Relationship Building: Contractors are Human Beings, Too. Mostly (Practice‪)‬

it's that time of year again--peak season for home building--and that means the sound of backhoes, band saws, and the barely audible shuffling of blueprints. It's a time when an architect's sense of orderliness meets the uncertainties of construction, when the masters of the thin blue line team up with the masters of the material underworld, and the dream of a custom home inches closer to reality. All across the country, builders and architects are longing for that quality that's next to godliness, and almost as difficult to achieve: a clean set of drawings and a cleanly executed design, respectively. On construction sites today, the traditional battle between architects and contractors is largely over if not forgotten. Veteran team members have gotten the dance down. They learn from each other, giving a little here and a little there to get the job done. Still, a complicated set of tensions will always exist, rooted in real differences of outlook and interests.