I just realized how bad I made this job sound. It's a GREAT job. I learn so much about construction and get to work on so many things that you don't get to do in a big corporate firm. It's just not worth it if I can potentially get caught up in a lawsuit. I do not want to add legal representation debt to student debt.

at least you're actually a contractor, and not an employee he's calling a contractor

he's hiring you as a consultant.  i would think you would have some responsibility.  ADA isn't a building code, it's a federal law, so how you're interpretation of the ADA is seen will be different than your interpretation of the building code.

if someone were to sue for an ada violation, i assume it would go to the owner first, the owner would say it's the architect's fault because they were the one who designed it, and the architect will say it's your fault because he hired you to develop design guidelines that met ada.  he probably has insurance to cover things like that, you might not.

in the event of a lawsuit, i suspect you will have to go before a judge or arbiter or something and tell them how you were acting under the direction of your boss, and they'll get to decide what responsibility you have.  also, it's possible that the judge will consider your interpretation more reasonable than the city's.  sometimes the ada isn't very clear.

is it possible for you to get something in writing and signed from your boss saying you aren't responsible for final code or ada interpretations?  if your boss has insurance and you don't, it isn't likely they're going to get much out of you.  however, i would think people suing over ada interpretations are likely pretty unscrupulous.

gruen's right but, just in case, i'd send your concerns to the boss along the way in email form and archive your emails.

(since it sounds like you're happy with your role overall, i wouldn't group them all together in one email. that might just look too much like a legal positioning.)

I disagree with several of the posts above. I believe you are liable for errors in your drawings. While the Owner will sue the AOR, the AOR could potentially sue you. When you are an independent company contracted to another, you bear liability. There is no such thing as "you were acting under the direction of your boss" - you are the boss. You really should do a few things to protect yourself:

1. Establish your business as an LLC, so anyone suing you could not go after your personal assets.

2. Purchase some form of liability insurance; you will need to do some research on the appropriate form and amount.

3. Insert an indemnity clause into any contracts you sign - you are an unlicensed draftsman and should not have to bear the liability that a fully licensed architect should. 

Good luck.

As a contractor, you have liability. As an employee, your liability is covered by your employer.

If you are working full time for one firm as a contractor you are actually an employee and your employer should be paying comp, unemployment, ss and medicare, etc.

If you are a contractor, your pay should reflect all of the things an employer is supposed to provide (like all of the stuff above plus estimated and income tax payents).

you can be a contractor with only one client, and work full time for that client

Some state labor boards (NY for example) consider that to be the definition of employee. If the contractor does not have comp, the "client"is liable for a 15% penalty to cover it.

Won and done makes a great point.  Start an llc.  It cost me about 100$ and was easy and fast.  Also a good way to limit liability is to save any sketches or verbal instruction from the AOR this way if it ever comes to it you can show that you were simply drafting and not making design decisions. 

I had a similar issue with a contractor who just hired me to redraw his sketch and make it look good.  He made a few decisions that did not violate code, but that I felt were unsafe.   I basically saved his original drawing and made him hand draw in the dimension that I felt was too small and send it to me email to establish a time.  I them drew it and labeled the drawing schematic drawing.  I also made a note recommending the dimension that I felt was appropriate based on some research and sent an email stating my reasoning and offering to correct his dimension at no cost.  This way I established that I was aware and made an effort to correct his mistake.  I said no cost to show that I felt strongly enough about his error and that I created no monetary obstacle to correct the mistake.  I established that I was acting in the interest of the client and not in my own financial interest.  

jla-x  --  what type of business are you running?  So, from the other thread -- is remodeling and eventually spec homes part of this same business?

Ya. Well I worked with company doing flips for about 8 years while in arch school.  I now do arch vis for a few different clients and also small design projects for 4 different contractors.  Mostly landscape stuff.  I also do hand renders for landscape contractors and once in a while for a landscape architect.  Watercolor plans, etc.  that's my bread and butter stuff, but my long term goal is to build spec homes.  I usually put in qn average of 40 hours a week and the rest of the time i work on my remodels. I'm working my way towards the specs by buying properties and flipping them. I figure I will need about 4-5 more to have the capital to invest in a spec.  Currently I am a nomad.  I live in my investments until complete and then sell and buy the next.  It gives me time to work on the house at night and saves money.  Buy doing most of the labor intensive stuff on my own I save a ton as well as get into good shape. In the first home I flipped I lived in a coleman tent in the yard for a week until it was habitable inside.   Lol.  This one I recently bought was in decent shape just in need of some updating.  I also want to eventually get into doing public art.  Land art, etc.  

I also own a rental property.  I hope to accumulate about 5-10 rental properties which I will basically use as my savings.  At one time I owned 4 but had to sell 3 for personal reasons.  The one rental I have is being paid off with 100$ on top of the mortgage so after renting it out for another 10-20 years it will have a lot of equity.  

Rentals IMO are the best retirement funds.  Better than any 401k.  If you have 5 modest homes and rent each for 30 years until paid off (assuming you rent them for more than mortgage) you can have 5 free and clear properties by the time you are 60-70.  Not evem considering inflation that could be 1-2 million bucks.  

Very interesting.  Sounds like a few of us here have some similar goals.  I'm renovating a duplex right now, and plan to keep it and purchase more property within the next year.  My goal is to eventually exit conventional practice to pursue design-build-own.