Customer Reviews

Architect's Essentials of Contract Negotiation (The Architect's Essentials of Professional Practice)

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Negotiation is critical factor of basic, daily human interactions, but how often do you think about what you are doing? Have you ever asked yourself the basic questions: Am I getting what I really want? Am I as effective and persuasive as I could be? Are both parties benefiting from this agreement?

Negotiation is something we do every day but seldom give much thought to it. In her new book, The Architect's Essentials of Contract Negotiation, Ava Abramowitz succeeds in outlining and explaining the critical components for successful negotiation. In an easy to read and sensible manner, she outlines the principles, tools and techniques needed for successful negotiation.

The book is divided into easily accessible chapters focused on key components of general negotiation, contract understanding and practice exercises. The book is arranged in such a manner that it may be used as a quick reference guide or read full through, with each chapter building on the next.

An example of the materials addressed, is the chapter on different types of negotiation, hard, soft and principal based. In this section Ms. Abramowitz analyzes negotiations techniques of soft (participants are friends), hard (participants are adversaries) and principled (participants are problem solvers). This tackling of old ideas and presenting new, research based techniques is what really gives this book its edge.

Written for a wide audience, The Architects Essentials of Contract Negotiation is an essential read for any student interested in improving basic negotiation skills or understanding contracts. In its comprehensive yet sensible manner, Ms. Abramowitz sheds light on a highly valuable subject years before students are exposed to it in formal academia.

The operative word in this third volume of Wiley's new series called "Architect's Essentials" is in the title: "essential".
Art Gensler, in a thoughtful, glowing Introduction, sums it up with: "Ava Abramowitz has written a book that should be an essential part of every architectural professional's library and a must-read for every student taking professional practice courses". I couldn't agree more.

My first reaction to this book is as a technical writer: Ava has produced, quite simply, the most accessible technical book that I have ever read. If you have been in one of her workshops, you will remember that she knows how to keep a room full of architects wide awake for two hours after lunch, and that most there will give her presentation a five out of five rating.
Well, she writes like she talks. We architects are famously words-averse; we prefer pictures. Ava paints rich word pictures, then cannily grabs you by the necktie and puts you in the middle of the picture. Reading her book is as close as you can get to a face-to-face conversation in print. Her writing style is what the thriller publishers call a "page-turner" - but you won't read more than a dozen pages without putting it down and thinking hard about some aspect of your practice.

For those of us who write for the severely right-brained, the bar has just been raised about a foot. Tough act to follow.
Now, my reactions as an architect: This is primarily a book on contract negotiation, as the title says - particularly about professional services agreement negotiation. But it is much more than that - contract negotiation is just a doorway to her vision of the future of practice.

Every authoritative writer in our field that I know of agrees that our professional is in the midst of the most profound change in its 4,000 year history. If you sense these winds of change, and your reaction is one of your practice and your profession being victimized and marginalized, then don't buy her book - you are a buggy-whip maker looking at a Model-T Ford, and you might as well keep practicing until your business dies of irrelevance.
But if you sense these winds of change and are sure there must be a new and better way, her work is the Swiss Army knife that will get you out of the James Bond torture chamber. She marches you step by sure step from the mentality of a service provider whose output can be bought as a commodity to one who is the client's trusted advisor, whose value can't be measured. She calls this "assertive practice". I won't attempt to summarize the details, for this, buy the book.

Her principles of negotiation are as clear and easy to understand as the best. Her section on communication is short, sharp and precise. Her five phases of dispute resolution and six steps for managing change are without equal for simplicity and clarity.
Throughout, she richly illustrates her points with personal anecdotes from her years as Deputy General Counsel to the AIA, Vice President of Victor O. Schinnerer & Co., and her current involvement as owner/developer/restorer of some 30 buildings on a Virginia farm.

If you are a young architect starting out in business, and could only afford five books in your professional library, this has to be on your short list. If you are a seasoned veteran of the practice wars, you will agree with Gensler: "I truly wish I had had the opportunity to read The Architect's Essentials of Contract Negotiation years ago." If you are in between, say an associate level architect with aspirations for leadership, the skills Ava teaches so eloquently will propel you to partnership faster than anything else you could do short of marrying the chairman's ugly son or daughter.

Wow! I picked up a copy of Contract Negotiations the other day and despite being in the middle of 5 or 6 other books, it is ythis one I keep returning to. Because of the casual tone and informal style reading it feels as much like a good conversation as a good read. I've enjoyed her writing in the Handbook in the past, but here she has given ample room to explore the subjects more thoroughly and enjoyably. And Ava is able to sustain a level of high energy and interest throughout. Simply amazing to me, given what is usually treated as such a dry and reserved subject.
I have a year old architecture practice in Chicago, teach at U of Illinois Chicago in the Architecture department, and wrestle every day with the issues you describe in the book, whether with owner/clients, my own employees or grad students. If I ever get to reach my dream of teaching professional practice (in addition to the current building science/design) in the coming years, I will certainly make this book required reading. Until then I will set to memory so much of the wisdom therein and spread the word amongst colleagues and clients. What a real joy, to involve myself in the rewarding conversation that is this book.

