Having translated your brief into a developed design, your architect will produce detailed drawings and specifications for competitive pricing by builders. The architect will prepare a list of suitable contractors with you. Contractors should be preselected on the basis of quality, and in general the lowest tenderer will be awarded the contract. A good contractor represents real value in terms of reliability and quality, and will ultimately cost less than a poor one, no matter how cheap a price the latter might have submitted. The builder or ‘contractor’ enters into a contract with you, to carry out the building work. In turn, the contractor has contracts with specialist sub-contractors and with suppliers of materials. The RIAI Code of Professional Conduct states that your RIAI independent consulting architect will have no financial interest in any building contracting firm and receives no commissions or discounts from contractors or suppliers, so you can be sure that the advice you get is free of any conflict of interest.
