What an architect does
An architect leads the design of buildings and takes professional responsibility for the drawings and specifications. Depending on your practice, that can mean meeting clients to define the program, developing concept and schematic designs, coordinating structural, mechanical and electrical consultants, preparing permit and construction documents, and carrying out contract administration during construction. Senior architects also manage fees, schedules and junior staff, and represent the firm with clients and municipalities.
In Ontario, practising architecture and using the title architect require a licence from the Ontario Association of Architects, and a firm offering architectural services to the public needs a certificate of practice. That makes licence status the first thing to confirm. Beyond it, Finch screens for the project types, scale and delivery methods your work involves, so the architect you hire can contribute from the first week.
Typical responsibilities
- Lead client meetings to define the program, budget and project goals
- Develop concept, schematic and design development drawings
- Coordinate engineering consultants and integrate their work into the design
- Prepare and review permit drawings and construction documents for Ontario Building Code compliance
- Carry out contract administration, including site reviews, shop drawing review and change orders
- Mentor intern architects, designers and technologists on the project team
Qualifications and credentials
- A professional degree in architecture from an accredited program, or education the OAA recognizes as equivalent
- A licence from the Ontario Association of Architects, or intern architect status for roles that allow it
- Experience preparing permit and construction documents for Ontario projects
- Proficiency in Revit or another BIM platform, with AutoCAD for older drawing sets
- For roles outside Ontario, registration with the equivalent provincial body, such as AIBC in British Columbia or the OAQ in Quebec
Who hires an architect
- Architecture firms of all sizes
- Multidisciplinary engineering and design consultancies
- Developers and builders with in-house design teams
- Universities, hospitals and public bodies with capital planning departments
Where we recruit architect candidates
We fill architect roles for employers across Toronto and the GTA, including North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, Burlington, Oshawa and Pickering, and for employers across Canada. GTA employers can meet us at our North York office by appointment.
What Finch checks before you meet a candidate
- OAA licence status, confirmed on the public register, or their stage in the intern architect program
- Portfolio review that separates the candidate's own work from the team's
- Project types and scale, from custom homes to institutional and mixed-use buildings
- Contract administration experience and comfort on active construction sites
- Eligibility to work in Canada and fit with your studio, hybrid or site schedule
Interview questions to ask
- Tell me about a project where the client's budget and design goals conflicted. How did you resolve it?
- How do you coordinate consultants when their drawings conflict late in construction documents?
- Describe a difficult site issue you handled during contract administration.