You have the location secured for your project.You have the financing. You have the dream. It’s time to build!
Obviously something is missing.
Yes, you need a design.
While there are ways to get a design without hiring an architect—buying pre-drawn plans, or kit building packages, for example—there are many benefits to bringing a good architect on to your team.
Are we biased? Of course we are! Nevertheless, we believe that we architects bring value to your project that can’t easily be replaced. These reasons are worth thinking about as you start planning for your build.
It’s also worth noting that you need to hire the right architect. It is an important consideration. If you want a traditional style house, an architect that only wants to design futuristic buildings isn’t likely the best fit. Architecture is a broad field, and there are many subtleties to this, but you get the idea. After reading through the top reasons to hire an architect, we’ll get into how you go about finding the right one for your job.
First, let’s start with why. Let’s take a look behind the scenes to see why you should hire an architect to design your building. It goes way beyond simply coming up with a nice design. There are many steps, relationships and potential pitfalls your architect will be helping you out with so that everything happens as smoothly as possible.
1. Architects create your dream house
In our opinion, if you’re going to the trouble of building something new, you might as well have it turn out the way you want. A pre-fab or cookie cutter design can turn out ok, but it isn’t going to be thought out to fit your needs and hopes and dreams.
A good architect is going to take time to get to know you, and will be working hard to figure out how to make the building match with your vision and your goals.
If you are building your home, it is a very personal process. You have your own unique taste, style and routines. These aren’t going to be expressed in your house with a generic design.
Outside of how the building looks, you might have bigger picture goals. Some of the most common that we see with our clients are goals for performance and for wellness. These are also custom and personal considerations that your architect can help make happen for you.
2. Design Expertise
Architects are trained professionals with extensive education and experience in design principles and practices.
A good architect has a deep knowledge of architectural styles, history, materials, and construction techniques. They have an understanding of scale and proportion. They consider various factors such as natural light, ventilation, and spatial flow. They will look at unique site conditions, mitigating challenges and finding opportunities.
This expertise comes together to help take your design further, make it more personal and more successful.
3. Creative Problem Solving and Site Analysis
The process of designing and building isn’t simple. Building sites have unique challenges, whether from environmental conditions, ground water issues, zoning restrictions or otherwise.
A good architect not just come up with effective ways to get your building to work within these parameters, they can often use these challenges as opportunities to shape and inspire the design.
Their problem-solving capabilities contribute significantly to the success and smooth progression of any building project.
This also includes their role in the permitting and approvals process. Your architect will design in accordance with current building codes, and help you navigate this process.
4. They Help You to Choose the Right Materials and Finishes
One of the significant advantages of hiring an architect is their expertise in selecting appropriate materials and finishes for your project. Architects have knowledge of a wide range of materials. They stay on the cutting edge, learning about new products, while building their library of tried and true suppliers, Understanding the properties and performance of various materials will help guide you in choosing materials that look good, keep looking good, fit your budget, and hold up over time. They might come up with ideas for building materials that you and your contractor haven’t come across, but that fit your vision perfectly.
5. Project Management
Project management is a big role that you might not think about as part of the design process. But behind the scenes, there is a lot going, and your architect is at the hub. Architects coordinate with various professionals, including engineers, contractors, and consultants. All of these pieces, from the structural requirements to the mechanical and electrical systems to the specifications from acousticians and spa consultants, need to work together within the parameters of the design. This is no small task. Your architect will be meeting with their consultants regularly throughout the design process, reviewing their ideas and drawings and incorporating them into the design.
This not only helps the building turn out well from a design standpoint, these relationships need to be managed and coordinated to keep the project moving forward.
6. Negotiations With Your Contractor
If you haven’t already chosen your contractor, your architect can help you find one that is a good fit for your job, and can help you with the bidding and negotiation process.
Architects generally don’t have a direct contract with your General Contractor, but over the course of their careers, they tend to get to know each other pretty well. In some form or other, an architect will work with many of the local contractors, and vice versa.
If you are putting the project out to collect bids from multiple contractors, your architect can act as your advisor. If you are choosing a contractor to be part of your team from the early stages of the design, your architect can use their knowledge and experience in the local market to introduce you to suitable contractors.
