Architect, maestro de obra or construction company: who does what

The question usually arrives like this: "I have the plot, a maestro de obra has told me he will do it for such and such, so why do I need an architect?". It is a legitimate question and it deserves an answer that is not advertising.

The short answer: these are not three versions of the same service at different prices. They are three different trades, and part of the matter is not a question of preference at all: the law reserves certain signatures to certain professionals, and without those signatures there is no permit.

What each one does

What the law reserves

There is no room for interpretation here. The seismic-resistant building law puts it in a single line:

That same law defines who each of them is, and in all three cases the definition ends the same way, with "and who signs or titles them":

• —Architectural designer: the architect under whose responsibility the design and the architectural drawings are produced.
• —Structural designer: the civil engineer under whose responsibility the design and the structural drawings are produced.
• —Geotechnical engineer: the civil engineer who signs the geotechnical survey and sets the foundation parameters.

And to practise architecture in Colombia you need a professional registration card. The law goes further: to enter into contracts you have to produce it and state its number in the contract. The register is public and free, so checking takes two minutes.

The confusion that costs the most

This one repeats on almost every small project: believing that the architect who produced the drawings "is running the works". They are not, unless they were engaged to do so, and the two are different things.

• —Architectural site supervision: the author of the design visits the site, chooses finishes and answers questions about how the drawings are to be read. They look after whether what is built resembles what was designed.
• —Technical site management: somebody is in charge of carrying out the work: the labour, the programming, the quality, the safety. It is a full-time job and one of a different nature.
• —Interventoría: an independent third party monitors the builder on the client’s behalf. See below.

The three ways of contracting the construction

Whoever does the design, the works can be contracted in three ways, and the difference lies in who carries the risk of the overrun.

The trap in cost-plus management is obvious once it is spelled out: if the fee is a percentage of the cost, whoever manages the works earns more when the works cost more. It is not fraud, it is a misaligned incentive, and it is corrected with a budget approved in advance and a clear rule for additional quantities.

Why the one who builds cannot check their own work

Interventoría is technical supervision independent of the builder. Without that independence, the role makes no sense. Nobody finds their own mistakes with the same enthusiasm they bring to finding somebody else’s, particularly when correcting them costs money.

The law recognises this in one specific case and makes it compulsory: on buildings exceeding 2,000 m² a technical supervisor independent of the builder is required, and that supervisor issues the technical certificate of occupancy under oath. On top of that, the review of the structural designs has to be done by a professional other than the designer and independent of them in employment terms.

Who answers if something goes wrong

It is the question nobody asks until they need it, and the answer depends entirely on who you signed with.

• —Whoever signs a drawing answers for it. Not whoever drew it, not whoever paid for it: whoever signed it. That is why a lent signature is so serious.
• —On new housing of five or more units, the builder or the seller must cover financial loss for ten years counted from the technical certificate of occupancy. It applies to projects whose permit application was filed after July 2016.
• —With a maestro de obra and no written contract, a claim runs against an individual, with no insurance bonds and no assets behind them. They may be perfectly honest and still have nothing to answer with.

None of which means ruling out the maestro de obra. It means the price difference between one option and another is not only a difference of service: it is also a difference of backing, and that is worth knowing when you decide.

So what do you need?

• —You are going to build new and you need a permit. It is not optional: you need an architect for the project and a civil engineer for the structural design and the soil survey. Without those signatures there is no permit.
• —You are refurbishing without touching the structure. A good maestro de obra may be enough, with two warnings: nobody should touch a wall without knowing whether it is structural, and check whether your work needs a permit. Plenty of it does.
• —You are extending or adding a storey. You need a civil engineer before anything else. The question is not how it will look, it is whether the house can carry it.
• —You are building something large or for sale. You need the full package, and above 2,000 m² independent technical supervision is compulsory.

Warning signs

• —"I will find you somebody to sign the drawings." It is precisely the practice the law prohibits.
• —"You do not need a permit, that is money down the drain." Building without a permit exposes you to fines, to demolition and to having the utilities cut off.
• —"I will do the structural design myself", said by somebody who is not a civil engineer.
• —A price well below the rest with no explanation of where it comes from. It usually comes from leaving out surveys, technical designs or procedures that have to be paid for later anyway.
• —No questions about the ground. Anyone who does not ask about the site before quoting is not quoting for your job: they are quoting for a generic one.
• —Nothing in writing. With no contract there is no scope, no deadline and nobody to claim against.

The useful question is not "architect or maestro de obra". It is what has to be signed on your project, and which of the people quoting for it can sign that. With that, the decision takes itself.