Send us a text In a condo venture, an architect juggles roles as promoter, developer, builder, and financier, while cracking columns threaten structural collapse and financial ruin. Can the architect wearing multiple hats be liable for this project’s failures? Find out how “role overload” courts disaster, poor coordination sparks lawsuits, and clear contracts can provide a lifeline. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak wit...
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Send us a text In a condo venture, an architect juggles roles as promoter, developer, builder, and financier, while cracking columns threaten structural collapse and financial ruin. Can the architect wearing multiple hats be liable for this project’s failures? Find out how “role overload” courts disaster, poor coordination sparks lawsuits, and clear contracts can provide a lifeline. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak wit...
Send us a text In a condo venture, an architect juggles roles as promoter, developer, builder, and financier, while cracking columns threaten structural collapse and financial ruin. Can the architect wearing multiple hats be liable for this project’s failures? Find out how “role overload” courts disaster, poor coordination sparks lawsuits, and clear contracts can provide a lifeline. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak wit...
Send us a text On a project where an architect copies another’s drawings without permission, detailing problems create leaks and fire hazards. Can an architect be liable for defects stemming from plagiarized plans? You’ll learn why copying someone else’s designs spells trouble, how skimpy reviews lead to lawsuits, and why ethics are your best defense. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services Expert if you’...
Send us a text In a condo project where a brash developer cuts corners and ignores warnings, code violations force residents to evacuate their new homes. Can an architect be liable for these flaws when only hired to sign-off on lenders’ certificates? Discover how signing lenders’ certificates carries risks, why documenting deficiencies is your armour, and how to stand firm against rogue developers. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Li...
Send us a text In a mid-rise office project, an architect’s risky plan to start construction on a 10-storey building based on a permit for 5-storeys, grinds to a halt when the building inspector issues a stop work order. Can the architect be liable for these costly delays due to miscommunication? Learn why missing records can sink you, how translators keep you safe, and why risky actions are best avoided. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk...
Send us a text In a small-town project for a charitable service club, a local contractor unilaterally swaps robust design elements for flimsy substitutes. The clubhouse ends up on the verge of collapse decades later. Can an architect be held liable for this failure when the contractor ignored their plans without anyone’s approval? Find out how refusing free reviews saves you, why contractor shortcuts spell disaster, and how to avoid liability, years down the line. Connect with Pro-Demnity: ...
Send us a text In a lavish mansion project where a tycoon client calls the shots and takes a cavalier approach to site supervision, a fire reduces everything to ashes except for a lone fireplace. Can an architect be held liable for this blaze when they weren’t tasked with supervising construction? You’ll discover how a single site visit can burn you, why contracts with a clear scope of work are your shield, and how unnoticed fireplace flaws can create legal nightmares. Connect with Pro-Demnit...
Send us a text In a small-town office project, when an eager developer starts without a permit, a faulty wall and low ceilings derail the project. Can an architect be liable for these setbacks when the client jumped the gun? Find out why permits are non-negotiable, how surveys prevent errors, and why agreements are your shield. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services Expert if you’re an Ontario ar...
Send us a text In a historic restoration where three architects, an engineer, and a manager bombard a mason with conflicting orders, shoddy stonework triggers a costly redo. Can architects be liable for this mess when everyone’s calling the shots? Uncover why too many cooks spoil the project, how documented orders save you, and why clear roles are your lifeline. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services Exp...
Send us a text On a hillside, a misplaced septic field turns a cozy retreat into a flood zone, and owners battle murky waters at midnight. Can an architect be liable for this deluge when they only suggested the field’s general layout, and not its specifics? Learn why verbal orders drown you, how specialists save the day, and why proper site reviews catch errors. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services E...
Send us a text This “classic” episode from our first season has been re-edited for the benefit of our newest listeners, as a way to keep these evergreen lessons alive, We hope you enjoy listening to this story as much as we do presenting it to you In a charitable society’s new home for the aged, where a limited budget led to an inappropriate air conditioning system, residents faint from unbearable heat. Can an architect be liable for this failure when they followed the client’s verbal instr...
