Buildings Reports
Reports, related to a project, must be truthful, factual and should be as unbiased as possible. Remember, any report, regardless of its original purpose, could ultimately be used in future litigation. Normally a report is prepared for an owner, a prospective owner or potential unnamed owners. Since the conclusions in the report could in due course affect a sale with considerable financial implications, careful wording is extremely important…and a carefully worded disclaimer is always appropriate. CASE has available on its website (www.acec.org/case) Guidelines for preparing building reports.

Make a Decision, Please!
The designers of today are faced with a multitude of options and decisions on every project. Each decision influences the quality of the final project and determines the detail required at each phase of the project. At some point, the documents must be sufficiently complete to construct the project. The Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners leave no doubt about the intent of their law. "Completeness and coordination of all necessary information is the responsibility of the registered architect and/or professional engineer."

The "Bones and Sinew" of a Contractual Relationship
…is the language expressing the basic responsibilities of the parties. It should appear in the General Conditions of the contract and best be "carved in stone". The basic General Conditions are also sometimes referred to as "boilerplate". These should be consistent from project to project. However, there will be provisions that need supplementing and/or amending but these should be handled elsewhere in "supplementary conditions". It is well to remember however that all provisions of the contract documents are contractual and have legal consequences. The wording of any part of any specification or any drawing could prove to be of more legal significance than any language in the general conditions.

The Butterfly Effect in Contracts
A butterfly's wings may create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause (or prevent) a tornado somewhere else. It refers to the idea that small changes in one place may create great changes elsewhere. Since no standard form can precisely fit the needs of every project, amendments and supplements to all standard forms are to be expected. Make them wherever necessary. Also, consider the ripple effect of each change, not only on other part of the document being changed but also on other documents that make up the set contract documents for that particular project.

Click here to return to Newsletter Archives