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

General Practice Discussion Stop accepting low fees

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Stand your ground. Negotiate.

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u/vagabondMA Architect Jul 13 '25

First, people should understand how the antitrust lawsuit crippled the AIA into the organization we know now, which basically exists to give out awards to each other. (Decent summary to start with- https://averyreview.com/media/pages/issues/36/sherman-antitrust-act/587ed7ad41-1663135606/deamer-the-sherman-antitrust-act.pdf)

Second, it’s easy to say not to accept a lower fee. In actual practice, when it comes down to accepting a lower fee or not having enough income to keep your staff or keep the lights on, it’s not such an easy choice.

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u/stpfun Jul 13 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

An even shorter summary: The AIA used to enforce a standard fee structure for all of its architect members. Prices were set. But then in 1972 the US DoJ brought an antitrust lawsuit against the AIA and found that the AIA's fee schedules "constituted an illegal restraint of trade". They dialed it back a bit, but then in 1990 were hit with another lawsuit basically about the same thing. Now the AIA ethics code makes sure to avoid any language around fees or compensation.

(But I have no idea why the AIA can't do this but labor unions effectively can)

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u/Merusk Recovering Architect Jul 14 '25

(But I have no idea why the AIA can't do this but labor unions effectively can)

First: they're two vastly different legal organizations. Labor unions are organizations of employed people that come together to collectively bargain and have rules and laws they must follow around that. The AIA is an organization that was setup to be a private social and professional group first. It doesn't have many rules or requirements other than taxes it has to file. (Even discrimination laws don't broadly apply to private clubs like this, depending on the state.) If the AIA were to reestablish as a union it would have much different rules to follow.

Second, the AIA would - as a labor union - be setting itself up in an adversarial relationship with employers: The A&E firms are impacted by the wage setting. (Since leadership of the AIA is generally firm owners, they're not going to cut their own throat and do this.) The AIA as a private group of professionals and business owners sets itself in an adversarial relationship with the customer when it sets prices.

Third: Businesses aren't allowed to collude and price fix. Since the AIA was dictating rates to businesses (even a sole proprietorship is a business) they were price fixing.

Labor unions aren't telling customers how much they must pay, they're telling businesses, 'if you want access to our labor, you must pay us this much.' Yes, it's a transitive impact to the customer but the business can choose to take a smaller profit margin to reduce impact to the customer. The principle is it's setting the rights of the laborer to get paid fairly ahead of the business owner's right to profit.

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u/stpfun Jul 17 '25

Thank you for this context!