Narrative Box 5

The Value in Long Term Relationships
The point is not the size or the complexity of a project, but the thinking behind it — which is one of the key reasons for engaging in a long-term relationship with an architect. Below are seven more to consider:

1 – Increase bandwidth

Make a small facilities team bigger, make a big facilities team more productive. New England College of Optometry’s campus comprises five brownstones in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood; a single person runs everything for facilities — from ordering hand sanitizer to overseeing capital project improvements. She needs a designer on call for all kinds of things, from classroom studies and renovations to a five-year window and door replacement project.

Institutions like MIT are another story – they have a large team tackling myriad substantial projects. Before the on-call contract, they would need to go to multiple consultants — involving walk-throughs, RFPs and interviews in a process that is easily eight weeks. With a term contract, they can go to directly to their house doctor partner and distribute the work, saving time and costs on procurement.