Who Pays for Design Changes Needed to Reflect a New Code or Regulation?
If your contract does not provide for such an eventuality, you may find yourself providing extensive redesign services…and maybe without compensation. You might want to include in your contract a cutoff date of when your responsibility to adhere to new codes or regulations ends. A fair date is upon the submission of your plans and specifications to the appropriate building authority. Anything after that would be additional services for which you would be compensated.

A Few Strokes of a Key can Modify Your Design and Magnify Your Liability
Changes to software by your in-house computer whiz can result in design errors. Also, some owners may have other ideas for your electronic design and there may be little you can do to protect electronic files from unauthorized use. Some design professionals remove every mention of their firm from every document on electronic media before turning them over to the client. Some lawyers, who have defended engineering firms, have said that keeping a hard copy of your drawings might be a wise thing to do. Rely on time-tested software that has been thoroughly checked out in house against a design with a known result.

Stop and Start Projects
Funding delays, regulatory changes, natural disasters or even client convenience; suspended projects can cause big headaches for design firms. Memories fade and details are lost. You lose continuity and maybe profit. After a reasonable amount of time you should be entitled to an equitable adjustment of fee caused by the interruption. The completion date for your services should also be adjusted. If the suspension is becoming unreasonable you should also have the right to terminate your contract. All these contingencies can be handled in your contract.

Estimates…Budgets…Forecasts
All three are used to provide some kind of cost information. There are significant differences between them. Estimates are used to predict the cost of an entire project or a portion of it. Estimates are converted into budgets which control the cost limitations. Periodically, to update financial performance forecasts are made. They are adjustments for actual circumstances and trends such as how labor is performing, scope changes and an evolving design.

What if you are asked for some kind of a special certification a few days before the deadline for the project's financing or some other important step?
You should negotiate the wording of that certification (probably with the help of counsel) to assure that what your are certifying is in keeping with your contractual obligations and does not require you to guarantee the obligations of others. You should also be wary that it does not require certification of facts you do not actually know and it does not open you up to uninsurable exposure.

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