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Home > Find an Architect > Hiring an Architect and how the OAA can help > Selecting an architect
Selecting an architect
Selecting the right architect for your project is one of the most significant decisions you make as a project owner.
There are three basic methods of selecting the architect that is best suited for your project: Direct Selection; Quality Based Selection; Architectural Design Competitions. Each method has its advantages depending on your specific requirements, the complexity of the project and your time schedule.
To best meet a client's needs, architects compete on the basis of their ability to provide the required services at a professional standard of quality, not on the basis of fees. Selecting your architect based on the lowest fee is not recommended because, in the end, it may simply not be in your best interest. Given that the architectural fees represent such a minute portion of the overall investment you are making over the lifetime of your project, it doesn’t pay to short-change yourself. Your most important consideration is to be certain that your architect will be providing you with the necessary services to provide you with the most successful results. The OAA recommends using one of the methods below to select your architect on an appropriate balance of skill, experience, imagination, innovation, sensitivity and ability to perform on schedule and within a construction budget consistent with your needs. Once you have selected your architect, and have jointly established the range of services you will require, it is relatively simple to negotiate a fair fee.
Direct Selection
most often used for smaller projects.
You can select an architect on the basis of special expertise required, reputation, familiarity with the location, personal acquaintance or a recommendation. You may seek an architect who designed a similar project which you like. Your final decision may be based on your comfort level and rapport – ‘chemistry’ - with a particular architect.
Quality Based Selection -
The OAA QBS Kit: a step by step guide (Revised November 2008)
is most commonly used by building committees representing institutions, corporations or public and private agencies.
QBS is a balanced procedure for selecting an architect on the basis of professional qualifications and competence, and factors like innovation, using numerous criteria. A comparison is made between two or more architects by a committee that you set up. The committee makes a selection based upon their judgement of which architect is most likely to handle the project successfully.
The OAA QBS Kit
Encouraged by the release of Infraguide’s best practice guide, the OAA is pleased to provide this QBS Kit. Designed to assist clients at various levels of government, school boards, hospital boards, developers and private industry in selecting and engaging an architect using QBS, the kit is a step by step guide for completing the QBS process.
Architectural Design Competitions
solicit design solutions which are judged impartially on the comparative excellence, imagination and ingenuity of the submissions. The winner of an architectural competition is awarded the commission for the project. The architects for many public buildings such as City Halls, Museums and Galleries are selected by this method. There are two types of architectural competitions, "open" and "limited". Documents setting out rules and guidelines for both are available from the Ontario Association of Architects.
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