Architects should follow the lead of many contractors and implement firmwide quality management programs. A quality program should establish construction document standards and include internal third-party plan reviews to verify the coordination of consultants’ drawings and ensure constructibility.
That is the advice of Jeanette Shaw, the director of quality and sustainability for Powers Brown Architecture. “We should educate the client to pay for a quality program, which would improve construction documents,” said Shaw, at the American Institute of Architects Conference on Architecture 2019, which drew some 16,000 registrants to Las Vegas June 6-8. Then, when contractors say drawings are half-baked, “we can reply, ‘It’s in the specs,’ ” she added, during a session on quality.