Send us a text Have you ever faced a claim that turned your architectural vision into a legal nightmare? Do the hidden risks of your practice haunt you? A single misstep—like a contractor’s error, a language barrier, or a neighbor’s grievance—can jeopardize your reputation and livelihood. What if you could master these risks? Welcome to Season 4 of The Claims-Free Architect, brought to you by Pro-Demnity, safeguarding architects for four decades. This podcast empowers you to stay claims-free....
Send us a text In a building project where an Architect’s role has been marginalized, and where the chain of command is generally confused, can the Architect still be held responsible for errors by others that lead to catastrophe? You’ll learn that even when Architects are not contracted to supervise construction, or to coordinate trades and consultants, they may inadvertently assume these responsibilities and any liability attached to them. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follo...
Send us a text What sort of problems arise when Architects and Engineers are unfamiliar with the physical context of a building site? How can they work together to ensure that things such as site drainage are adequately dealt with? When Architects fail to familiarize themselves with existing site conditions, they and their consultants may be designing in a bubble. In this case, the site grading drawings were fine, but failed to note that the site was at the foot of a hill. Flooding was inevit...
Send us a text How can a simple typographical error in a millwork order lead to a financial and logistical nightmare, not to mention the heartbreak of trashing 180 custom-made cabinets? Architects don’t normally assume responsibility for ordering interior furnishings and fittings. But when they do, they should follow quality assurance protocols. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services Expert if yo...
Send us a text When experts with questionable incentives make a simple problem worse by recommending drastic solutions, who is responsible for picking up the tab? You’ll learn how a faulty valve caused major water damage to a new building. And when a toxic mould infestation ensued, “experts” were called in to assess the damage. This led to a costly legal battle. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services E...
Send us a text When a major building component, such as an exterior wall, fails during construction, who was supposed to check the shop drawings? The cause of the near-tragedy becomes obvious, only after the wall has fallen over - it hadn’t been tied into the structure. You’ll learn how dereliction of duty triggered a catastrophic series of events. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services Expert if you’r...
Send us a text If an Architect provides better quality cladding materials than those the client requested, can the Client order those materials to be replaced at the Architect’s expense? You’ll learn that unreasonable clients and guilt-ridden architects can make strange bedfellows and their relationship dynamics may lead to unnecessarily expensive lawsuits. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak with a Risk Services ...
Send us a text When a recently renovated, beloved heritage building burns to the ground with no discernible cause, who is responsible? Even forensic fire experts may have trouble pinpointing the cause of a fire, but if the architects are contracted to perform site reviews, they will be in the “line of fire,” regardless of the actual source of the original spark. There are, however, precautions that Architects can take to mitigate the risks. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review ...
Send us a text What happens when a project is designed and engineered based on a subsoils report created for another site, with wildly different conditions? Adjacent sites may appear almost identical above grade, and yet have radically different subsoil conditions. It can be a false economy—and potentially catastrophic—to forgo a proper soils report specific to your site and instead base your design on unfounded assumptions. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn A...
Send us a text Can an edifice of historical grandeur be replicated with inexpensive modern materials? And what if they haven’t been tested in Ontario’s harsh climatic conditions? Agreeing to build a high-quality neoclassical masterpiece in the Ontario hinterlands, without the extravagant budget required can only result in a deteriorating client relationship, and a dilapidated building. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak...
Send us a text In a condo venture, an architect juggles roles as promoter, developer, builder, and financier, while cracking columns threaten structural collapse and financial ruin. Can the architect wearing multiple hats be liable for this project’s failures? Find out how “role overload” courts disaster, poor coordination sparks lawsuits, and clear contracts can provide a lifeline. Connect with Pro-Demnity: Leave a Review Follow us on LinkedIn Access our Risk Education Library Speak wit...
