contract if you have not done so already.

Even if the contract commits you to the next phase, you have a get out if the architect doesn't make themselves available. Give the architect every chance, then call the contract 'frustrated' and therefore terminated by virtue of his unavailability. Same as if he had a long term illness or accident and was unable to fulfill the contract for that reason.

• From your experience, how long could it take to find a new builder? Maybe our expectations are simply mismatched with what's normal. However, at this stage we are simply trying to get a gauge of which builders would be available from when, rather than detailed costings.

Long as a piece of string. Personally I would wait for the guy who you think will do the best job. 

• If we were to ditch this architect and decide to get some of the work done independently, who could we turn to to help us plan the project, if not another architect?

(see above) The key thing the architect brings is design. Once that's done (and I think, in this case, it is), an architect may not be the best project manager anyway. Yes, you'll need to give up your easy solution of 'architect gets his mate the builder to execute the job'. That may end up being for the better anyway.

[jsjsjs]

Hi @Temp, @Marvin and @Alan Ambrose, thank you for your time to respond and your valuable suggestions. This is good knowledge to have in the back of our minds when speaking to the architect next. We have already started looking and asking around in the local area but have not yet found a builder who's been recommended wholeheartedly. However, the process has thrown up plenty of suggestions for good individual trades people so that might be the way to go and maybe downscale on some of the more complex parts of the project until we can find the right builder to tackle them.

I'll definitely also start looking whether a project manager / QS / SE might be the right person to support and keep the builder in check. Good to know that it wouldn't be unusual to have someone other than the architect handle to project management from this stage.

Finger's crossed we'll get some more clarity over the coming weeks! 

Edited June 8, 2023 by jsjsjs

[Brendan]

When we started our building works, we had lived for two years in our house that had been largely unchanged since it was built in 1961, and were fed up with it. In retrospect I think we should have waited longer and been more thorough in finding a builder - we went for builder as main contractor route.

The architect helped us with assessing the quotes and were administering the RIBA contract initially- this stopped when we couldn’t afford the monthly architect’s fees and had substantial delays for various reasons. Otherwise I would have been happy for the architect to continue in this role as they are experienced specialists in energy efficient homes - I couldn’t find a local building contractor who had any notable experience of Passivhaus/EnerPhit type projects. 
 

Thinking back, there were signs from the start that our builders weren’t going to be right for the job, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. We have now arranged an early conclusion to our contract with the builder and I am taking on the remaining work myself. 
 

I have had to spend a lot of the spare time that I don’t really have, learning how various construction jobs should be done, to understand whether or not they’ve been done correctly. If you aren’t experienced, and don’t have the time to be on site inspecting and discussing things daily, particularly if your building is in any way “non-standard” (E.g. Passivhaus/EnerPhit) where attention to detail and understanding new/different materials and techniques is important, you need a builder who is humble and intelligent enough to ask for help - or spend time looking it up - and you need someone experienced to help you. E.g. the architect or a good project manager. 
 

My feeling is that if I started again, I would seriously consider project managing myself. 

[Jilly]

I ditched my design architect who would have PM’d  at the beginning because she was expensive but it was a mistake. No one was ever as fully invested in the project and it was a huge learning curve and caused loads of frustrating delays. It would be unusual for an architect to only give you one builder option so so maybe they used to work well together and without this person he is floundering. Whatever you do, make sure you fully understand your plans and watch out all the time for errors. 

[Big Jimbo]

Just a word of warning. Putting your complete trust in an architect, or anybody else.......... I used to know of an architect who had several builders on his list. He didn't play them off against each other, he basically used to say it's your turn for the job. The jobs were hugely overpriced, and he was getting a very large kickback from each job. The builders were all happy, as they were getting nice overpriced jobs on rotation. The people paying over the top were the architects clients.