We have already finished the reno and moved in last year. We have since communicated with our architect to finish the DOB sign off including correcting his mistake filing on gas works. Our requests were constantly ignored. He said if we give up our retainer of 5k, he would do the sign off work. At the beginning, we didn't agree. We tried many times to communicate with him with good intention but was being taken advantage as weak because we paid him in full already plus he has our retainer. Now he sent us extra made up bills not only confiscated our retainer, but also adding more items we didn't purchase. Out of exhaustion during the process, we made concession to him that he can take our retainer if he finish our sign off. Then he sent us another extra bill. We are tired of being exploited and want to find someone to supersede him.
Does anyone have the experience similar to this situation( reno finished, just paper work sign off) ? Thanks
Nobody can answer this here - it would be irresponsible. Laws vary from state to state as to what minimum services, if any, an architect is required to provide during the construction and closeout phases. And we don't know what the architect's alleged mistakes were or the pertinent facts and circumstances. And most importantly it depends on what your contract says - and please don't post it here, as that would be asking architects to practice law, for free, so would be both illegal on our parts and an unreasonable imposition on yours.
As others have said: contact a lawyer. Also if it turns out that there was any wrongdoing on this person's part, and if they are actually a licensed architect (and not just some home builder or unlicensed designer illegally calling themselves an architect), then you can also report them to your state's architect licensing board for investigation. That won't result in any compensation for you, but it may get a disciplinary action on their record, which may help to warn off some unsuspecting future clients.
If the real question is just whether you can hire another architect to sign off on the plans for the DOB: in almost all states the answer is no. An architect cannot approve, sign, or stamp drawings for which he wasn't in responsible control of production. There are one or two states with exceptions to that, but it requires the new architect to extensively review the documents and to keep a written record of that review - so it would most likely cost you more than the bill you're quibbling over, as it would take someone new many hours to complete that review.
Jul 23, 19 2:14 pm ·
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Superseding Architect after My Reno is already finished?
Hi,
We have already finished the reno and moved in last year. We have since communicated with our architect to finish the DOB sign off including correcting his mistake filing on gas works. Our requests were constantly ignored. He said if we give up our retainer of 5k, he would do the sign off work. At the beginning, we didn't agree. We tried many times to communicate with him with good intention but was being taken advantage as weak because we paid him in full already plus he has our retainer. Now he sent us extra made up bills not only confiscated our retainer, but also adding more items we didn't purchase. Out of exhaustion during the process, we made concession to him that he can take our retainer if he finish our sign off. Then he sent us another extra bill. We are tired of being exploited and want to find someone to supersede him.
Does anyone have the experience similar to this situation( reno finished, just paper work sign off) ? Thanks
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You need Lawyernect, not Archinect.
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go to court/lawyers with your signed contract. also, you should not have moved in without the dob sign off.
You need Lawyernect, not Archinect.
I don't think you understand what a retainer is.
Second, read your contract, what does it say?
Nobody can answer this here - it would be irresponsible. Laws vary from state to state as to what minimum services, if any, an architect is required to provide during the construction and closeout phases. And we don't know what the architect's alleged mistakes were or the pertinent facts and circumstances. And most importantly it depends on what your contract says - and please don't post it here, as that would be asking architects to practice law, for free, so would be both illegal on our parts and an unreasonable imposition on yours.
As others have said: contact a lawyer. Also if it turns out that there was any wrongdoing on this person's part, and if they are actually a licensed architect (and not just some home builder or unlicensed designer illegally calling themselves an architect), then you can also report them to your state's architect licensing board for investigation. That won't result in any compensation for you, but it may get a disciplinary action on their record, which may help to warn off some unsuspecting future clients.
If the real question is just whether you can hire another architect to sign off on the plans for the DOB: in almost all states the answer is no. An architect cannot approve, sign, or stamp drawings for which he wasn't in responsible control of production. There are one or two states with exceptions to that, but it requires the new architect to extensively review the documents and to keep a written record of that review - so it would most likely cost you more than the bill you're quibbling over, as it would take someone new many hours to complete that review.
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