R.I.B.A. Code of Rules.

23

Professional Practice and Charges of Architects, containing two folio pages of suggestions for increased charges, all on the percentage system, with an intimation that the 5 per cent. might be reduced in the single case of a number of houses from the same design. In 1872 they issued a revised edition of it, after some disputes with the Government and a trial at law, about the right to payment without giving up the plans, the architect pleading that by the custom of the profession the employer had no right to them. The decision of the Court of Exchequer throws some light on the right of a professional association to invent new rules and set them up as an established custom binding on everybody else. The judges said that such an attempt to supersede the common law, by what the Times called 'the private code of a highly respectable trades union,' was 'contrary to reason, good sense, and justice, impossible, suicidal, cutting its own throat by its absurdity as soon as it was produced.'* Notwithstanding this tolerably clear language the R.I.B.A. actually say in their revised edition of 1872 that no authoritative decision on the point (of the ownership of drawings paid for) has yet been given.' What they mean, I confess I don't know,

*Eddy v. McGowan, reported in the newspapers of 17 November, 1870, but not in the Law Reports, I suppose because the point was too clear among lawyers to be worth reporting. Though it is necessary, for the practical objects of this book, to criticise the official acts of the R.I.B.A., and to speak of them according to law, I desire to acknowledge the courtesy I have always received from them, in being invited to special discussions, and to read papers on subjects to which I was known to have paid some attention. I doubt however whether they did wisely in converting it some years ago into a strictly professional association, from the more general one which it once was. It seems that the Council, or a Committee, actually proposed lately to give it a still more commercial character, by making it a combination of architects and builders.

24

Architects' Charges.

and I doubt if they do; but they prudently add, for the information of their brethren, that it is desirable to have a distinct understanding with the employer,' as no doubt it is if they wish to override the law and keep the drawings they are paid for.

It is no business of mine to reprint this private code' for them; nor am I disposed to give it even that amount of recognition; nor to criticise any of the twenty-three rules contained in it, however tempting it may be.

But when architects and other writers of books under the patronage of the R.I.B.A. tell us that it is calculated to prevent disputes, and that people may learn what they are to pay their architects in every possible contingency by buying it for 3d. at their house in Conduit Street, I feel bound to answer as a lawyer that it is nothing of the kind, but the direct contrary; and to warn employers that all that can be deduced from it is that 5 per cent. on the cost of the work executed from the architect's design' is the very least that they will have to pay, in the absence of some special agreement, and that the maximum may be 10 per cent., and sometimes more. I have known that and more charged, and sometimes paid with grumbling, and sometimes properly refused because no notice had been given of the intention to charge more than the long established 5 per cent., which architects have over and over again sworn to be the rule when somebody has objected to it.

Since this was in type I am glad to see that Mr. Burges, an eminent member of the R.I.B.A. Council, says, in an Address to the Architectural Association, that the R.I.B.A. rules have been misunderstood, and only meant that 5 per cent. was the established charge where no other special bargain had been made, and that they

Importance of agreeing about them. 25

had not the least intention of acting as a Trades Union to interfere with the discretion of architects in making any bargain they pleased, according to the nature of the work to be done. That is so far satisfactory; but it is obvious that if that was all they meant at first, they would never have issued such a paper; and further, that the sooner they burn all the copies of it the better, instead of going on revising and selling it for 3d., and writing in various books that it informs employers what they will have to pay architects under all circumstances; which it actually does in none, either with or without Mr. Burges's explanation.

The case therefore now stands thus: every employer who has not already had a dispute believes that 5 per cent. on the cost of the building (and actual travelling expenses) is all that he will have to pay his architect; but every architect believes, because he is told by this highly respectable trades union,' that he has a right to throw that rule over if he chooses, and to charge a great deal more in a variety of contingencies, some of which are almost sure to occur in every building above the commonest kind, and that, without having given any notice of his intention so to do. This is quite enough by itself to prove the expediency of having a definite agreement at first. It is easy to talk about bargaining for terms beforehand being disagreeable. Disputing afterwards is ten times more so; and it is quite clear now that you have no security against disputes unless you do agree beforehand. Moreover the architects themselves have at last given up the point. That new arrangement with the Commissioners of Works which I spoke of, expressly repudiates this R.I.B.A. code or any other which they may set up, and the percentage principle altogether, and states that the architect's

26

New Government Agreement

remuneration shall be a fixed sum to be agreed on beforehand. The architect himself must be the best judge of the amount of trouble the work will involve, which has no sort of constant relation to the cost, as their own code admitted; and it certainly can be no hardship on him to invite him to name his charge beforehand according to his own estimate of the quantity and value of his time, and then the employer may agree to it or not as he pleases. Architects are particularly fond of calling themselves Artists, and artists name their charges beforehand for pictures and statues made to order. The leaders of the profession having now adopted that arrangement with their largest employer, the public, any others are, and I know consider themselves, as Mr. Burges says, at liberty to do the same, and agree to any terms they like. The Government arrangement may be improved in some minor points, but it is generally so good that I give the substance of it here.

I will put A. for architect and C. for commissioners, or a committee, and omit superfluous words.

1. The A. will prepare sketch-plans, elevations, and sections of the intended building, having regard to the proposed cost, so that a contract might be made for it including fixtures and fittings, warming, ventilating, lighting, boundary fences, lodges, and every other work necessary to render the building fit for occupation, except furniture, for the proposed amount.

2. If the C. abandon the intention of executing the building the A. shall be entitled to a sum to be fixed beforehand, and to the return of his sketches (but see 6 and 12).

3. If the sketches are approved, with or without modifications, and the C. desire to proceed, the A.

shall by a day to be named prepare working drawings and specifications for competition by builders.

4. The drawings and specifications shall be full and complete so as to enable the C. to enter into a contract with a responsible builder.

5. If the most approved tender exceeds the amount proposed the A. shall, if required by the C., revise his plans so as to bring the expenditure within the prescribed limit.

6. The plans and the documents relating to the works shall be the property of the C. (i.e. at once, not merely after the work is done) and the A. shall make at his own expense all copies of them necessary for the conduct of the works.

7 and 8 are merely formal as to certificates and clerk of the works.

9. The A. will be at liberty to vary architectural details, provided such variations do not involve extra cost, but shall on no account incur any increased expenditure without sanction of the C. in writing. (See notes on this afterwards; it is defective as it stands.)

10. If any additional or substituted works become necessary during the execution the A. shall furnish the plans &c. as soon as possible.

II. The A.'s remuneration shall be a fixed sum to be agreed on beforehand; and one third of it shall be paid to him on the execution of the contract; another third when half the contract price has been paid to the builder, and the rest when the last payment has been made to the builder.

12. If after working drawings have been made the C. do not proceed, the A. shall be entitled to a fixed sum to be agreed beforehand, and the plans &c. shall