Practice Rebuilt: Andy Wise on why the cost number always shows up too late

Hello Reader, Value engineering is the name we give to a conversation that should have happened months earlier. I spent ten years on the owner's side of the table, the side that hires architects. On that side cost is never a surprise. Somebody has been tracking it since the first week, against a budget that was set before anyone drew anything. By the time a number reaches the design team it has already been reconciled twice. The design team meets it as a verdict. The owner's team has been...