Survey finds 30 per cent of contractors are happy with architects’ work

November 2016

Survey finds 30 per cent of contractors are happy with architects’ work: According to a recent construction survey by the Royal Institute of British Architects, just 30 per cent of contractors who employ architects to work on schemes are happy with their finished work.

Entitled ‘Working With Architects’, the survey questioned 958 contractors about their opinions on the services and design qualities from the architects they work with. Of the respondents, 1 in 3 were private domestic clients and a further 1 in 3 were contractor clients. The remaining third were commercial clients. The respondents in the ‘contractors’ category gave the lowest satisfaction rating for working with architects, with just 17 per cent saying that architects took part in value-adding activities on their projects.

The value–adding activities which the researchers were referring to were, using BIM to create a faster and more efficient construction process, hitting higher sale prices through the quality of design and also gaining planning consent on difficult building sites by liaising with stakeholders.

Of the contractors, just 18 per cent said that they had been satisfied with their architects’ ability to follow the programme guidelines that were set out. A further 16 per cent said that they were satisfied with their architects’ commercial grasp of their scheme.

On the other hand, 64 per cent of the contractors in the survey were happy with the aesthetic qualities of the project design and a further 52 per cent were happy that the project design had followed the initial brief.

The highest rating on all satisfaction measures were given by private domestic clients, with 76 per cent of this category being satisfied with the project over all. A further 61 per cent said that they were happy with how well their architects managed the project.

Of the commercial clients, 75 per cent said that they were happy with their project and a further 56 per cent were satisfied with the process management.