How this usually works
In my experience, architects and construction managers usually make high-ball cost estimates, obtain low-ball bids, and then kill us with change orders and cost overruns. They have no incentive to actually bring a project in below budget, because they are paid a percentage of the final project cost. If it appears that there will be money left over, they always dream up some way to spend it, for the obvious reason.
That is why I found it so refreshing to hear an architect proposing, at this stage of the game, to actually reduce a project budget. It's disappointing, now, to see the projected savings start melting away, like an ice sculpture in August. An architect by any other name, I guess, is still an architect.
I want a school board that seriously explores every cost-cutting opportunity. I guess I also want one, however, that is wise to architect shenanigans, if that is what this is.
By Yosemite Pam
In my experience, architects and construction managers usually make high-ball cost estimates, obtain low-ball bids, and then kill us with change orders and cost overruns. They have no incentive to actually bring a project in below budget, because they are paid a percentage of the final project cost. If it appears that there will be money left over, they always dream up some way to spend it, for the obvious reason.
That is why I found it so refreshing to hear an architect proposing, at this stage of the game, to actually reduce a project budget. It's disappointing, now, to see the projected savings start melting away, like an ice sculpture in August. An architect by any other name, I guess, is still an architect.
I want a school board that seriously explores every cost-cutting opportunity. I guess I also want one, however, that is wise to architect shenanigans, if that is what this is.
By Yosemite Pam
