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SF
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 2
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 Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:07 am Post subject: Condo Liability |
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We work with multi-family projects. The trend has been to have these go to condo's and we are getting heavy pressure from clients to do condo's. We don't want to because of liability issues and we have only heard bad things about the state of condo liability for architects in California. Is there anyone who has any input or experiance?
Thanks |
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phansford
Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 832
Location: SW Ohio
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| Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:19 am Post subject: |
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The best source of information is going to be your O/E insurance carrier. They are going to be the people to pay the ultimate price for any actions taken against you.
They will gladly help you and will be very informative. They can probably discuss how to write your contracts to address liablity limitation. They will tell you their biggest areas of concern and so on.
Contact your local agent you purchased your coverage from so they can find a contact person or look in the newsletter you get from your carrier.
If you don't have O/E insurance, then you don't want to dance, even in mult-family. IMHO. |
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SF
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the reply. Actually the policy of our insurance is that we will not be insured for condo's. I guess what I am curious about is how all these condo's get made (and why we were told 96% of condo architects get sued)  |
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phansford
Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 832
Location: SW Ohio
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| Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:48 pm Post subject: |
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My guess about condo's leading to lawsuits or actions is the number of "owners" and its easier to sue the Architect than the contractor or the Condo Association and so on. Plus how do you protect yourself from law suits concerning future maintanance costs of buildings and property. That seems to be an issue locally.
Also, it could be the level or amount of services most home builder's want from an architect, which seems to be nothing more than the most basic permit set. We will not work for the home builder in any manner.
Likewise, I can not stand doing design work in an HOA (Home Owner's Association). It seems like the few times I have people go crazy and start suing our clients, the HOA itself, the HOA board and so on. Of course suing your HOA is like suing yourself, but.......
It always ends with nothing happening and people just make enemies of their new neighbors. The comment most commonly heard is "We feel that lot is unbuildable and therefore we have always expected it to be left a natural, wooded lot for personal pleasure." Of course their lot is the same in topography as the one we are working on.
My response is always, "My client will gladly sell you or the HOA the lot for 25% more than the purchase price, as to recoup the cost of the lot and expenses."
I guess the next thing to do if you want to do condos or have existing clients pressing you to design them, you need to work with your attorney to write a contract that indemifies you or limits your liability. It should probably require the client/developer to hold you harmless and protect/defend you in any actions that arise from the project.
All this said, I am not an attorney, nor do I portray one on television. |
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svenglezz-ASMEIL
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Posts: 99
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 4:02 pm Post subject: Condo's (no not another one) :) |
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Have done so many condo's it hurts  , but I do mainly the mechanical.
Usually the "Condo Owners/Board" sue the Developer Builder, Consultants, Contractors etc.
Usually this happens when the job is done wrong and/or poor workmanship and/or "over-spec'd" for what is needed.
In general when you do a condo, try to provide limited specifications. On the mechanical I usually provide drawing spec's instead of book spec.
So when the "new" Owners (Condo Board) Hire a Consultant to do an Audit they will find many.....many.....items that show in the book spec but not done. So they get money back.
I've heard this befoe that in the US the attornys automaticly sue everyone for the Condo Board, in Canada only if something is realy wrong or a Consultants "is a Condo owner" and th'r on the Board (in his best interest).
Would highly recommend to use the "Standard Aggreement" in y'r area, and stress the costs to the owenr "extra" for "Custom Suites" changes etc. pending if it "Luxury" or "Standard" suites, rich people always need more changes and are a lot harder to keep happy (plus they know lawyers) 
Just one more thing...have done many different types of projects in my life and must say....the hardest to design are "high-rise codos", esp. the mechanical, so many plumbing fixtures etc. etc. the list goes on...just because it's a condo don't mean the fee should be less, if anything the fee should increase esp. know~a~days with all the requirments with high rise living. (not to mention most of the time it includes retail, office etc. etc.)
Any~who hope it helps,
Sven
http://ca.geocities.com/cad-design@rogers.com/
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ASMEIL Drawings and M&E Designs |
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