Architects Essentials of Negotiation

Architecture/Professional Practice A guide to crucial negotiation skills for design professionals Architect′s Essentials of Negotiation, Second Edition prepares practitioners for negotiating design issues, fees, and contracts, as well as handling risk, disputes, change, and claims. It offers valuable insights on how to hone communication, collaboration, and team–building skills to successfully navigate today′s design–driven, client–centered world. This new edition demystifies complex aspects of negotiation by breaking the process into a series of simple steps. The book explains how to: Dissect and analyze agreement language Identify key issues in a negotiation Address owners′ contractual concerns Enjoy the benefits of managing risk Complete with guidance on developing an effective personal negotiation style, this candid, practical guide is an indispensable resource for architects, landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, contractors, clients, and anyone else who needs to master the skills of negotiation in the design and construction setting. "Ava Abramowitz has written a book that should be an essential part of every design professional′s library. It gives us the knowledge and skills to properly start a project and develop a client relationship that will, in the end, bring forth wonderful design." —M. Arthur Gensler Jr., FAIA, FIIDA, RIBA, Chairman, Gensler

Introduction. AWord from an Owner. A Word from an Architect. A Word from a Construction Lawyer. 1 Why You Want to Read This Book. How to Use This Book. 2 Front–End Alignment. The Study. How to Use Front–End Alignment in Practice. 3 The Purpose of Contracts. The Difference between Contracts and Torts. How Liable Are You? The Purpose of Design and Construction Contracts. Managing Risk. 4 Power and Leverage: How to Get It and Keep It. Negotiation: What Is It? Why Architects Fear Negotiation. Two Ways to Negotiate: Hard and Soft. Another Way of Negotiating: Principled. How to Negotiate on the Merits. There You Have It: Principled Negotiation. 5 Preparation Tips. Who Prepares More? Negotiating Fees. Fees as Grease: An Operational Theory. Defining Your Value. Making the Pie Bigger. When “You’re Too Expensive”. Ava’s Preparation Cheat Sheet. 6 The Communication Behaviors of Expert Negotiators. The Three Classes of Communication Behaviors. Whom Do You Trust? Who Trusts You? What Expert Negotiators Don’t Do. 7 Collaboration and Team Building. Types of Meetings. How to Make Meetings Work. 8 How to Say Yes, How to Say No. Ava’s Rules of Contract Interpretation. Applying the Rules. Putting the Rules to Work. 9 When the Best Laid Plans . . . When a Rift Is Brewing: Recognizing Disputes. When the Air Thickens: Handling Confrontations. When a Change Is Looming: Managing Change. When a Claim Is in the Offing: Managing Claims. When a Lawsuit Is Pending: Negotiating Disputes. 10 Pulling It All Together. One Final Story. Appendix. Building a Support System. On Selecting Your Lawyer. A Word to My Legal Colleagues. If You Want to Learn More. Final Thoughts. Index.

Ava J. Abramowitz, Esq. Hon. AIA, lectures nationwide on negotiation, risk management, and assertive practice. She teaches negotiations at George Washington University Law School and Catholic University′s School of Architecture and Planning, and serves as a mediator in the federal courts in Washington, D.C. Formerly AIA deputy general counsel, she is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and a founding fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers. She is currently the public member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

“Supposedly architects don’t need negotiating skills along with other communication skills because great design “sells itself”. How lovely that an AIA legal counsel created this definitive book to shatter that thin myth. I’ll assert that only a critically–positioned outsider to the profession could have written a book with this valuable slant. If you’re involved in any way in architectural education, be subversive and recommend this book as the first assigned reading for entering students. This is what the world – of architecture and everything else – needs now.” (Norman Weinstein, ArchNewsNow , June 5, 2009)