Tips for concluding an architect contract

Hello everyone,

we have more or less decided on an architect and have a final meeting on Friday to discuss the last details.
However, we are still quite unsure about what should be included in an architect contract…

Could you possibly give us some tips on what we should definitely fix or what to consider?
I am thinking, for example, of the following points:

[*]Max. construction costs
[*]Latest completion date
[*]...

On the other hand, I don’t know if too much of a good thing could be harmful, after all, we will be working closely together for the next 2 years and mistrust could be counterproductive.

Besides, we actually want to commission the architect right away with all 9 service phases. Do you see any risks in this context and would you rather commission the individual phases step by step?

Furthermore, I have read something about the topic of “partial acceptance rights.” However, I didn’t really understand the “dangers” associated with this.
As I said, we actually want to commission all 9 service phases with our architect. Should we reconsider this in this context?

Thank you very much.

Regards

Matze

All service phases with stepwise commissioning make sense. Maximum construction costs should definitely be fixed. The rest is in the HOAI, which should then be referenced in the contract. No architect will guarantee you the latest completion date; for that, you will have to go to the GU. However, deadlines for the service phases can be agreed upon.

The construction costs should be explicitly declared as the maximum construction cost, otherwise there will only be bickering. We stumbled over this point and afterwards it was only recognized as "non-binding orientation", process included.

An important point is also a clear definition of the scope of services, meaning exactly what is performed within the LP.

And a clear cost structure should be fixed.