With this marvelous book on negotiation, Ava Abramowitz has provided a most excellent public service to design professionals and all other participants in the construction industry. If more people followed the advice contained in this book, there would be more trust between parties, more effective risk management, better projects, happier project participants, and less litigation. This book challenged my own thinking, as I'm sure it will challenge yours. If you follow Ava's reasoning, you will find yourself asking more questions to help focus on your client's problems and needs, and you will learn to listen to them better so that you will propose solutions that go beyond their design needs and reach their basic business and personal concerns. Not only will the principles of communication and negotiation make you more effective in relationships with your clients, you may even find yourself listening better to your spouse and children. I think that all of us who learn to apply the principles of communication and negotiation so artfully and enjoyably explained by Ava, will better appreciate that we negotiate every day over little (and sometimes big) matters. Ava encourages us to approach negotiation from a new perspective instead of the tired old concepts of hard and soft negotiation, win-lose negotiation, or even win-win negotiation. Negotiation, as she explains, does not fit into simple formulas; it does not have to be complex; and it certainly does not need to be intimidating or dreaded. Whether you negotiate contracts with clients or just haggle with your boss, employees or co-workers over every-day decisions in the office or in the field, this book is must reading. I highly recommend this book not only for design professionals but for other project participants and their attorneys.

Personal anecdotes and war stories from the author's experience, as Deputy General Counsel of the American Institute of Architects ("AIA") and Risk Management Services Director of a major insurance company, bring this book to life. Highlighted boxes of text sprinkled throughout the book help emphasize and organize key principles. The friendly, conversational writing style, with numerous succinct headings, subheadings, bullets and lists, make for enjoyable and easy reading, and virtually assures that this book will become a continuous reference.

Every construction law library should have this book in its arsenal. Ava provides valuable insight into the elements of successful negotiations. It is easy to read and follow, yet offers so much to anyone involved in a construction practice. Construction lawyers should really pay attention to the section on "A Word to my Legal Colleagues". This provides incredibly good advice to those people who want to serve as counsellors to their clients. You will find this book to be one of the most useful additions to your library and required reading for every attorney in your office.

For several years I've enjoyed attending Ava Abramowitz's presentations at AIA conferences and conventions. She makes contract law and negotiation strategies, topics that I'd normally consider dry at best, into subjects that are both stimulating and fascinating.

Her new book is just as much fun to read as her presentations are to attend, and her words teach one not only about negotiating the contracts that define our relationships with our clients, but also about human behavior in general. Her ability to explain with anecdotes makes each lesson memorable.

Although this book is ostensibly for architects, it seems to me it would be useful for anyone wanting to learn the basics of negotiating their way through life. As the author points out, we negotiate everything from what you want for dinner each night, to whether our children can watch TV before they've done their homework. It's an incredibly important part of life. We all do it. We just don't always understand that we're doing it, and are often surprised at the consequences. Ava Abramowitz's book will help you negotiate with your eyes open, and with an intelligence that isn't rocket science but isn't always obvious until someone has shown you the ground rules. I highly recommend this book

Wow.
I picked up a copy of this book the other day and despite being in the middle of 5 or 6 other books, it is this one I keep returning to. Because of the casual tone and informal style, reading it feels as much like a good conversation as a good read. I've enjoyed her writing in the Handbook in the past, but here Ava is given ample room to explore the subjects more thoroughly and enjoyably. And she is able to sustain a level of high energy and interest throughout. Simply amazing to me, given what is usually treated as such a dry and reserved subject.
I have a year old architecture practice in Chicago, teach at U of Illinois Chicago in the Architecture department, and wrestle every day with the issues she describes in the book, whether with owner/clients, my own employees or grad students. If I ever get to reach my dream of teaching professional practice (in addition to the current building science/design) in the coming years, I will certainly make this book required reading. Until then I will set to memory so much of the wisdom therein and spread the word amongst colleagues and clients. What a real joy, to involve myself in the rewarding conversation that is this book.

Well done book that coaxed me and encouraged me to negotiate for a well-defined contract. I've stopped wanting to just close the deal (although old habits die hard) - now I want to make sure the contract is negotiated for success - mine and my clients'. That's a new focus for me, even though it seems so obvious as I write this. A really good addition to my library that I'll use whenever I'm negotiating.

While the other reviews listed here accurately describe Ava's book, I wanted to add a different perspective. This book was just about as enjoyable and entertaining as any I have come across in the fairly mundate world of contracts, negotiations, and similar business topics. I felt as if I was sitting across from Ava and having a light-hearted "discussion" on how to negotiate and maintain relationships while doing so. But the advice that she gives during this "discussion" is about as sage and helpful as I could ever imagine any negotiator (architect or lawyer, for that matter) needing. What a great book!

I teach architecture students a course on professional practice and have made Architect's Essentials of Contract Negotiation required reading. Of all the sources I've read on this topic, Ava Abramowitz offers the most accessible and well-reasoned explanations of what every design professional must understand about negotiation (and communication).

Abramowitz's many years of experience as a counselor, teacher and mentor to architects has clearly given her insight into how architects think, and she uses this insight to great effect. My students enjoy reading this text (especially Chapters 3&4) because it connects to the way they see the world (and helps focus that vision) in language that rings true. Don't be fooled by the word "Contracts" in the title; this is a great book about architects and negotiation in general and one that I believe all architects should own.