the means by which the members of the profession may keep to the established and safer routes, rather than stray into those which lead to loss and to difficulty. For some years, I have made it a point to note the problems with which my architect clients have been confronted. The following pages are based largely upon these actual cases which have arisen in my own practice. It is my hope that, by referring to cases of this kind, which are, I believe, reasonably typical of those which characterize the practice of most architects, the suggestions, cautionary and otherwise, which I have made, will be more directly brought home to the architect and their application to his practice more easily understood by him. The desire to accomplish this purpose is my excuse for referring, as I do, to many cases in which I have acted as counsel. For obvious reasons, it has not been possible, in discussing these cases, to give the names of those whom they have concerned. The practice of architecture today is a very different matter from the practice of architecture some years ago. Under modern conditions, the architect is called upon constantly to meet problems which, until recently, have not been presented to the profession. It is essential to the proper and successful carrying on of his work that he have a general understanding and appreciation of the basic principles of law upon which his obligations to the client and contractor and their obligations to him are based. It is not intended that the present work shall in any way serve as a book of general prescriptions to meet the ills of the architect's practice, nor is it intended that it shall encourage him to become his own attorney and proceed without proper advice where he should secure it. On the contrary, the purpose is to acquaint him sufficiently with the quicksands lying along his road, so that he may sense danger in time to secure such advice as may be needed to protect his rights and interests and those of his client. No architect should endeavor to store his mind with the exact knowledge of everything which he can safely do or of everything which he must not do, unless he have a mind which is far from average. What the ordinary architect can do, however, and should do, is to fix in his mind the main danger signals and areas sufficiently so that he may recognize them when he approaches them. It is not necessary that he know, to protect himself, exactly what he should do in a given case. It is not necessary that he know the exact wording which he should adopt in a letter or contract. It is not necessary that he know to just what limits he may safely go in approving extras or authorizing changes in the plans or specifications. It is sufficient if he knows that in any one of these respects he is approaching or is upon dangerous ground. He can then secure competent advice as to his rights and be guided in his conduct accordingly. Some people have a genius for doing things first and seeking advice afterwards. Some, on the contrary, are inclined to seek advice on every point, important and unimportant alike. Between these two extremes lies the common-sense rational road to be followed by the ordinary architect of today. When he is on familiar ground over which he has already travelled, let him go forward at full speed. When he is on new and untested ground, notwithstanding that the prospect be fair, let him proceed more slowly and test, by proper advice if need be, the path that lies ahead. With a few main rules in mind, experience will do the rest. The architect will find that, without great difficulty, he will shortly be able to sense the points in which danger is involved in ample time to avoid them altogether or, at the least, to receive advice and be in a position to handle them, on a basis which will not expose him to liabilities or to commitments which he does not intend to assume. An architect cannot be his own lawyer, any more than a lawyer can be his own architect. What he can do, however, is to acquire a sufficiently clear idea of the foundations upon which his rights and liabilities rest to know when he needs legal advice, and when he does not need it. If he arrive at this point, he will have travelled at least three-quarters of the way along the road leading to comparative safety from unnecessary loss and entanglements. All that I can hope or claim for the following pages is that they may serve to set up guide-posts for the architect sufficient to enable him to pursue his course, without straying into treacherous paths. If they do this my purpose will have been accomplished. The subject matter is cross-indexed, in order that the architect can turn as quickly and conveniently as possible to the subject which he may have under consideration at a given time. The appendix includes the forms of agreement between the architect and the client which I have found from actual experience are useful in the practice of the architect and helpful in guarding him against loss and misunderstandings. It includes, also, a form for a partnership agreement between architects, forms for agreements between architects acting as associates, and a form for an agreement between an architect and a landscape architect. These agreements are referred to in the text as occasion requires. The appendix includes also the Standard Documents, Forms, and Schedule of Minimum Charges of The American Institute of Architects and the Schedule of Minimum Charges of the New York Chapter of The American Institute of Architects. I wish to express my appreciation of the courtesy of the American Institute and of the New York Chapter, in permitting the publication of these documents and schedules. Also, I must acknowledge my indebtedness to various architects, who prefer that their names should not be mentioned, but who have consented to the publication of forms which I have prepared for them. The architect will, I believe, derive the maximum of help from the manual by a preliminary reading of the text as a whole and by reference thereafter, by use of the index, to any specific subjects calling for consideration. New York City CLINTON H. BLAKE, JR. |