Owners hire their own consultants all the time. Geotechnical engineers, land surveyors, environmental assessors, cost estimators, commissioning agents, testing and inspection agencies. These professionals work directly for the owner, not for the architect. But their work products feed directly into the architect's design.

The ARE tests your understanding of this relationship because it creates a coordination challenge that trips up practitioners daily. Who is responsible for the accuracy of the survey? Who coordinates the geotechnical report with the structural design? When must the environmental assessment be complete so the architect can incorporate its findings into schematic design? If the owner's cost estimator disagrees with the architect's probable construction cost, whose number controls?

Under B101, the owner is responsible for furnishing certain information and services, including surveys, geotechnical data, and testing. Under A201, the owner must provide information the contractor needs to do the work. The architect is entitled to rely on the accuracy of information the owner furnishes, but that reliance has limits.

The sequencing question is where many projects stumble. If the geotechnical report arrives three months into design development instead of during schematic design, the architect may need to redesign the foundation system. That rework costs money, and figuring out who pays for it requires understanding the contractual framework for owner-furnished information.