8.2 B101: Owner Duties, Cost of the Work, Copyright, Termination & Compensation
Key Takeaways
- Article 5 obligates the owner to furnish the program, the budget, the survey, geotechnical data, and timely decisions the design depends on.
- When the lowest bona fide bid exceeds the owner’s budget, B101 gives the owner five remedies, and modifying the documents to reduce cost is an architect service without additional compensation only in the defined circumstance.
- Under Article 7 the architect retains copyright in the instruments of service and the owner receives a non-exclusive license that terminates on the owner’s default.
- Termination for convenience entitles the architect to compensation for services performed plus reimbursable and termination expenses.
- A modified B101 governs over the standard form, so a case study exhibit containing struck or added language is the correct basis for the answer.
Article 5: Owner's Responsibilities
Under Article 5, the owner holds affirmative duties to furnish essential project information:
- The owner's project program, budgetary constraints, and schedule parameters.
- A land survey detailing boundary lines, topography, easements, rights-of-way, zoning, utilities, and benchmarks.
- Geotechnical engineering services, including soil borings, test pits, percolation tests, ground water elevations, and foundation recommendations.
- Environmental testing, hazardous materials abatement reports (asbestos, lead), and lab testing.
- Legal, accounting, and insurance counseling services.
The architect is legally entitled to rely on the accuracy of all owner-furnished surveys, reports, and tests without independent verification.
Article 6: Cost of the Work & Budget Overruns
Section 6.1 defines the Cost of the Work as the total cost to the owner to construct all elements designed or specified by the architect, including contractor general conditions, overhead, and profit. Crucially, the Cost of the Work excludes:
- Compensation of the architect and consultants.
- Costs of the land, rights-of-way, financing, or financing contingencies.
- Other costs that are the legal responsibility of the owner.
Five Contractual Remedies for Budget Overruns
If the lowest bona fide contractor bid or negotiated proposal exceeds the agreed budget for the Cost of the Work, Section 6.6 grants the owner five specific options:
- Increase the budget for the Cost of the Work.
- Authorize rebidding or renegotiating the project within a reasonable time.
- Terminate the agreement in accordance with Article 9.
- Cooperate with the architect to revise project scope and quality to reduce the Cost of the Work.
- Implement any other mutually acceptable alternative.
If the owner selects Option 4 (revise scope and quality), Section 6.7 mandates that the architect must modify the construction documents without additional compensation. This redesign obligation represents the limit of the architect's contractual liability for budget overruns.
Article 7: Copyright and Instruments of Service
Under Article 7, the architect and the architect's consultants retain all common law, statutory, and reserved rights—specifically including copyright—in their respective Instruments of Service (drawings, specifications, BIM models, and sketches).
The owner receives a non-exclusive license to use the Instruments of Service solely and exclusively for constructing, using, maintaining, and altering the project. This license is contingent upon the owner substantially performing its contractual obligations, including prompt payment of all professional fees. If the owner terminates the architect for convenience, the owner can only continue using the Instruments of Service if they pay a negotiated licensing fee and agree to indemnify the architect against third-party claims.
Article 9: Suspension and Termination
Either party may terminate the agreement upon not less than 7 days' written notice if the other party fails substantially to perform its obligations (termination for cause). If the owner fails to make payments when due, the architect may suspend services upon 7 days' written notice; the architect must be reimbursed for remobilization expenses and granted a schedule extension.
If the owner terminates for convenience (without cause), the architect is entitled to:
- Payment for all services executed to date.
- Reimbursable expenses incurred.
- Direct termination expenses.
- The Termination Fee and Licensing Fee explicitly stipulated in Article 11.
Article 11: Compensation Structures
B101 accommodates multiple compensation structures:
- Stipulated Sum (Fixed Fee): Common in well-defined projects; typically billed monthly based on percentage completion across the five Basic Services phases (standard industry baseline: SD 15%, DD 20%, CD 40%, Bidding 5%, CA 20%).
- Percentage of Construction Cost: Fee varies based on final Cost of the Work; creates potential conflicts if scope changes.
- Hourly / Time & Materials: Standard for Additional Services or projects with undefined scope, utilizing Direct Personnel Expense (DPE) with a multiplier (e.g., 2.5x to 3.2x) or fixed billing rate schedules.
Reading a Modified B101
Owners routinely present the architect with a marked-up B101 or with an owner-drafted agreement that borrows B101's structure. Objective 3.1 asks you to verify adherence to the owner-architect agreement, which means reading the agreement you actually signed rather than the standard form you remember.
The provisions most often modified, and what the modification does:
| Provision | Standard B101 position | Typical owner modification | Effect on the architect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard of care | Skill and care of an architect performing similar services in the same locality | "Highest standard," "best practices," or an express warranty | Creates uninsurable liability |
| Instruments of service | Architect retains copyright; owner receives a license | Assignment of copyright to the owner, or work-made-for-hire | Architect loses reuse rights and control |
| Consequential damages | Mutual waiver | Waiver deleted, or made one-way | Exposes architect to lost profit and lost use claims |
| Certification requests | Architect signs only certificates in a form the architect approves | Owner or lender certificates required on demand | Architect may certify facts it cannot verify |
| Termination | Termination for convenience with compensation for work performed plus termination expenses | Termination without termination expenses | Unrecovered demobilization cost |
| Dispute resolution | Mediation as condition precedent, then selected binding method | Litigation in a distant venue, jury waiver, fee shifting | Cost and venue risk |
| Suspension for non-payment | Architect may suspend after seven days' notice | Right to suspend deleted | Architect must keep working while unpaid |
Two habits matter on the exam and in practice. First, the exhibit governs: a case study will hand you a modified clause, and the modified clause is the correct basis for the answer. Second, the architect's obligation to verify adherence runs both ways — it includes confirming that the owner is performing its own Article 5 responsibilities, such as providing the program, the budget, the survey, and the geotechnical report on which the design depends.
During the design development phase of a municipal recreation center, the client requests that the architect prepare measured drawings of an adjacent existing municipal building and perform detailed daylighting simulations. Neither service was checked or assigned in the Article 4.1 Supplemental Services table at contract execution. Under AIA B101-2017, how are these requested services classified and administered?
An institutional client terminates an architectural agreement for convenience (without cause) at the 100% Construction Documents milestone in order to put the project on indefinite hold. Six months later, the client resumes the project with another design firm, attempting to use the original architect's sealed drawings for construction bidding. Under AIA B101-2017 Article 7 and Article 9, what are the original architect's rights?