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Architects are lower down the pecking order now!
14 November 2007 | Category: Architecture Rumbling
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Listen up kids, Uncle Piers Gough from CZWG Architects had a Groovy interview at Building.co.uk, according to him, people used to sweep the construction site prior inspection, graduate architects has the same treatment as well, but that was all history. Life as an architect back then must be like a king.
Is architecture a tougher job these days?
The trouble is architects are lower down the pecking order now. You are almost seen as a subcontractor who provides drawings. When we came out of college, people used to sweep the site before we went to visit. However young, spotty and inexperienced you were, you were the architect, so you were important. You can’t really say that anymore. Maybe it is more friendly not having a hierarchy, but I don’t think it quite reflects what architects do. It is a stupendously difficult job.
Every architect seems to be shouting the same thing – ‘Underpaid’, ‘Too Much Work’, ‘It Tough!’ and blah blah blah, and they end it with – ‘I did it because of passion.’ Ironic.
Tags: architect design fees, architect fee schedule, architect fees, Architects, architects fee scale, architects fees uk, Architecture, CZWG, landscape architect fees, Piers Gough, residential architect fees, riba architects fees, typical architect fees
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6 Comments
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BarnaStil
on November 14th, 2007I think it also has something to do with the way architects carry themselves on the jobsite. I think that someone who is respected (and commands that respect) for the work they are doing, their overall knowledge of not only architecture, but also construction and the building process gets treated differently than someone who says that something should be this way or that way because that´s what they taught us in college. But it could also be that nowadays architects are a dime a dozen and nobody cares anymore.
isa
on November 15th, 2007you know they should have one of those reality shows on us; students and an architect firm too. Like those fashion designer, hair dressers, and chefs…
borringggg…(rolled eyes)
they they’ll know WHO’S THEIR DADDY ei..
Etienne
on November 16th, 2007The question is what really happen that made things change like this. Part of the answer I believe is CAD and 3D modelling: computerization of the way we work made us slaves of the computer instead of slave of the drawing table. If you were to produce a plan, and then changes came and you had to redraw the whole thing, architects where tougher on the work so that their design be respected as drawn. Now that the smallest change can be dealt by a simple re-print, we are stuck in an abuse of perpetual changes. Now with 3D, anyone can look professionnal with a 3D rendering of a project, although it is not always good architecture. Maybe the difference is that 20 years ago, a bad architect would simply not work, now they work against the profession like prostitutes, and get the jobs for the now wll established “lowest bid” competitions.
Calvin
on November 16th, 2007Etienne, you’ve got a point there. Then again, could it be the modernization of the entire human civilization? Education is important, back then not many people have the luxury of education, whereas today, a degree is nothing, almost every single person from the first world has one.
james
on December 9th, 2007I’m not an architect/architecture student. I’m a cad monkey. I architecture but i chose building design because the course was only two years, vs 5-6 and a 5 digit HECS debt.
It wasn’t just that, though.
I called lots of architects and building designers and the continuous complaint I heard from both is “grad architects are useless, they don’t know anything about construction or costing.” Also, there was the fact that building designers (evil, souless creatures that we are) get 85% of the design work out there – and the grad architects I spoke to were only making 35-40K a year. Looking at Job ads, I realised that a building designer with 5 years experience earns around the same as an architect with 5 yrs experience (85-100K)-and the building designer has no HECS debt.
From my contact with the building industry so far (very minimal) it seems that architects have gotten a bad rep for often being impractical with actual building and structural specifics.
Construction is at the heart of building design and architecture. Whichever is better, if you don’t know construction and are dependant on others to provide it you’re wages will reflect this. It’s that sentence, “As per engineers specifications” – everytime you write that, what you’re saying is, “I’m not capable of working this out, I’m referring it to someone who can -” and that engineer will be better paid than you because his skills are more necessary.
A long time ago architects did all this technical planning themselves. The only modern equiviant is Santiago Calatrava. He says, “As per MY specifications.”
The more divorced architects become from the origin of their profession the less necessary they will be to it, and they’ll be paid less.
Yonatan
on September 12th, 2008Us programmers do the same thing. Actually, current methods were made in order to serve our clients better and be ready for change in software at any time.
If you want to draw freely on paper and ignore costs or engineering problems, you’re “just” an artist, and therefore getting paid like one.