Agreements should be formal and written documents so that it is clear for both parties. It should contain all pertinent information about what is being agreed to and what happens in case things don’t work out.

Agreements are one of the many ways to mitigate risks. By signing an agreement, you are protecting yourself by lessening your potential losses from an agreement that has gone bad. You can also use agreements to make sure that your Owner understands what is expected of them by mutually agreeing to a set of terms and conditions. However, with Agreements, there may also be potential risks. Architects face challenges such as schedule, budget, staffing, the standard of care, and others. Faced with such risk, Architects must be aware of the risk involved and be prepared to minimize such risk. In this course, we will review a standard AIA B101 2017 Agreement between Owner and Architect, and address what each portion of the Agreement means. We will also consider language which may be added to the Agreement by the Owner which can elevate the Architect’s risk.

Finally, we will identify different types of risk and how such risk may be mitigated.

Course Outline:

• Agreement outline
• Agreement terms and conditions.
• Aspects of Agreements that propose elevated risk
• Potential Risk
• Risk Management