Architect's Essentials of Negotiation, 2nd Edition
"Where do you turn if you are an architect or student wanting to deepen those skill sets that will make you a more successful professional? Well, taking a look at Ava Abramowitz's new book, "The Architect's Essentials of Negotiation" will be a step in the right direction."
—Robert Greenstreet, Dean, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning
This is an essential guide for architects and their clients and consultants who need professional advice on negotiations, from design development to agreements and fees. Contractors will want to read it, too, especially if they are involved with Integrated Project Delivery. This new edition offers updated insights related to negotiation, with references to the AIA Contract Documents, communication, collaboration, and handling disputes, change, and claims.
Table of Contents:
Introduction ix
A Word from an Owner xix
A Word from an Architect xxiii
A Word from a Construction Lawyer xxvii
1 Why You Want to Read This Book 1
How to Use This Book 5
2 Front-End Alignment 17
The Study 18
How to Use Front-End Alignment in Practice 37
3 The Purpose of Contracts 45
The Difference between Contracts and Torts 46
How Liable Are You? 60
The Purpose of Design and Construction Contracts 63
Managing Risk 76
4 Power and Leverage: How to Get It and Keep It 89
Negotiation: What Is It? 90
Why Architects Fear Negotiation 94
Two Ways to Negotiate: Hard and Soft 97
Another Way of Negotiating: Principled 101
How to Negotiate on the Merits 115
There You Have It: Principled Negotiation 125
5 Preparation Tips 127
Who Prepares More? 128
Negotiating Fees 141
Fees as Grease: An Operational Theory 144
Defining Your Value 147
Making the Pie Bigger 152
When "You're Too Expensive" 155
Ava's Preparation Cheat Sheet 158
6 The Communication Behaviors of Expert Negotiators 165
The Three Classes of Communication Behaviors 166
Whom Do You Trust? Who Trusts You? 183
What Expert Negotiators Don't Do 197
7 Collaboration and Team Building 205
Types of Meetings 208
How to Make Meetings Work 214
8 How to Say Yes, How to Say No 231
Ava's Rules of Contract Interpretation 236
Applying the Rules 241
Putting the Rules to Work 244
9 When the Best Laid Plans . . . 283
When a Rift Is Brewing: Recognizing Disputes 284
When the Air Thickens: Handling Confrontations 287
When a Change Is Looming: Managing Change 291
When a Claim Is in the Offing: Managing Claims 299
When a Lawsuit Is Pending: Negotiating Disputes 303
10 Pulling It All Together 311
One Final Story 320
Appendix Building a Support System 325
On Selecting Your Lawyer 326
A Word to My Legal Colleagues 328
If You Want to Learn More 332
Final Thoughts 338
Index 339
About the Author :
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.
Review :
“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)
