Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 9/25/2011

Question
We are in the process of remodeling our 1920's era home and discovered that a bearing wall in the basement drawn by our architect was in the wrong place (although the builder assumed the drawing was incorrect before he even tore into the walls).  He is expecting us to pay him for his re-draw in addition to the significant costs that we are going to incur due to this error.  Based on posts I've read online both on this site and others, there are easy guidelines for even inexperienced DIY'ers to determine bearing walls - shouldn't a generously paid architect be able to do so?  I would think he should at the very least do the re-draw for free, and possibly even be responsible for the additional construction costs.  Isn't this exactly what errors and omissions insurance is for?  Thank you.

Answer
Good morning Hugh - thanks for your question.

Assuming there's no "other side of the story" then yes, you shouldn't be charged for the redraw.  But since your builder apparently discovered this error prior to construction, you can't now ask the Architect to pay for additional construction costs.

You should have asked for this correction to the drawings as soon as the error was discovered; perhaps that would have avoided additional construction costs.

Architects don't expect builders to find the errors in their drawings, but they are expected to bring them to the attention of the Owner and Architect when they do - to avoid just the situation you find yourself in now.

Yes, you'd expect a experienced Residential Architect to predict bearing wall locations properly.  But since the structure of old homes sometimes defies logic, your Architect should have something built into his fee structure to allow for these kind of "field conditions" at no cost - or at a predictable cost - to you.

Likewise, an experienced old-house contractor should expect to find a few surprises during construction and allow some wiggle room accordingly.

As far as professional liability insurance is concerned, it's not a blank check written to cover mistakes in the drawings.  Like any other insurance policy, it's accessed through the legal system.  If you think the Architect should pay for these changes, you and your attorney will need to make a demand on him and let the legal process run its course.

Check the agreement you signed with your Architect.  The process by which you pursue a claim will be outlined there.  Most agreements require Mediation prior to accessing the legal system; some require binding Arbitration.  The agreement should also clearly cover the Architect's and Owner's responsibilities regarding hidden conditions in existing buildings.

Architect's agreements also (should) have a clause that covers changes to the drawings; typically if the change can be made in the field without the need to change the drawings then he's not required to make the drawing change.

If proper completion of the work requires these drawing changes, then you have some leverage to get that done without additional cost with the threat of a demand for him paying for the construction changes.  I also assume you still have significant fees due the Architect for his role throughout the construction process, so you probably have some leverage there also.

A tough situation all around, for sure.  But a lot of water's passed under the bridge, so you need to proceed according to the Agreement you signed and the advice of legal counsel, if necessary.