Quizzes Flashcards
Paid training. (Which of the following types of compensation should be prioritized in order to attract talent to work at a firm?)
Having a robust training program helps to attract talent to the firm; the potential employee will assign a value to the training that’s being offered, especially if it aligns with their career goals and if the training is free and offered during working hours. Training programs also help to retain existing talent at the firm.
Base pay. (Which of the following types of compensation should be prioritized in order to attract talent to work at a firm?)
A competitive or above-market base pay is a highly motivating factor when it comes to attracting talent: they’ll start earning this immediately upon beginning work for the firm. Base pay has a moderate impact on retaining talent and a relatively low impact on day-to-day work.
A project manager is preparing for an interview with a candidate for a designer position on their team. The project manager is meeting with the firm’s human resources manager in preparation for the interview, and they are working on a list of questions that will be used to guide the interview.
Which of the following questions are acceptable to be asked during the interview? Check the three that apply.
What’s your biggest weakness?
How would your previous manager describe your work?
Why did you leave your last place of employment?
An architect is alleged to have accepted a client’s retainer 12 months ago but never began work on their project.
In this situation, the client is likely to pursue legal action against the architect in addition to filing a complaint with the licensing board. As we discuss in our video Licensing (4:30), licensing boards generally wait until civil or criminal complaints are decided upon before taking action themselves. In these situations, they defer their judgement for a later date, meaning that the board will review the case at a later time. This is different from referring the case to another agency, which means that the board will not review the case and another outside agency will instead.
A former client files an incomplete complaint against an architect because they dislike the design of their home.
Such a complaint is likely to be dismissed, not deferred. It’s incomplete, and while the architect should attempt to design a project that their client is satisfied with, no ethical violation is alleged in this situation. The board cannot take action against an architect based on a complaint that the client dislikes the aesthetic of the home that the architect designed for them.
A non-architect is accused of practicing architecture without a license.
The licensing board would likely refer such a complaint to the attorney general’s office in the jurisdiction. Since the licensing board only has jurisdiction over licensed architects, they can’t take any action against a non-architect.
An architect is accused of accepting payment from a material vendor in exchange for specifying their product.
This is an ethical complaint against an existing architect that the licensing board would likely investigate further. There’s no evidence in this answer choice that the board would defer judgment in this case.
Which of the following consultants will be engaged by the architect? Check the three that apply per AIA B101, article 3.1.
Structural engineer
Mechanical engineer
Electrical engineer
A project architect at a firm with 11 employees unfortunately had an accident on site that resulted in the project architect requiring minor knee surgery.
Which type of insurance covers the costs of such an incident?
Worker’s compensation.
Worker’s compensation insurance covers medical payments and lost wages when employees are injured during the course of their employment duties. We cover the various types of insurance, as well as what they cover, in our video Types of Insurance (5:15)
Employment practices liability
This type of insurance protects firms against claims by employees or former employees such as wrongful termination, discrimination, or sexual harassment. Workers who are injured during the course of their employment receive benefits from the firm’s worker’s compensation policy.
contractor’s commercial general liability
Commercial general liability (CGL) policies cover third parties if they’re injured at the firm’s place of business. However, since the incident in question occurred to an employee of the architect’s firm, the firm’s worker’s compensation insurance pays for this type of claim.
The firm’s commercial general liability
Commercial general liability (CGL) policies cover third parties, such as clients, if they’re injured at the firm’s place of business. It does not cover the firm’s employees if they’re injured, regardless of location; those injuries are always covered by worker’s compensation insurance. CGL policies do cover third-party property damage caused by firm employees, such as an employee damaging an expensive vase at a client’s home while taking field measurements for a renovation project.
An architect’s small firm has been in business for two years, and the principal currently handles all of the accounting, bookkeeping, and insurance duties for the firm. They recently received a bill from their insurance company requesting payment of the yearly fee associated with their professional liability insurance.
What is the fee that the architect is being asked to pay called?
Premium. Premiums are the amount that you pay in exchange for the carrier agreeing to cover your firm in the event of a claim. We discuss premiums, as well as many other insurance vocabulary words, in our video Insurance Basics (6:25). Premiums are calculated by insurance carriers based on a number of factors, such as your firm’s average annual billings, history of claims, and types of projects or clients. The premium paid for insurance is typically a very small percentage of the coverage limit that the insurance policy affords your firm.
Which of the following factors are likely to be considered by the IRS when determining if the worker is an employee or independent contractor?
Uses the company’s software licenses.
Is granted five paid sick days per year.
Which of the following characteristics would classify the position as a non-exempt position? Check the three that apply.
The position is part-time.
The employee’s job entails manual labor. (per FLSA)
The employee is paid an hourly wage.
