Architect's duties in relation to supervision of construction projects

Abstract

Generally, an architect in a building contract has a duty to supervise the building works to ensure that they are being carried out in conformity with the contractual specifications. Supervision is part of the work by the architect that needs close attention because the final outcome of the finished product depends on the quality of work produced by the contractor on site. The nature and scope of the duties, liabilities and responsibility of architects over supervision of construction are usually determined by the contractual terms of their appointments. The scope of architect’s duty to supervise has created confusion and litigation which in part arisen out of an incomplete definition and understanding of the role of the architect. An analysis of the factors causing delay of building construction projects in Malaysia have shown that ineffective and lack of supervision by the consultants as one of the major factors. Hence, the objective of this research is to identify the extent of an architect’s duties to the client for supervision of construction projects by exploring the issue of work conformance and responsibility for detecting, preventing and correcting defective work. All relevant legal court cases regarding the architect’s duties in supervision will be analyzed in order to obtain the research findings. Analysis will be conducted by reviewing and clarifying all the facts and issues of the case law. The research has determined the scope of architect’s duties in relation to supervision of construction projects. Architect’s duty to carry out proper inspection will depend on what was being carried out on site at the time, the importance of the element work in question, and the confidence that the architect may have in the contractor’s overall competence. Reasonable examination of the works did not require the architect to go into every matter in detail. The architect does not guarantee that his inspection will reveal or prevent all defective work. However, closer and more frequent supervision will be expected of work that is important or critical.