Picking an Architect II

Well, its time for the next story about building a house, with accompanying observations on how project professionals are seen by the owners for which they work.

I need to build a driveway into the location where my house will be. We had a pretty late fall this year and were able to work later than we expected in the high country. With the trees finally cleared, I wanted to bring a contractor in to rough grade the driveway and take out the large tree stumps. I found a local guy who came recommended and he was prepared to do just that. Its fairly simple, the road just needs to follow the centerline of the area cleared of trees. Once major snowfall occurs, construction work will get tough.

As it happenned about that time, an associate told me that I should use my architect as a project manager and I should leave the driveway project to the project manager. Convicted by the soundness of the argument, as well as the practicing what I preach argument, I did just that.

My architect eagerly assumed the responsibility and took charge. It turns out that the architect doesn't believe in the wisdom of hiring contractors except through the bid process. In truth, he takes a rather dim view of the entire contracting industry. The only way to work with a contractor, in his opinion, is with a rigorously defined job scope, well defined bids and regular inspection. Those things of course require a scope of work and a job walk, which do take time.

To make a long story short, we now have 30" of snow on the ground and no construction driveway. This lack means we cannot drill the well and cannot do the geotechnical work for the house foundations and septic system. Without those things, a building permit will not be issued. Chances are, our schedule took a fairly a hit. That is, if we had a schedule.

On the other hand, we have defined the job the driveway contractor needs to do. Progress can be monitored and we can have some assurance that I will be getting good value for my money.

Now as an owner through this process, I was a bit frustrated. The job is straightforward and the costs low. We are not risking much in the overall CAPEX budget and time is valuable.

As the owner, I can override the architect and say "Just get that guy out there and get it done. I don't care whether we save a few hundred dollars." But that means in our first collaboration as owner and project manager, the owner says "I don't trust or accept your judgement."

But what do I hire a project manager for, if not his judgement?