The second paragraph of Article II, pro viding that the owner shall pay for all serv ices of the architect, is generally inserted to protect the architect in case the owner shall have imagined that the contractor is re sponsible for, or from any other reason shall have become liable for,. the architect's fees, thus involving a controversy among the mazes of which the architect might lose part of his fees.
"Article III. No alterations shall be made in the work, except upon written order of the Architect, the amount to be paid by the Owner or allowed by the Contractor by virtue of such alterations to be stated in said order. Should the Owner and Contractor not agree as to amount to be paid or allowed, the work shall go on under the order required above; and, in case of failure to agree, the determination of said amount shall be referred to arbitration, as pro vided for in Article XII of this contract." This is an excellent provision, and more or less constant effort is made to live up to it on most building contracts to-day. However, every practical man realizes that a great many questions involving altera tions or minor points come up from day to day under inspection on the work, and are settled verbally by the architect with out further red tape. If the architect has had much experience, and has pre pared his plans and specifications with great care, these verbal settlements are com paratively unimportant, and no trouble is liable to arise from them; but if, on the other hand, the architect is young, and if his mind is possessed with his artistic conceptions to the exclusion of ordinary practical construc tion, the number of these alterations may be very large, and they may be very important— so important, in fact, as to affect to a consid erable extent the economic results to the con tractor. Under these circumstances trouble usually follows. Article III is an attempt to eliminate this source of trouble as much as possible.
"Article IV. The Oontractor shall provide sufficient, safe, and proper facilities at all times for the inspection of the work by the Architect or his authorized representatives; shall, within twenty-four hours after receiving written notice from the Architect to that effect, proceed to re move from the grounds or buildings all materials condemned by him, whether worked or un worked, and to take down all portions of the work which the Architect shall by like written notice condemn as unsound or improper, or as in any way failing to conform to the drawings and specifications, and shall make good all work damaged or destroyed thereby." This article is intended to insure, under direction of the architect, proper execution of the work. It will be noted that it makes the architect the arbitrator as to the quality of the work, and puts the contractor in the position of being obliged to take down any portion of the work condemned by the archi tect, whether or not the condemnation is just.
"Article V. Should the Contractor at any time refuse or neglect to supply a sufficiency of properly skilled workmen, or of materials of the proper quality, or fail in any respect to prosecute the work with promptness and diligence, or fail in the performance of any of the agreements herein contained, such refusal, neglect, or failure being certified by the Architect, the Owner shall be at liberty, after three days' written notice to the Contractor, to provide any such labor or materials, and to deduct the cost thereof from any money then due or thereafter to become due to the Contractor under this contract; and if the Architect shall certify that such refusal, neglect, or failure is sufficient ground for such action, the Owner shall also be at liberty to ter minate the employment of the Contractor for the said work, and to enter upon the premises and take possession, for the purpose of complet ing the work included under this contract, of all materials, tools, and appliances thereon, and to employ any other person or persons to finish the work, and to provide the materials therefor; and in case of such discontinuance of the employment of the Contractor , shall not be titled to receive any further payment under this contract until the said work shall be wholly fin ished, at which time, if the unpaid balance of the amount to be paid under this contract shall ex ceed the expense incurred by the Owner in fin ishing the work, such excess shall be paid by the Owner to the Contractor ; but if such expense shall exceed such unpaid balance, the Contrac tor shall pay the difference to the Owner . The expense incurred by the Owner as herein pro vided, either for furnishing materials or for fin ishing the work, and any damage incurred through such default, shall be audited and cer tified by the Architect, whose certificate thereof shall be conclusive upon the parties." This article is intended to protect the owner in case the contractor should abandon the work for any reason. It sometimes appears that the contractor finds a cer tain portion of work unprofitable, and for various reasons is unable or unwilling to push it as he should; and if some such article as this were not inserted for the protection of the owner, it would bye im possible for him in such a case to avoid very large losses. As a general thing, archi tects are very slow to enforce this clause, ex cept under the greatest provocation, because it involves a lot of extra work on the part of the architect for which he does not get paid, and it is very difficult to carry it out without involving complications which may result in lawsuits.