Architect, builder, developer: who does what?

The architect

The architect designs the project and leads the engineers. He signs the drawings and takes them through the city. He is paid a fee.

He does not promise what the building will cost. That surprises many owners.

The general contractor

The contractor builds what is drawn. He hires the trades, runs the site and answers for the schedule, the safety and the quality. He is paid a fixed price, or the cost of the work plus a fee.

He prices the drawings he is given. If the drawings are incomplete, the price is too.

The developer

The developer holds the project together. He secures the land, brings the money and the loan, hires the architect and the contractor, and sells the homes. He earns the profit and he carries the risk.

When you build on your own land, you are the developer, whether you call yourself one or not.

Where it goes wrong

Most problems sit in the gaps between the three. The architect draws something that costs more than the budget. The contractor finds what the drawings left out, and each discovery becomes an extra. Each one did his job. Nobody owns the result.

Design-build

In design-build, one company draws and builds under one contract. The cost is known earlier, because the people who build are in the room while the project is drawn. And there is one phone number when something is wrong.

The trade-off is that you have fewer outside eyes on the work. So choose a team whose finished homes you can visit.

How we work

Parcelle designs, builds and sells as one team, and we build only what we design. We want the same idea to hold from the land to the sale.

Whoever you choose, ask three things. Who pays if the cost goes over? Who do I call? What have you finished that I can walk through?