Review
“Supposedly architects don’t need negotiating skills along with other communication skills because great design “sells itself”. How lovely that an AIA legal counsel created this definitive book to shatter that thin myth. I’ll assert that only a critically-positioned outsider to the profession could have written a book with this valuable slant. If you’re involved in any way in architectural education, be subversive and recommend this book as the first assigned reading for entering students. This is what the world – of architecture and everything else – needs now.” (Norman Weinstein,
ArchNewsNow, June 5, 2009)
From the Back Cover
Architecture/Professional Practice
A guide to crucial negotiation skills for design professionals
Architect's Essentials of Negotiation, Second Edition prepares practitioners for negotiating design issues, fees, and contracts, as well as handling risk, disputes, change, and claims. It offers valuable insights on how to hone communication, collaboration, and team-building skills to successfully navigate today's design-driven, client-centered world.
This new edition demystifies complex aspects of negotiation by breaking the process into a series of simple steps. The book explains how to:
Dissect and analyze agreement language
Identify key issues in a negotiation
Address owners' contractual concerns
Enjoy the benefits of managing risk
Complete with guidance on developing an effective personal negotiation style, this candid, practical guide is an indispensable resource for architects, landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, contractors, clients, and anyone else who needs to master the skills of negotiation in the design and construction setting.
"Ava Abramowitz has written a book that should be an essential part of every design professional's library. It gives us the knowledge and skills to properly start a project and develop a client relationship that will, in the end, bring forth wonderful design."
—M. Arthur Gensler Jr., FAIA, FIIDA, RIBA, Chairman, Gensler
