July 3, 2009

Canadian Construction Association negotiating over CAD fees

CALGARY

The Canadian Construction Association is concerned that consultants are demanding a fee to transfer CAD files to contractors.

At the recent CCA board meeting in Calgary, members of the standard practices committee agreed that contractors should not be required to pay for CAD (computer-aided design) files that are used in the preparation of shop drawings and as-built drawings.

“The CCA have been in discussions with RAIC (Royal Architectural Institute of Canada) and RAIC is prepared to talk about CAD files in tender documents,” said RAIC past-president David Simpson.

According to the CCA, these fees should be part of the client consultant agreement.

They argue that the preparation of the shop drawings and as-built drawings is a cost of construction.

For this reason, consultants should provide CAD drawings for free.

The CCA believes this issue needs to be highlighted to owners, because the consultant is double dipping.

RAIC has proposed that architects include CAD files in bid documents if contractors need to prepare drawings.

— RICHARD GILBERT

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