Can you please clarify Payment and Responsibility
CE Practice Exam, Form 2, Question 24801
The question posits that an error on the architect’s side will result in a change order, and has the architect as being responsible for the cost of the work to change it.
BUT
My understanding, and which has been suggested by the BS materials (see Practice Exam, Form 1, Question 35745, reply which states “The architect does not directly pay for any portions of the project. All cost changes are handled through change orders.”), is that the Architect doesn’t pay for anything on a construction project. So, even though they are at fault and responsible for the error, it would be the owner who pays the change order, after which they make a claim against the architect. Can you please confirm? Would an architect be directly responsible for the costs, or would they be responsible to the owner after a claim is made (and likely paid out of insurance)? Or is this question simply confusingly written?
Note that there is the same confusing answer for question 27161, on the same exam form.
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Thank you
Thanks for your question @lewismattwood and for providing the question ID numbers - that’s super helpful!
I think the confusion comes from the distinction between responsibility/liability and who initially pays during construction. Under the AIA contract framework, the architect generally does not directly pay contractors or suppliers. If an architect’s error or omission is discovered during construction, the correction is typically handled through a change order, with the owner paying the contractor for the additional work. The owner may then pursue recovery from the architect (or the architect’s professional liability insurer) if the architect is legally liable for the error.
In practice, therefore, the architect is often considered financially responsible for the cost, but not necessarily the party that writes the check to the contractor. That’s why practice questions will sometimes says “the architect pays” and elsewhere says “the architect does not directly pay for portions of the project.” Those statements are not necessarily contradictory—they are referring to different stages of the process.
For ARE purposes, when a question asks who is responsible for the cost of correcting an architect’s code or design error, the expected answer is usually the architect (subject to concepts such as betterment). However, if the question is asking about project payment mechanics, the owner typically pays the contractor through the contract, then seeks reimbursement from the architect if appropriate.
Also just a heads up, I removed the screenshots from your post as we do not allow our paid content to be shared.
Hope this helps!
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Product Coordinator
Black Spectacles