Project Team

I have this type of question all around i have seen. Where a scenario is given, and it asked to pick a team to assist the project. Is it normally as long as there is a licensed architect on the project either as project architect or project manager would be sufficient? Or there should always be a senior architect plus a project manager and then a staff on board?

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Hi @AJPeng that’s a great question! Let’s see if one of our expert architects can help with this one. @coachchrishopstock do you mind helping AJ?!

thank you, please let me know your answer

Hey @AJPeng thanks for the question!

I agree that this is a type of question that I see often. Unfortunately, there’s no standard answer that I can give about creating the project team, it all will depend on choosing the best team members based on what the question is asking. For example, if the question mentions that the project will be created in BIM, one must consider the software skills of the proposed team members as a consideration when forming the team.
We have a couple of videos in our series about assembling the project team, be sure to check them out. Also be sure to review AHPP (15th edition) chapter 10.2, Project Teams.
Good luck in the rest of your studies!

lets just say if the project is typical, nothing about BIM. Would it need to have a project manager above a project architect? Or can there just be a project architect licensed and assume he/she can also manage the project? @coachchrishopstock

Hi @AJPeng - The terms ‘project architect’ and ‘project manager’ are often used interchangeably. This is discussed throughout AHPP, and specifically noted in the definition of project manager in the glossary. Some firms prefer to use the term project manager (as opposed to project architect) because then they can legally elevate non-licensed members of the firm to that role, since it does not contain the word ‘architect’.
Unfortunately the answer to your question is really dependent on the specific information given in the question - there’s no clear cut rule on what members of the team need to be on each project as each firm is organized differently. For these types of questions, it’s important to note all of the criteria noted in the question, and make a decision on who the best members of the team would be to meet those criteria. I used BIM skills as an example previously, but other criteria I’ve often seen in questions like this are years of experience, lowest possible hourly rates, licensure in the jurisdiction where the project is located, experience in the project type, etc.
For your studies, I’d focus on how criteria such as those affect the assembly of a team and continue to use our practice exams to test your knowledge!
Good luck in your studies.

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@coachchrishopstock thanks for explanation of the two roles. I guess my question is in general, if say a project architect is licensed, could it be necessary to have a project manager above him and her? I see this in my office right now, we have a project manager and we also have a project architect who does the work on the redlines. So I just wondering if it is necessary to have both person on the project. I feel some smaller firms they only have one project architect who does it all.

@AJPeng nope, it’s not necessary to have both of those roles on a project. As I mentioned, many firms use the two titles interchangeably and therefore, their respective duties have a ton of overlap.

yea that is what I thought as well. but was wondering if the book answer is different than actual scenarios.