A properly drafted agreement will make a significant contribution toward the success of the project and your practice. But a contract that creates unreasonable risks for the architect will create financial exposures when disputes arise and will make the architect vulnerable to unreasonable termination and unfair demands for increases in scope without fair compensation. Yet architects are frequently unable to simply select AIA Contract Documents as the agreed-upon contract form and must rely on other forms of agreement. To help you choose the right contract, four basic contract issues must be properly addressed—regardless of the form used.
    Learning objectives:

• Identify critical provisions in your professional services agreements (particularly non-AIA, owner-proposed forms) and have the tools necessary to successfully negotiate them with your clients
• Develop contract clauses that provide essential protections in non-AIA agreements
• Analyze the trend on the part of clients to shift risks to the architect and determine how to minimize the adverse impact of this risk shifting