A small 6-person architectural firm with two principals, three designers, and an office administrator typically takes on a variety of design commissions in their area: 60% residential, 20% commercial and 20% civic. They typically act in the role of design architect and work with separate architects of record to execute the contract documents for their projects. Because of their relatively small production team, they’ve learned to work efficiently with their partner architects of record in order to produce deliverables. The firm’s principals are highly recognized and sought after for their expertise and design abilities, and they have a combined 50 years of experience designing high-end residences in their market area.
Which of the following types of architecture firms best describes this firm?
Expertise-based.
Based on the information provided, it seems that this firm has a narrow staffing triangle and relies heavily on the expertise of their principals in order to obtain and complete work in coordination with external architects of record. We discuss a variety of factors, including staffing triangles, that contribute to a firm’s business plan in our video Types of Architectural Firms. The principals have extensive experience in high-end residential projects, which is common of expertise-based firms: they wouldn’t be sought after for their expertise if they weren’t also experienced. They are highly recognized and sought after for their expertise and design abilities, which seems to be the most unique factor that would determine their firm type. Additionally, their reputation suggests somewhat of a ‘starchitect’ aura to the firm, and these ‘starchitect’ firms tend to be expertise-based firms.
Note that many firms have a combination of experience, efficiency, and expertise as part of their business plan. When determining what type of firm a firm most resembles, analyze the staffing triangle and identify their most unique factor.
The principal of an architectural firm, JK Architects, is considering merging with another firm, XL Architecture and Design, in order to increase their production capability and expand their breadth of experience. Each firm currently has 20 employees, and the principal of JK Architects is interested in understanding the hiring strategy that XL Architecture and Design plans on enacting during the upcoming year.
Which of the following sections of XL Architecture and Design’s business plan should the principal of JK Architects review in order to learn about the other firm’s upcoming hiring strategy?
Operations.
We discuss the sections of a typical business plan in our video Business Plan (4:10) - it’s important to understand where to find certain types of information in a business plan, as one could be a reference for a case study on the PcM exam. The operations section of the business plan describes how the firm plans on achieving their goals included in the purpose section. This section should describe the firm’s organization, the process they use to produce their work, their hiring plans and compensation philosophy, and the operational strategy used to acquire projects.
An architect hired a mechanical engineer using the standard AIA C401 agreement. At the end of the SD phase, the engineer submitted an invoice to the architect for $10,000, the contractually agreed upon amount that the structural engineer should be paid for the SD phase. The architect submitted their own invoice to the client for $40,000, the contractually agreed upon amount for the SD phase of work noted in the prime agreement, AIA B101. The architect has only received $30,000 to date because the client is unhappy with the design and withheld partial payment. The architect is attempting to resolve the situation with the client before moving to dispute resolution methods outlined in the B101.
According to the provisions of the C401 agreement, how much should the architect pay the consultant upon receipt of the $30,000 from the client?
$7,500
The provisions of the C401 agreement, including payment procedures, are covered in our video Contracting with Consultants Using the C401(9:50). The architect received $30,000 out of $40,000 they invoiced, which can be written as $30,000 / $40,000 = 3/4 or 0.75. Since C401 states that the architect shall pay the consultant in proportion to the amount that they received from the client, the architect should pay the engineer 0.75 of their invoice, which is $10,000 x 0.75 = $7,500.
An architect and client are negotiating which fee structure is most appropriate for a new commercial project. The architect is going to be engaged to provide programming as a supplemental service, at which point the client’s proposed program of 150,000–225,000 square feet and $225–$275 per square foot will be refined and narrowed down. The client also has the option to purchase an additional parcel of adjacent land, which could expand the footprint of the project further, but they don’t expect to know if purchasing that parcel will be feasible for at least three months. The client is interested in having certainty about what the architect’s fee will be, depending on the eventual size of the project.
Which of the following fee structures are most appropriate for the project? Check the three that apply.
Cost-per-unit. [The architect could charge a cost per square foot for this project, allowing them to be compensated if the project increases in size, and the difference between $225 and $275 per square foot is not a huge difference in terms of how much effort the architect would expend to design the project. In addition, this method would provide the client with certainty as to the architect’s fee, depending on the size of the project.]
Percentage of construction cost
[Different fee structures, and the reasons to choose them, are covered in our video Fee Structures. Charging as a percentage of the construction cost is an appropriate fee structure for this scenario; the size and budget for the project are not yet set, but this fee structure allows for both variables to be unknown without favoring either party. If the size or budget increase, the architect’s fee is automatically increased to compensate them for the additional work involved.]
