Managing Expectations

Many complaints ARB receives about architects turn out not to be professional failings, but genuine misunderstandings by lay clients about what an architect should be expected to do. While this lack of knowledge about the building industry may not be the architect’s fault, it nevertheless results in an unhappy customer and an architect having to deal with a complaint.

We commonly receive complaints about architects failing to acquire planning permission after they had agreed to, contractors not being supervised, or builders being unable to construct complex buildings from planning drawings. While all of these complaints demonstrate a lack of knowledge about the building industry, they are also evidence of clients not having matters explained to them.

While there is no obligation on an architect to provide such explanations (and a failure to do so is unlikely to amount to misconduct), architects who engage with inexperienced clients are creating potential problems if they don’t manage the expectations of their customers. It is always good to remember that things that seem obvious to those who have spent an entire career in the construction industry are inevitably less clear to a domestic client, who may be embarking on a building project for the first and only time.  Often it is as important to explain the limitation of your services as it is to detail what you are going to do. It will be even better if this is put into writing as part of your letter of engagement, for then there can be no future argument about what was said and when.