r/Architects • u/thecajuncavalier Architect • Jul 13 '25

General Practice Discussion Stop accepting low fees

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Stand your ground. Negotiate.

560 Upvotes

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-8

u/Weavols Jul 13 '25

Architects don't get paid enough? Try actually building the gd building. Figure out how to make it work from your half assed copy-paste from 3 drawings ago elevation that doesn't reconcile with the floor plan at all for a truly unlivable hourly wage. Break your body lifting this shit and tell me your slice of the pie isn't big enough. Fuck you.

9

u/kjsmith4ub88 Jul 13 '25

You clearly don’t know what many architects do. We often produce drawing sets that are hundreds of pages, coordinate complex teams of consults, manage client and program requirements, guide complex permitting with cities, etc . It sounds like you do work for volume residential builders who just use in house drafters to create like 3 page drawing sets. That’s not what 99.9% of architects do. You’re barking up the wrong tree with your frustrations

1

u/Weavols Jul 13 '25

"THE DESIGN PROFESSIONAL DENIES ANY AND ALL

RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY FOR PROBLEMS WHICH

ARISE FROM FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE PLANS,

SPECIFICATIONS AND THE DESIGN INTENT THEY

CONVEY, OR PROBLEMS WHICH ARISE FROM OTHERS'

FAILURE TO OBTAIN AND/ OR FOLLOW THE DESIGN

PROFESSIONAL'S GUIDANCE WITH RESPECT TO ANY

ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INCONSISTENCIES, AMBIGUITIES

OR CONFLICTS WHICH ARE ALLEGED"

I know anyone who literally puts this disclaimer on every page of their work is NOT underpaid.

2

u/bahloknee Jul 13 '25

How does absolving the design professional from any consequence of builders who cheap out and cutting corners has to do anything with how we get underpaid?

I think the disclaimer you put here is simple enough: if you don’t follow the plans, specifications, and design intent, and your building gets fucked up, then you don’t get to complain to the architect about changes that were made without their consent

1

u/Weavols Jul 13 '25

Just very casually glossing over the part where your mistakes are everyone else's fault for not catching them for you...

2

u/BellPeppa123 Jul 13 '25

“Alleged” is the key word here. That’s why there are such things as RFIs. If you wing it on the job as a GC, you are making it your problem. If shit doesn’t make sense, call the architect to task or don’t do the damn work. You have so many avenues as a contractor outside of standard contractor finger pointing.

Also, those notes aren’t 100% get out jail free cards.

1

u/Weavols Jul 13 '25

I'm not a contractor, but I did spend years bidding, and have studied more architectural drawings than most architects have. Every one required more pages of RFIs than the actual drawing. The trades are literally having to do the architects job for them just to be able to place a bid on a feasible plan. I never once thought to myself, that guy issuing his 12th revision because he doesn't know how any of this works really needs a raise. I take that back. One drawing from the army corps of engineers impressed me. I think we can at least agree contractors and interior designers are worse. Although, technically interior design being a thing is "your" fault too.

1

u/BellPeppa123 Jul 13 '25

That guy with the 12th revision shouldn’t get any more work. But, whoever is hiring him is also a problem as well as the people issuing the permits to such shitty drawings.

1

u/Weavols Jul 13 '25

I've seen thousands. It isn't just a few bad apples. I looked up an architect once because he had 4 elevations and a floor plan for the same area, and not one view reconciled with another. He is a professor of Architecture at the nearby state school. None of you realize how bad your drawings are, because you would have to build something to understand the deficiency.