Hourly not-to-exceed
[Correct. Using this method, the architect can set their not-to-exceed price at the cost to design the project at its maximum square footage. Then, if it ends up being smaller, they’d charge less. The client gets certainty as to the maximum amount they’ll pay, and the architect is protected if the project becomes larger.]
An architect is entering into an agreement with a client to design a new multi-family residential building. The parties have agreed to use the AIA B101 as the agreement for the project.
Which of the following items should be outlined in the Initial Information section of the agreement? Check the three that apply.
Design phase milestones
[Article 1.1.4.1 of the AIA B101 outlines dates that the owner and architect agree to for all design phase milestones, such as when SD, DD, or CDs will be complete and when the team will submit their documents to the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).]
Consultants retained under supplemental services.
[Correct. Initial information is critical to setting a project up for success, and we cover that article of the B101 in our video B101: Overview + Articles 1-4 (1:40). Article 1.1.11.2 of the AIA B101 lists all of the consultants who will be hired to perform a supplemental service if the architect is providing that service.]
The owner’s anticipated sustainability objective.
[Correct. If the owner has an anticipated sustainability objective, such as LEED accreditation, that objective should be noted in article 1.1.6 of the AIA B101.]
According to B101, Article 9.3, under what condition can the architect terminate the contract?
The architect can only terminate the contract if the owner suspends the project for greater than 90 cumulative days.
According to Article 9.1 of the B101, what payment condition must the owner meet, and how does it relate to partial payments?
Article 9.1 requires the owner to make payments according to the provisions of the B101, which state that partial payments are not acceptable (AIA B101, 11.10.2).
According to AIA B101, Article 9.4, under what condition can either party terminate the agreement, and how does Article 5.1 relate to the owner’s responsibilities?
According to AIA B101, Article 9.4, either party can terminate the agreement if the other party does not fulfill their responsibilities according to the agreement. Article 5.1 requires the owner to provide a program in a timely fashion. If the architect and client agree to revisions during an initial meeting and these revisions are not delivered to the architect in a timely fashion, it affects the architect’s schedule.
According to B101, Article 5.4, who is responsible for providing the survey, and what standards must the survey meet?
Providing a survey is the owner’s responsibility according to B101, Article 5.4. The survey must meet standards that include noting any easements or encroachments that exist on the site.
According to AIA B101, Article 9.4, under what condition can either party terminate the agreement, and what does Article 5.5 require from the owner regarding geotechnical engineers?
According to AIA B101, Article 9.4, either party can terminate the agreement if the other party does not fulfill their responsibilities according to the agreement. Article 5.5 requires the owner to furnish the services of a geotechnical engineer. Geotechnical engineers are typically hired at the beginning of a project, as their report and recommendations are needed to consider foundation systems.
According to Article 6 of AIA B101, what costs should not be included in cost of work estimates?
Article 6 of AIA B101 notes that the architect’s compensation, the cost of the land, and the contingency costs for changes in the work should not be included in cost of work estimates. These figures should not be included in the cost of work.
Q: How do you calculate a cost of work estimate based on square footage and contractor overhead and profit?
A: To calculate a cost of work estimate, first determine the cost to construct the project by multiplying the cost per square foot by the square footage for each category. Then, add the totals together for a subtotal. Finally, apply the contractor’s overhead and profit by multiplying the subtotal by 1.14 (for 14% overhead and profit).
Example:
Retail: $200/sf x 2,000 sf = $400,000
Apartments: $350/sf x 15,000 sf = $5,250,000
Amenities: $400/sf x 3,000 sf = $1,200,000
Subtotal: $400,000 + $5,250,000 + $1,200,000 = $6,850,000
Final estimate with overhead and profit: $6,850,000 x 1.14 = $7,809,000.
Q: When should an architect use the “Hourly Not-to-Exceed” fee structure, and what are the benefits for both the client and architect?
A: The “Hourly Not-to-Exceed” fee structure should be used when the architect sets a maximum price based on the cost to design the project at its maximum square footage. If the project ends up being smaller, the architect charges less. This method gives the client certainty about the maximum amount they will pay, while the architect is protected if the project becomes larger.
Q: When should an architect avoid using the “Stipulated Sum” fee structure, and what are the potential risks for both the client and architect?
A: An architect should avoid using the “Stipulated Sum” fee structure when there are too many variables, such as the initial square footage not being determined or the potential for the project to increase in size if the client purchases additional land. While this fee structure provides the client with certainty about the architect’s fee, it could result in a financial loss for the architect if the project becomes larger. If the project ends up being smaller than expected, this fee structure wouldn’t be fair to the client.
Q: When should an architect avoid using a “Stipulated Sum with Contingency” fee structure, and what are the potential risks for both the client and architect?
