The Client

Abstract

As a generality, building industry clients have only one thing in common: a need for some form of new structure which they cannot provide for themselves. Each has a unique requirement in terms of the finished product and its location, and in matters of their principal concern such as time and cost. Their understanding and knowledge of how best to use the industry to their advantage varies considerably: at one end of the range are the experienced clients, e.g. government departments and property developers, whose close involvement with the industry could be said to virtually make them a part of the industry in their own right, while at the other end of the spectrum are clients who have absolutely no knowledge of how to proceed other than by appointing an architect or, more often, a builder. The extent of a client’s knowledge of the industry will obviously determine the way in which the first approach is made and the degree of vulnerability to inefficiency, or worse, to which they can be, and all too often are, exposed.