Horizone Studio partner Dominik Darasz speaks in the latest issue of Real Estate Market Expert about the importance of communication between the architect and developer in the context of an ongoing investment.
Below is Dominik’s entire speech. We encourage you to read it.
How is the communication between the architect and the developer? What issues are most important for these two entities? Do developers pay attention to the architecture, quality of materials used, innovation of the project?
“It is important to find a common language with the developer at the beginning of cooperation. Show that what matters to us is both the architecture of the building and the developer’s satisfaction with the results of our work together.”
A proper relationship between the architect and developer is extremely important from the perspective of harmonious implementation of the entire project. Therefore, care should be taken to ensure that it is transparent for both parties and characterized by professionalism. Its exact outline depends on a number of variables – including the scale of a given project, the developer’s detailed assumptions, or the anticipated budget. Such a relationship should always be centered on mutual respect for each other’s views and full understanding of the other side.
When this is not present, collaboration will quickly turn into a completely ineffective and frustrating waste of time. The bone of contention can be sudden and uncommunicated budget cuts, or, for example, too many changes to a project. Keep in mind that the number of such changes affects the entire design process, generating additional time and costs for architects. Sometimes their accumulation is so large that our work becomes not so much unprofitable as completely unworkable.
At the same time, I get the impression that architecture is an important issue for developers – they are looking for something in it that will make their investment stand out among the competition. We are talking about aesthetics, as well as, for example, environmental friendliness or functionality. However, the money spent on it varies and fluctuates depending on, among other things, the existing market structure, the sales situation or the current activities of competitors. Despite the fact that as architects we are on the same side, we don’t always get the impression that we are one team with developers. It happens that the planned differentiators and identification of the building suddenly “evaporate” somewhere during the initial estimation of the necessary costs to be incurred, and the developer makes a 180-degree turn in his concept. That is why it is so important to find a common language with the developer at the beginning of cooperation. Show that what matters to us is both the architecture of the building and the developer’s satisfaction with the results of joint work. This benefits everyone – including customers.