A: An architect should avoid using a “Stipulated Sum with Contingency” fee structure when there are too many variables, such as the initial square footage not being determined or the possibility of the project increasing in size if the client purchases additional land. Since stipulated sum fees should already include a contingency, adding an additional one would unnecessarily inflate the fee. This fee structure gives the client certainty about the architect’s fee but could result in a financial loss for the architect if the project grows. If the project ends up smaller than expected, it wouldn’t be fair to the client.
Q: When is it appropriate for an architect to use the “Percentage of Construction Cost” fee structure, and what are the benefits?
A: The “Percentage of Construction Cost” fee structure is appropriate when the size and budget for the project are not yet set. This fee structure allows for both variables to be unknown without favoring either party. If the project size or budget increases, the architect’s fee is automatically adjusted to compensate for the additional work involved. It ensures that the architect is paid fairly if the project scope grows.
Q: When is a “Time-Charge” fee structure appropriate, and what is its drawback for the client?
A: A “Time-Charge” fee structure is almost always appropriate from the architect’s perspective because they can bill for each hour worked. However, its drawback is that it does not provide the client with certainty about the architect’s total fee, which may be a concern if the client requires a set price.
Q: When is a “Cost-Per-Unit” fee structure appropriate, and what are its benefits for both the architect and the client?
A: A “Cost-Per-Unit” fee structure, such as charging per square foot, is appropriate when the project size could increase, allowing the architect to be compensated if the project grows. The difference in cost per square foot is not significant in terms of the architect’s effort. This method provides the client with certainty regarding the architect’s fee, as it depends on the final size of the project.
Q: According to the provisions of the C401 agreement, how much should the architect pay the consultant upon receipt of $30,000 from the client if the consultant invoiced $10,000?
A: The architect should pay the consultant in proportion to the amount received from the client. Since the architect received 75% of the invoiced $40,000 (i.e., $30,000 / $40,000 = 0.75), the architect should pay the consultant 75% of their $10,000 invoice, which equals $7,500 ($10,000 x 0.75).
What items should be outlined in the Initial Information section of the AIA B101 agreement?
The Initial Information section of the AIA B101 agreement should outline:
Identification of consultants who will perform supplemental services (Article 1.1.11.2)
The project’s scope, including program and budget.
Project team responsibilities and contact information.
What does Article 1.1.4.1 of the AIA B101 agreement outline regarding design phase milestones?
Article 1.1.4.1 of the AIA B101 outlines the dates agreed upon by the owner and architect for design phase milestones, such as when SD, DD, or CDs will be complete and when documents will be submitted to the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).
Q: Where should the owner’s anticipated sustainability objective, such as LEED accreditation, be noted in the AIA B101 agreement?
A: The owner’s anticipated sustainability objective, such as LEED accreditation, should be noted in Article 1.1.6 of the AIA B101.
Q: Where are the supplemental services to be provided by the architect listed in the AIA B101, and how should the chart be filled out?
A: Article 4 of the AIA B101 contains the list of potential supplemental services. The chart should be filled out by listing ‘architect,’ ‘owner,’ or ‘not required’ next to each item to ensure that the team agrees on who is providing each service.
Q: When does the architect submit the initial cost of work estimate, and where is it located in the AIA B101 agreement?
A: The architect submits the initial cost of work estimate at the end of the schematic design phase. It is not listed in the AIA B101 agreement; instead, it is a separate document prepared by the architect, which is compared to the owner’s budget listed in the AIA B101.
Q: What type of information is included in Article 1 (Initial Information) of the AIA B101?
A: Article 1 (Initial Information) includes project-specific information such as the project’s physical characteristics, the owner’s budget, consultants, and other relevant details related to the project.
What does AIA B101, Article 3.6.2.1 specify about the architect’s duty during site visits, and how does this relate to a negligence claim?
Article 3.6.2.1 of AIA B101 states that the architect’s duty during site visits is to become generally familiar with the work and determine, in general, if the work will comply with the contract documents when completed. It does not create a duty for the architect to verify precise dimensions on-site. In a negligence claim, this duty would likely prevent the architect from being liable for minor discrepancies, such as a slight variance in ramp slope that would require measurement to detect.
Why should presentation drawings include a copyright notice, and what purpose does it serve if a client decides to switch architects after the schematic design phase?
Presentation drawings should include a copyright notice to protect the architect’s intellectual property. If the client decides to work with a different architect after the SD phase, this notice informs the new architect that the original design is protected. The new architect would need a waiver from the original architect to use or build upon the design.
Why should construction document sheets include a copyright notice, and what do they represent in an architectural project?
Construction document sheets are part of the architect’s instruments of service, which include drawings and specifications that detail the project. Including a copyright notice on these sheets protects the architect’s intellectual property, signaling that the design and specifications are owned by the architect.
