The whole purpose in building a custom home might be to design the house yourself, but this is the most complicated and challenging part of the process, and you might consider working with an architect. Like any other professional consultant, you have the right to determine how much your architect will be involved in your home-building project.
Architects can take a stock plan you have seen in a magazine or on the Internet and simply modify it to fit your needs, or they can help extract ideas from your mind and create a whole new home to meet your dreams. Some people want to be fully engaged in the entire experience and use the architect as an interpretive tool, expressing what they see completed in their own mind, while others simply want an architect to design a home based upon their thoughts and needs.
If you work for a living, are raising a family, or don’t have the slightest inclination to take the time to figure out design, construction, and building codes, then an architect will be a welcome addition to your custom home team of professionals. Despite their seemingly high cost, architects can save you time and money by bringing their experience to the table. Their insights on functionality and government bureaucracy can save you months of time and thousands of dollars.
Things to Consider before Working with an Architect
Finding the right architect is sometimes difficult, but here are some ideas that can make it easier for you:
- You can drive through neighborhoods of custom homes looking for houses that strike your fancy and then ask the owners about the architect.
- If you’re lucky enough to have many friends with custom homes, you can ask for referrals from them.
- Search on the Internet.
Plan to have several discussions with two or three different architects so you can choose the right one for you, and don’t forget to touch the following topics:
- