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If you are working for the contractor it is understood that you also represent the interests of the contractor. It is only when you are working directly for the client that there is a conflict.

If you sell them a design as an independent designer and then give them a price for you and your sub(s) to build the job you are acting as a contractor…[Read more]

You’re talking about prior written agreements though really.

If a contractor and a designer agree to compensation for selling their services unbeknownst to the client while also collecting a service fee from the client that would certainly be unethical and probably criminal in my book.

BUT, if there is no prior written (or verbal i suppose)…[Read more]

I’ll revise my statement from before, given that I have only worked as a draftsman for a company and have never gotten into the monetary aspect of the business. After asking my father-in-law who has been a contractor/mason/estimator for many years, he said, legally accepting money like that is right on the edge of criminal, but ethically it is…[Read more]

Does anyone believe that if you are hired by a client as a designer or landscape architect and asked to refer or recommend contractors, that you are then an agent for the client and obligated to try to work in the best interest of the client in doing so?

If that is the case, would it not be a conflict of interest to recommend contractors who are…[Read more]

there’s nothing criminal about it. unethical, maybe, but even that is debatable.

Personally, I would not have a problem with receiving a kick back from a contractor for pointing the client in their direction, as long as the quality of the work is high and the client and the contractor are happy both with the price and the work. A contractor might be competitive but figure a lower profit line for the purpose of gaining future…[Read more]

Hey thanks everybody.
I always question common knowledge.
It often breeds innovation.

I should clarify. If you are paid by the client and make recommendations of who to hire, do you believe that you do not have an obligation either ethically or legally, to notify the client that you are receiving compensation from the contractor? … Whether residential or commercial.

I think it’s OK in the residential world as a sales commission. Also, rather than collect a straight commission, wouldn’t it be better to call i a CA fee or something like that?

In the public realm I’ve seen this happen in the form of referrals, which is just good business–We recommend a GC or architect and in turn, maybe 6 months down the road…[Read more]

The black helicopters have been following me for years trying to get at my native plant knowledge….on the run, always on the run.

I think that whether it is ethical or not has to do not with the transaction but rather with the transparency to the client.
If the client is misled into believing that the designer is referring them to the best contractor around, rather than to one with whom he does business, that is unethical. If the professional connection is acknowledged, then…[Read more]

I share many of the same observations of J Dane. There are many realities that are not often anticipated when you take a job as a designer in a design/build contractor company and you learn about them as the year goes on. That is a good general summary by J Dane.

BUT, the same holds true as an independent designer – unanticipated realities. The…[Read more]

that’s right, Tim Zhang, the government can’t be trusted with healthcare, but has the organization to know when you posted on Land8, and to ‘drag you away’, and to perpetuate a scam involving engineering calculations for sediment flow..

And god forbid we let ‘the gummint” regulate oil platforms..

Alec, cjeck out the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act in either Virginia or Maryland. I was invloved in amny wetlands mitigation and restoratin projects and this Act focuses on exactly what you are looking for.

Cheers!

Thank you Brian and Andrew for responding.

Meeting with the director of my my program have already taken place. I now need to meet with the Dean of Education who is a bit of a stickler on university policy which precludes “workshops” from being considered for credit hours. I am looking for individuals who have successfully been through this…[Read more]

Milking design revisions is not economy dependent at all. It was just as bad in the boom as it is in the bust. It is all about having a system in place with a contract that puts you (your employer) in control. The only way to do that is to make every step of the contract quantitative and in your control.

You can’t just say “x amount of revisions”…[Read more]

absolutely, boilerplater. a client (design builder) putting a cap on your fee, and going way, way over the top with their own revisions, or from the homeowners’, distilling down timely drawing time.

Ouch, awful…..abusive.