Remember, it isn’t only about getting the lowest price (although fair pricing is obviously important). You want to have all the information you need to choose someone that can build to the quality you want, is organized, reliable and can deliver the project on time.
7. Architects Advise and Guide you
Throughout the project, architects provide continuous advice and guidance. At the end of the day, it is your job to make the decisions. It is the architect’s job to give you everything you need so that you can make the best decisions for your project goals.
Their expertise allows them to offer valuable insights into design choices, material selection, and construction methods. Your architect helps you navigate complex building codes, zoning laws, and permit requirements, so that your project complies with the rules and you avoid delays and potential legal issues.
By offering professional guidance and support, your architect can demystify the design process, making it more accessible and manageable.
8. Construction Observation
Another key reason to hire an architect is for the role they play during the construction of your project.
During the design process, they are working to take your vision and turn it into a detailed design. This design gets communicated as a set of drawings and specifications that get handed over to the contractor. This set of plans (often called blueprints or construction documents) should have all the information the contractor needs to order the materials and build the building.
During construction, your architect’s role shifts from being designer, to effectively being your agent, making regular visits to the site to check in to see that everything is being built according to their plans, and up to the level of quality you expect. They also act as an intermediary, answering questions and reviewing invoices. This is an important role, especially if you aren’t an expert in construction. While you want to generally assume that everyone is honest and working in your best interests, it’s nice to have someone monitoring the process. For example, each month your contractor will send you an invoice, asking you to pay for the work they have done and materials they have bought in the previous month. If they are billing you saying they have completed 75% of the drywalling and the architect visits the site and sees they have only done 10% of the drywalling, they can flag this item to get an explanation from the contractor. This helps to avoid a much worse scenario down the road.
This value of construction observation role is one you shouldn’t overlook. Having a trained set of eyes looking at the work being done is only beneficial to your timeline, your budget and the overall outcome of your building. If you don’t have an architect handling this for you, this responsibility falls on your shoulders, which is fine if you have construction experience. If it’s your first time building, or visiting a construction site, you might not know what to do and what to look for.
9. Enhancing Property Value
Curb appeal and beautiful design has value, both in the short and long term. If you’ve seen any of the TV shows, you know about the immediate impact that design improvements can have on property value. Over the long term, it is possibly more impactful, as better design and construction builds lasting value for the whole street or neighborhood. Well executed details and careful selection of materials can create a lasting, timeless value.
The economics of a better built, higher performance building are also worth mentioning. If your building is more durable to wear and tear, and more energy efficient, your operating and maintenance costs are lower. This is value that can be passed along to a future buyer.
What to Ask The Architect?
We mentioned at the beginning that it’s not just about hiring an architect, it’s about hiring the right architect.
Finding the right architect involves more than just evaluating their portfolio and qualifications. It is crucial to ask the right questions to determine whether the architect understands your vision and that their values, methods and communication styles mesh with your own. Key questions to ask an architect include inquiries about their design process, experience with similar projects, and approach to budget and timelines.
You should also discuss their fee structure and any additional services they offer, such as wellness assessments or interior design.
Understanding their approach to communication and problem-solving will also provide insight into how they will handle potential challenges. This dialogue will help establish a strong working relationship so that the project runs smoothly.
Attributes to Look for When Hiring an Architect
When selecting your architect, you want to find a person or firm that you work well with, that upholds your values and can deliver the project you’re imagining.
First, you want to find an architect whose creativity and style match your vision. Strong communication skills are also vital, allowing the architect to understand your needs and convey their ideas clearly.
Experience with similar projects provides reassurance that the architect can handle the specific challenges of your project type. Attention to detail and a thorough understanding of building regulations and codes are crucial for compliance and quality. This includes understanding of local conditions, as all jurisdictions have they unique quirks.
Additionally, look for an architect with strong project management skills, as this will help keep the project on track and within budget. Finally, it comes down to building rapport. The process is long and challenging, but can also be fun. Get to know them, and choose someone you’re going to enjoy riding alongside on your journey.
