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I just received the following email from our architect this morning and not sure what to make of it.

 

The architect has done all the drawings and managed the planning and building warrant stage. In January he also put the work out to tender for us. At the time I asked him to tender the work to sub contractors. However more recently I have noticed that some of the main contractors are struggling so I decided to ask a few of them to quote for all the work. I sent them all the plans including the Structural Engineering drawings.

 

I suppose my question is do the CAD drawings belong to me and therefore can I ask the architect for them, or does he actually own them and I can only PDF versions of the plans?

 

 

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Just a quick e-mail to let you know we are being contacted by Nordan, Russells, Scotframe and a granite suppliers on behalf of other contractors asking for confirmations, sign offs, CAD drawings etc.

 

Just to let you know we can’t issue CAD drawings or be involved with any production information stage if we are not employed to do so for that stage. I am not trying to be awkward or anything like that but we have no control of the project and levels of information / communication if we distribute such information and voids our PI insurance. I would be very wary at ordering windows and doors without kit manufaacturers being appointed.

 

I trust you understand this and if you do want us involved in this stage then we are more than happy to do so but you have to let us know.

 

we do not issue the CAD drawings purely because these can be edited, manipulated and outwith our control therefore flags issues with PI insurance.

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Edited by ultramods
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Quite a tricky one.  Our last architect just did planning drawings and handed the CAD drawings to us and we appointed others to do Building Regs.  I cannot see how it will void theer PI by giving you the CAD files for you to do with as you like.  They are after more money I think.

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@ultramods

From the description you gave of your build it sounds like you are in Scotland?

I'm an architect working in England but assuming the forms of contract are similar and if your architect is a member of the RIAS and used their standard form of appointment then you as the client have a license to copy and use the architects drawings and other documents produced on your behalf for your project. I would ask for an electronic copy of their .dwg CAD drawings and say that you will not hold them responsible for any subsequent modification of those drawings.

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@ultramods its an ambiguous email from your architect. My reading of the email is that it says that they wont provide info to third parties on your behalf (without being paid to do so). They are not however saying that they wont give such information to you, which you can then give to the third parties. 

 

I am currently engaging an architect. From my research, I think that CAD files are a grey area. But I will be stating explicitly with mine at the time of engagement that I can have all the drawings & files I wish.

Edited by Dreadnaught
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What irritates me with this slightly is he asked us last year if he attach his large advertising banners onto the site Heras fencing, I had no problem with this.

 

But now I see him potentially trying to extract more money from us on grey area when I have let him use our site for free advertising for the last 8 months - seams very one sided.

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16 minutes ago, ultramods said:

@Ian yes we are in Scotland, he is not registered with RIAS because he is an Architectural Technologist.

Okay, never mind.

 

From what you said earlier it doesn't sound to me as if he is trying to get more fees out of you but is naturally reluctant to get involved in part of the job for which he isn't getting paid.

It would still be worth a phone call to have a chat with him to see if he is able to give you an electronic copy of the .dwg CAD drawings. Tell him that you are happy to give him a disclaimer in writing saying that he won't be held liable for any subsequent use of the drawings.

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5 minutes ago, ultramods said:

But now I see him potentially trying to extract more money from us on grey area when I have let him use our site for free advertising for the last 8 months - seams very one sided.

 

In my (limited) experience, coordinating with sub contractors is part of an architect's usual standard product offer, their bread-and-butter. He seems to be reacting in this vein.

 

By all means, tell him that you will do this yourself and he should provide you with the needed files to do so. Once you have the files, what you do with them is your business so long as you are using them solely for the project as originally intended, and not, for example, setting yourself up as a retailer of said plans to third parties, which would infringe his copyright.

Edited by Dreadnaught
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58 minutes ago, Ian said:

@ultramods

From the description you gave of your build it sounds like you are in Scotland?

I'm an architect working in England but assuming the forms of contract are similar and if your architect is a member of the RIAS and used their standard form of appointment then you as the client have a license to copy and use the architects drawings and other documents produced on your behalf for your project. I would ask for an electronic copy of their .dwg CAD drawings and say that you will not hold them responsible for any subsequent modification of those drawings.

"A licence to use and copy the drawings" A PDF copy is fine for this. It doesn't state modify?

 

As an Architect in Ireland we rarely issue autocad drawings. It's just a recipe for disaster. We actually work in Revit which is 3D BIM software that can export to autocad if required but same principles apply.

 

For large projects we work on (hospitals, schools, etc) we include in the tender documents that the contractor has to create their own as built drawings of the project in 3D BIM software. The school, university or hospital maintenance department then use these 3D drawings to help identify service routes, equipment reviews, filter checks, fire alarm checks, etc as part of the safety file. It's actually a government requirement that a 3D BIM drawing is handed over to the client on competition of publicly funded projects but the contractor prepares these to ensure all service routes are correct. If a pipe that was supposed to run in the floor on our drawings is changed to the ceiling onsite they're more likely to pick up on this.

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