Um, why did you continue after it bacame obvious she was not competent?

If you hired someone who is not an architect, you should not keep calling them an architect. All architects qualified to practice in New York City are licensed by the state of New York; there is no such thing as an "unlicensed" architect just as there is no such thing as an unlicensed doctor, lawyer, or engineer.

It is fraudulent to represent oneself as an architect or use that professional title or any variation of it (like "architectural designer", etc.) and if someone did that, they could not use a court to collect their fee. You could certainly report such a person to the board of registration and/or sue them for intentional misrepresentation of their legal capacity.

It is not difficult to determine the qualifications of an architect; that information is normally found on the state board of registration web site and should also be on their resume. It is not difficult to determine the competence of an architect by calling ALL of their references. It is not difficult to limit reimbursable expenses in your contract with the architect.

Frankly, you seem shockingly naive about professional design services and unwilling to face up to your own mistakes.

Macv, from your knowledge it seems like you are in that line of business. I don't think you understand the customer's point of view and expectations from an architect or designer. I am a customer and have nothing to do with that line of business - which is why I hired someone who could guide me in this project. I would not need to hire someone if I knew everything. Regarding reimbursable payments, messenger service never came up, and we did not even think of this as a possibility because the very idea is so unfathomable.

I interviewed several architects and designers, and all architects charged a % of construction which I was not comfortable with. This person was recommended by my highly recommended contractor. She had one reference whom I visited, who had nothing but good things to say about her. But that person was pregnant during construction and left everything to my architect, hence obviously not being privy to mistakes.

My memory fails me here because its been two years since I hired her - I recall asking whether she was an architect but don't recall her response. I believe a designer can offer the same level of services except filing and inspection. On paper her plan looked good, we filed. The process seemed simple. Between filing and starting construction, I had to make several decisions for which I needed help. That is when I realized that she was incompetent.

Around the same time I met an acquaintance who had renovated two years back and herself had a design degree (although she did not practice). I realized how little help I was getting from the old architect, and that I was right in feeling frustrated. She recommended her architect, whom I hired.

My new architect spent a lot of time rectifying the old architect's mistakes. For example, the old architect recommended say a wall-mounted toilet which required a separate build-out - this build-out was not indicated on the plans, but the contractor needed this info. I should have done more research, but the whole point of hiring an architect was so that I don't have to spend as much time in research, since I did not have that much time. Also, given that I am not in that line of business, I am not expected to know such technical details. I would not have known of the mistakes had my new architect not needed to rectify them or contractor not pointed out. I found out more problems during construction.

My old architect put one plan on paper which I accepted. If I was not happy, I did not get more ideas and she kept pushing me to her plan. She was extremely passive, showed up when she needed to, put things on a piece of paper, and sent the bill. My new architect gave me 5 recommendations and I chose one. If I was not happy, she gave me more recommendations, brainstormed with me, and we came up with solutions. She put me in touch with sources and places where I could see more stuff to help her understand my aesthetic. She gave me guidance.

If I had not filed the plans, I would have fired the old architect. Because my plans were filed and I had received permits, I had no choice but to work with the old one.

My contractor continues to recommend the old bat to others even though he knows we were very unhappy with her because my new one is very opinionated but my contractor likes to be in control. Wish I had known this about him then - his recommendation would not have had as much credibility.

Sorry, I've been an architect for 38 years and built buildings in Manhattan but I can't follow any of this.