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Selecting an Architect:
Selecting an architect probably is not the easiest task for anyone considering a remodel or new custom home design. Part of your costs for your project will be the design fees and naturally you would be worried about the architect you end up working with. That actually is a key point to consider, the "working relationship" you develop with your architect. Therefore it's advisable to obtain references, check out their projects/ portfolio and to actually talk to the architects you have shortlisted.
Talking to your architect enables you to verbalize your needs and desires for your project. It helps the architect understand where you are coming from and to respond appropriately. Your home is a very personal and private part of your life, bringing in an architect to become part of this process requires a relationship built on trust. Remember that when you work with the right architect, it's a home you are designing and not just a house.
Architectural Design Fees
Something many people do not really factor into their project budgets. There are many different ways that fees can be based on. Some of these are as a percentage of construction costs (roughly 10-15% of construction cost), an hourly rate based on the architects billing rates, or the number of drawings to be generated (by the sheet), or a breakdown by type of services etc. What needs to be factored in the equation is that an architect in setting the fee needs to consider the difficulty of the site, what services are required, the quality of materials for the house (i.e. marble vs. stucco), the size of the project, the complexity of the program ( how many rooms, types of rooms, special requirements etc.) the timeline of the project (project is due yesterday as opposed to a flexible schedule or the client wants to work through the design as an ongoing exercise to accomodate their growing collection of Flemish tapestries or rubber duckies).
Something else to consider about the design fee is that architects are not fancy or glorified "drafters". That is we work in concert with the client to develop a design that works, is site sensitive and adds value through the design. If you have already designed your home and it's hard and fast, then you probably need the services of a drafter more than that of an architect. Do realise that architects are trained to design buildings and we consider a host of factors before we even put pen to paper (or in todays age, mouse to computer).
So if you call around asking architects to provide fee proposals on a project without much information, be prepared for fees that are all over the board. The assumption by some of the architects that you are not being serious. If you want a serious proposal, provide sufficient information or better yet, get them to see the site and to understand what your expectations are.
What an Architect does
Since the topic above was architecture fees, let's look at what you get for your money.
First let's clarify an existing perception, architects do not just draft up house plans for the contractor to build. A common enough misconception. An architect works with you. They try to understand your needs and by working with you create a design or vision of your project/ home. You don't go to an architect to get a builder/ tract home as your end result, you use an architect so that dreams can be visualized, created and built. An architect brings many creative and innovative ideas to the table. Not just following trends but creating them around you and your home. They have the ability to help you see things about a home or your way of living that you may never have considered before. Your home is your sanctuary, private retreat and castle, it's the architects job to bring it to fruition.
To do this, we need to coordinate the services of the different engineers (structural, landscape, mechanical etc) to ensure that the design works and is buildable, we prepare a comprehensive set of design/ construction documents and supplement it with well written specifications (that clarify the quality of the construction), can help you find the right contractor, act as your agent during construction to maintain the design and quality of your project and to be your advocate throughout the entire process. Oftentimes this means producing drawings and rendered elevations specifically for design review boards or spending hours presenting the design to the planning commission or board of supervisors.
An architect will be available to answer questions from the building or planning department concerning the plans.
How much will my new home/ remodel, addition/ renovation construction cost?
Again there are many factors that govern what drives the costs of construction. Obviously the type of construction or building materials used, play a significant role. You may have a budget for stucco but maybe hoping for Italian marble. Market factors can affect the cost of your project. Supposing your home will be built using traditional wood stud construction but a sudden demand for wood because of emergency reconstruction in another part of the country drives prices up. Well suddenly, your project budget went out the door. Some costs can be anticipated but natural disasters and other factors can throw a wrench in the works. Your architect will work with you to maintain your project on course and on budget as long as you know what your budget is and make it clear to the design team. Nobody can design to a moving target. Other factors are the number of floors in your building, the difficulty or complexity of the site (on a steep hill, forested lot with tree restrictions, high water table but needs a basement, neighborhood or region (urban vs. rural), special needs or equipment, mechanical systems (radiant heat floors, whole house vacuums, air conditioning), types and number of doors and windows, etc, etc. In addition a custom home is not a builder or tract house. If you wanted one of those, you would never consider a custom home. Just as you should be careful of an architect/ designer who qoutes you a fee without knowing much about your project or site, you should be wary of a contractor who qoutes you a construction price without ever seeing the site, design or drawings.
There are many ways of staying on budget and your architect can outline the procedures for you. Some of these involve working together with a contractor of your choice or one recommended by your architect to ensure the project is on track. Obtaining cost estimates from cost estimators or from reputable contractors.
How long will the design process take?
Again, this depends on the project's complexity. An architect can prepare a project schedule that shows a timeline for submittals throughout the design process. It also depends on your schedule and the reviewing agency (planning/ building department) process. You may have a lengthy design review process in your community or your local building department may send all drawings to a third party reviewer to review the drawings. Remember that you play a large part in the design process. Consider the different phases as noted in the Residential Client FAQ. The client has to review the drawings at the end of each phase and make timely decisions (approve the design or make changes) so that the architect can keep progressing on the design. Otherwise they have to wait before moving forward.
If you are considering a custom home beware the architect/ designer who throws out a timeline for a project based on a preliminary description from you. If a home is meant to be custom fitted to you, and if the program has not really been worked out, how could they know how long it would take? It's a process and they haven't even taken the time to really understand what your needs are. A preliminary schedule can be provided once a few factors that have been listed in other sections of this FAQ are understood. But it is important to be flexible on both the architect and the client's part.
That being said, sometimes there will be situations where a client has a set schedule by which to complete a project. In situations like those, the architect will attempt to do so unless in their opinion it isn't possible or would result in substandard performance.
Computer Aided Design/ CAD?
Another common and widely held misconception is that all the work is done by computers. Computers cannot design for the architect. They are just another tool we use. Just imagine your typical word processing software that you have on your computer. If you started up the program and left it alone for a few hours, days, weeks or years, there would be nothing typed on the screen. No "War and Peace" created by the computer. Nothing gets created until somebody inputs information into the computer. The same applies to computer aided design. Unfortunately the term given to programs that help us draft or layout our designs implies that the computer aids us in the design. That somehow it is helping generate the design. Well, if you turn on a CAD program and left it on the same as you did your word processor, you will end up with the exact same results. Nada, zilch, nothing.
We use computers to help us generate drawings, plots on paper, we use it for research and we sometimes model the buildings 3 dimensionally and create animations or renderings. However nothing gets done unless we input the information into the computer and tell it what to do. Using computers to get the work done is just part and parcel of today's world. However doing it right, creating proper standards and ensuring a higher level of quality and coordination is a difficult task and not all architects do so. Gerard Lee Architects has a proven track record over the years and we have a set of mature and well developed standards that we share with all our consultants on a project. It is available to our design teams from our secure project web sites and in hardcopy which we distribute during coordination meetings.
The Design team:
What is the design team? Depending on the complexity of your project, it could require the services of other design professionals like structural engineers (required for the most part), electrical engineers, mechanical engineers(for HVAC systems- heating ventilation air conditioning), civil engineers, geo-technical engineers, surveyors, landscape architects, pool/ spa designers, kitchen designers and interior architects/ designers. Today's technocentric world occasionally requires technology/ networking, multimedia consultants, acoustic engineers and theater designers.
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