What should a client and architect agreement include?

What does NSW law require in a client architect agreement?

Every architect on the NSW register works under the NSW Architects Code of Professional Conduct, which is made under the Architects Act 2003. Clause 7 of the Code requires a written agreement with the client about the architectural services. It must be in place before those services begin, unless the work is urgent or that would not be reasonable.

Where the architect prepares the agreement, the Code lists what it must contain. Your client architect agreement should cover:

• the parties plus the name, registration number and contact details of the architect responsible for the work
• the scope, nature and specific requirements of the services
• how fees and costs are calculated, with reasonable estimates of disbursements where they can be given
• how fees and disbursements are paid
• how the architect will report progress and how you authorise each part of the work
• how a change to the services affects the fees and how your approval for that change is obtained
• how the agreement itself can be varied
• how any earlier agreement for architectural services will apply
• how the agreement can be ended and for what reasons
• notice of the Code, how to obtain a copy and how alternative dispute resolution applies

The NSW Architects Registration Board publishes a free Short Form Architect Client Contract built around these rules. The Australian Institute of Architects also publishes its own agreements, which members use free and others can buy.

What should the scope of services spell out?

The scope decides what your fee buys, so it is the part of the agreement worth reading most slowly. The board's guide to working with your architect groups an architect's work into three phases: design, contract documentation and contract administration. The agreement should say which phases you are engaging the architect for and what each one delivers.

Within those phases, look for the sketch designs, the design development and the drawings and specification needed for approval and pricing. If the architect will administer the building contract, the agreement should say so, because that role covers assessing variations, certifying progress payments and advising when practical completion is reached.

Check what sits outside the scope as well. Under the board's standard terms you contract directly with specialist consultants such as engineers and pay their fees yourself. Their copyright clause also sets how you may use the drawings.

How should the agreement handle fees and changes?

The Code leaves the fee itself to you and your architect, while requiring the agreement to explain how it is calculated and paid. The architect's charges must then reflect that fee structure and the work actually done, including any variations.

The agreement must also explain how the architect will tell you what a change does to the fees and obtain your authority before acting on it. Under the board's standard terms, a request to depart from a concept or scope agreed at an earlier stage is a redesign. The architect must give you written notice of it with its fee or, where that cannot reasonably be set in advance, a method for valuing it. If you do not agree to the scope and fee in writing within five business days of the notice, the project may be delayed.

The board's guide also notes that changes are best made early in the design, because a change made late is more likely to carry a cost. Giving your instructions in writing makes it far easier to agree later on what was asked for.

How does the agreement end and what happens in a dispute?

A sound agreement says how either party can end it and for what reasons. The Code also requires an architect to withdraw rather than act unethically or unlawfully, so their agreement must reserve that right. Look for that clause and for what would happen to drawings already prepared.

For disagreements, the agreement must give notice that alternative dispute resolution applies and explain how it will work. A concern about an architect's professional conduct is a separate matter, which the board handles through its complaints process under the Architects Act. The board asks you to raise the issue with your architect first and then set out any complaint in writing.

How we work with a registered architect at SHORE

At SHORE Design + Build our design work is led by Emanuel Solomovic, our Senior Architect and NSW Registered Architect No. 7154. Most clients engage us for the full design and build, where one team designs the home, prices it, takes it through approval and builds it.

Our builders price the design as it develops, so the cost of a change is clear while the drawings are still easy to change. To see how design and construction sit together under one contract, explore design and build in Sydney with us.