Owner - Contractor Question

[HotelSphinx]

I have been doing practice questions from Ballast and Kaplan today in preparation of my exam next week, and compared to other exam sections, there seem to be quite a few questions / answers from these books that I think conflict with more legitimate sources like the AHPP or the Contracts. This one question in particular is bothering me because of how clear the question is and how severe Ballast makes the answer seem:

Ballast Question 42: Who prepares the Owner-Contractor Agreement?

I chose B: The Owner, with the assistance of the Architect. Wrong.

This seems backed up by section 3.4.3 of the B-101, which states that the Architect, during development of CDs, shall "assist the Owner in the development and preparation of...(2) the form of agreement between the Owner and Contractors; and (3) the Conditions of the Contract for Construction." Pretty black and white, no?

Correct answer: C: The Owner's lawyer. In their explanation, Ballast states that the Architect has no right to prepare contracts for which they are not a party, nor are they legally authorized to provide legal advice (practice law) and this may give rise to criminal liability. Yikes, sounds serious!

I'm confused. I feel that the Owner has no obligation to hire a lawyer, however prudent it would be. And it seems pretty clear that the Architect can assist the Owner as an agency clause in the B-101. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

[alexwilkosz24]

Lawyer would be correct. Owner doesnt need one by law, can do it himself, and an architect can suggest one use the AIA docs, but should not help im preparing the contracts themselves as this brings on undue liability. As an owner I would want a lawyer anyway.

I do not think an architect would ever agree to write contracts for the owner.

The architect can modify supplementary conditions etc...but not the contract.

[alexwilkosz24]

This seems backed up by section 3.4.3 of the B-101, which states that the Architect, during development of CDs, shall "assist the Owner in the development and preparation of...(2) the form of agreement between the Owner and Contractors; and (3) the Conditions of the Contract for Construction." Pretty black and white, no?

it says "prepararation of" and "development" not "prepares"

it also says "assist" not write.

[Kurt999]

Although many architects DO in fact write up contracts for the Owner, this is definitely outside of their authority for the reasons listed above in the previous posts.

I agree with answer "C".