If my contract w/ my architect (AIA Document B141 article 7 section 7.1) says 'claims, disputes, or other matters in question... arising out of or relating to this agreement or breach therof shall be... decided by... arbitration association... ' can you tell me if that includes a case where the local licensing board has found my architect incompetent and the local engineering board has found him fraudulent since he is saying he is an engineer without a license? Is that 'breach of contract'? Or does this actually fall outside the realm of the contract and so we don't have to bother with arbitration for this?

We have found the home design he made for us to have glaring miscalculations (such as he thinks there are 27 sq feet in a square yard) and lack necessary details in engineering plans (no rebar schedule drawn for an ICF construction where we have large glass areas to span) and an engineered truss he designed that we found out isn't unsafe but is massively larger, more expensive than needed (he overcompensated since he didn't really know what he was doing) and several fraudulent calculations in a cost schedule he made for us where for example he doesn't count the # or sizes of windows correctly and uses again his 'new math' of 27 sq ft per sq yard.

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You should speak with someone from AIA and from American Arbitration Association about this. A lawyer would help too. I'll look into it more and let you know if I find out anything useful.

The American Institute of Architects - Green Design, Architecture, Architect, Knowledge (http://www.aia.org)
AAA - Arbitration, Mediation and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) (http://www.adr.org)

Hey, I'd tried to ask this under 'Law' and got nothing, so thought I'd add it to my Q you are answering here, in case you know this part: Again, if my contract w/ my architect (AIA Document B141 article 7 section 7.1) says 'claims, disputes, or other matters in question... arising out of or relating to this agreement or breach therof shall be... decided by... arbitration association... ' can you tell me if that includes our what they call 'general damages' since recently I've had a digestion disorder return due to stress overe this and now a new thyroid problem, also told to be related to stress. My husband has gotten shingles--due to stress lowering is resistance, he hasn't slept wel in weeks worryiing o ver tis matter--and today we find he has pneumonia (again the doc says his resistance was down due to stress--unsolicited comment form the doctor) all these medical problems directly caused by the stress we've been under and he insists we owe him $ for a bogus take off list he made for us and said he spent 22 hours on it (he kept our retainer for part of it) and we worry he might attack our credit rating, which up to now has been spotless and we are in midst of going for a home mortgage.

If we do not have to go to arbitration if this falls outside 'breach of contract,' can we write a demand letter to his liability insurance carrier (if he has one) or must we take him to small claims court? And, how would you find out who an architect carries his insurance with, if he won't tell you?
BY the way: I did not sign the contract w/ architect, only my husband did, although both our names are on the house plans he drew. So, I'm supposing I am not included in arbitration or no?

Sounds like a good question for AAA. I'm not a lawyer and have never been involved in something like this, but it seems if there if mental anguish as you describe you should be able to recover damages. You should speak to a lawyer familiar with this kind of case.