During the same practice exam, one question pointed out that “Digital Representations” are part of the basic services as outlined on B101 - 3.2.5.
In other questions, the answer states that “Renderings” are an additional service; which make sense to me.
I understand that “digital representation” is quite general and “renderings” are more specific, but I find this to be a gray area for the exam questions.
Can someone clarify when to consider it a basic or an additional service?
this is such tricky question. @coachdarionziegler
Hi @ignaciochoza & @AJPeng ,
Let me see if I can help. I’m afraid there isn’t only one simple answer to this and it can depend on the situation.
Remember, additional and supplemental services can be the exact same activity, just that supplemental services are agreed to prior to signing the B101 and included in the contract. Additional services are those services not agreed to before signing the B101, but which are requested during the course of building design & construction.
Per section 3.2.5, “digital representations” may be included as a part of the schematic design package. I would think of “digital representations” as not necessarily detailed renderings, but rather sketches or vignettes that are routinely produced during the SD phase to clarify the design intent of the project and inform decision making. Think of detailed renderings as those that would be used in a press release or for marketing material. If detailed renderings are required this should be discussed and clarified either as modification to the basic services to be provided or listed as a supplemental service.
A lot of times in practice I have seen detailed renderings (with the number of renderings and description of the views to render) called out specifically as supplemental services to be provided by the architect in the contract. Of course, in 9 times out of 10, the client makes a change midway through design and requests additional or updated renderings. At this point, the project manager drafts up an add-service request to send to the owner listing the additional renderings to be completed. In this instance the labor to produce the renderings is an add service because the additional renderings of this new design were not agreed upon prior to signing the contract.
The AHPP lists "renderings as a possible supplemental service on page 88. It also lists that renderings may be additional services on page 954. Most helpful in the AHPP on this subject is reviewing the information on page 957 under the header, “Prepare a Proposal for the Services to be Provided” where the book speaks about how the architect should elaborate on the “type and quality of renderings” when producing a proposal.
Last, but not least, I wanted to point out that Renderings are also reimbursable expenses per section 11.8 below! This means you can bill the client to be reimbursed on their cost. This is not typically referring to the labor of producing the renderings, but rather printing and any other material costs associated with it. I believe it’s mostly a hold-over from when most renderings were produced by hand and architects would bill the owner for the cost of paper, markers, etc. However, this clause does still have applications for today! If your firm prints copies of renderings on nice paper or frames them at the owner’s request you can bill the cost as a reimbursable.
Hope this helps!
-Darion
Thank you, Darion.
This is very helpful!