I can honestly say that I have been fascinated by construction for as long as I can remember. My father worked at the old Eaton's store at Queen and Yonge and I often had the opportunity to see the original Yonge subway under construction (I was probably 3 or 4 at the time). I would go home and pretend that the subway was being built in our basement by yelling instructions down the hot air vents to imaginary workmen. Notice that even at that age I wasn't doing the "real" work. My father also taught me the meaning of "architect" at a very early age when he realized I was leaning toward carpentry. He probably thought I could "do better" but I have often thought over the years (particularly at times like this) that I might have done better in the trade. Although he did allow me to help him in his projects. As early as 7 years old, I remember crawling under the cottage with hammer and nails, to reach a point that he couldn't get to. In any case, I still love to build things with my own hands. When I finally did graduate in Architecture and was working in an office, my natural affinity for construction often led me to volunteer for the Contract Administrator role. In fact, I served as "in house Architect" for a developer for five years. This gave me experience in a great many things from running a small architectural office to detailed construction administration.
Although I have been with a large firm for many years, I learned in small firms including my own very small practice. It became clear to me that the Construction period was critical to the success of the practice. Contact with the Client was very important and the firm's representative could "make or break" not only the project but opportunities for future projects. Errors and omissions cannot be completely eliminated during the contract documents stage but the contract administrator can correct, improve and "smooth over" these unavoidable problems. Personally I made a point to learn how to do the trades, some times by hands on work (I am a competent carpenter and drywaller) and sometimes by careful observation and reading. It is critical that the administrator gains the respect of site personnel. To emphasize this point, Page+Steele/IBI Group Architects has a number of repeat clients who have told us that one of the primary reasons for their continued patronage has been our professionalism and service during the construction process.
My father was a tremendous early influence as you can tell from my earlier comments. Otherwise, I couldn't single out a single person who has particularly helped me in my career but, over the years, I have had some wonderful working relationships with contractors and project managers (both large and small). When working at its best, construction is most definitely a team process.
My biggest frustrations have arisen when the team process breaks down or doesn't exist from the beginning. Occasionally you run into a combative personality who insists on an "us against the world" attitude. Even worse, you occasionally get involved in a project where the finances are bad — the contractor can't handle cash flow delays or the client is cash starved. Not only is the atmosphere difficult but financial issues become so critical that the project almost always suffers aesthetically and technically. Another major frustration is a client who fails to understand that his consultants are there to serve his interests. It is not always so with some contractors but too often the client will accept all sorts of negative comment from trades who will blame the consultants for all problems rather than work together to solve them.
In my current role at P+S I have some involvement in virtually all aspects of the architectural practice, but I can still say that I most enjoy that stage of the construction process where the final building begins to emerge on site. You can imagine it in its completed stage and in use.
It would be a major improvement if we could institute a quick form of dispute resolution similar to what has been achieved in some parts of Europe and the US. The Architect has a role in current contracts but neither party has to accept the opinions. Major disputes can delay the projects and poison the atmosphere on site and the current "official" procedures can take months often extending well beyond completion of construction. Related to this issue, it would be a major improvement if our clients could tell us up front how they intend to build (general contract, construction management, etc) so that we could negotiate the correct scope of work in our Client/Architect agreements.