[Sigia-l] You're not alone

[Mike Brown]

> If anything can illustrate the delicate dance among clients, designers and
> developers transposed into another profession, this is it. :-)
>
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/business/17shortcuts.html>
>

We are in the middle of the exact same process. And among other things,
I'm struck by how similar the relationship between the architect and
builder is to that between (my experience of) the designer and developer
of a website.

Our builder is an old-style craftsman. The architect insisted we needed a
contract with the builder and brought along two samples. One was prepared
by something like the architects' institute and was a number of pages of
legalese. The other was one the same builder had used on a previous job.
It was two pages long, written by the builder, obviously without the
"guiding" hand of a lawyer. It included lines like, "We will fix any
defects to client's satisfaction" which would never make it past a lawyer.
But my favourite one was something obviously tacked onto the bottom of the
contract saying, "And we [builder] will meet with the architect only if
necessary".

As a developer at the occasional mercy of designers' adherence to
pixel-perfection, I loved that line and immediately felt I could trust the
builder. And, happily, so far it's worked out well.

But bathrooms DO take more money than you are ever quoted ;)

Mike