I need a second architect

Q. I was working with an architect who didn't live in the area. He was my neighbor, but moved to work about two hours away. I learned that he never really did work in my town before and didn't know the rules. Although he apologized and referred me to other architects who do work locally, I really feel stuck. My plans need all kinds of revisions and may even be destroyed, since he never responded to my town's objections. What should I do? I've already spent a lot of money and don't even have a permit to build yet. It isn't fair to have to spend more to get this all straightened out. Help.

A. You need to check with your town to see whether the file is still there, then ask to have the file held, if they will do this, by explaining your problem and telling them you will get another professional and complete the process in a timely manner.

A timely manner must be a reasonable amount of time, such as 90 days, at least, since anyone you speak to about providing new plans needs time to assess the situation, have meetings with you and produce new plans, since they legally cannot alter the plans the other architect produced, and refile with your building department. I've been approached about advising other architects in such cases, but it requires the architect to cooperate and make the advised changes and adjustments.

If you hire a "replacement" professional, be prepared to pay all over again. I only accept this type of work when I can remeasure the building, produce existing condition plans and then develop the repeat plans with necessary code checking and corrections.

Recently, I did have to do this, and I discovered discrepancies of over two feet of width on a commercial building, which certainly justified the need to remeasure. That two feet (which amounted to over 5,000 square feet) constituted a tremendous expense when ordering new materials, checking the building size for zoning, and even assessing later lease fees to new tenants and taxes. Correct size does matter, even with a home, where 500 square feet can be miscalculated.