When evaluating an architectural technology consultant for a building project, the questions you ask can help you determine whether you're hiring a design professional or a vendor. A true technology design consultant is vendor-neutral, produces construction documents, and engages during schematic design, while a vendor operating as a consultant produces proprietary specifications and has a financial stake in what gets installed.
Below, we’re sharing a technology consultant vetting checklist to help you tell the two apart, organized by evaluation category so it works equally well in an RFP process or a direct conversation.
The Architect’s Technology Consultant Vetting Checklist
Work through these three categories, along with the red flags that follow, to get a complete picture before you commit to an engagement.
Vendor Neutrality
Vendor neutrality is the most important criterion for evaluating an architectural technology consultant. Ask:
- Are you vendor-neutral? What does that mean specifically for your business?
- Do you receive any compensation, referral fees, or preferred pricing from manufacturers or integrators?
- Do you have any installation or procurement capabilities, and if so, how do you manage that conflict of interest?
A vendor-neutral consultant will be able to answer these questions without hesitation. Hedged or qualified answers – "we have preferred partners, but we're still objective" – are a signal worth following up on.
Design-Phase Engagement
A qualified technology consultant engages during schematic design and delivers at each design phase. Ask:
- At what phase do you typically begin engagement on a building project?
- What are your specific deliverables at schematic design? At design development? At construction documents?
- How do you coordinate with the MEP engineer and the architect during design development?
- How many site visits do you typically make during construction administration, and what do you review?
If a consultant's engagement typically begins at construction documents or later, they're not providing design-phase coordination. That's a different service – and a less valuable one for preventing RFIs and change orders.
Construction Document Capability
A technology consultant's construction documents are what carry the project's requirements to bid, so it is worth asking specifically what those documents look like. Ask:
- Can I see an example of a complete Division 27 specification from a past project?
- Do your specifications include performance-based language that enables competitive bidding, or do they specify manufacturers or product lines?
- How do your technology drawings coordinate with the MEP and architectural drawings during design development?
A technology design consultant who can't produce a complete Division 27 and Division 28 specification set – or whose specifications read as proprietary rather than performance-based – isn't producing the kind of construction documents that protect the project at bid.
Finding the Right Architectural Technology Consultant
There are a few patterns in how a consultant responds that should prompt additional scrutiny. When evaluating a technology consultant, pay attention to these red flags:
- If they lead with product recommendations before understanding the project requirements, they're operating as a vendor.
- If they can't describe their SD deliverables specifically, they're not a design-phase consultant.
- If they have installation or procurement capabilities and can't clearly explain how they manage the resulting conflict of interest, the conflict is likely active.
- If their example specifications cite manufacturer model numbers rather than performance standards, the specifications aren't vendor-neutral.
Any one of these is worth a follow-up question, while more than one is a sign the firm in front of you is a vendor wearing a consultant's title.
At TMC, we answer every one of these questions the same way regardless of who’s asking – because vendor neutrality, design-phase engagement, and complete Division 27 and Division 28 documentation are how the firm operates on every project. Get in touch today to learn more about how we support architecture firms.
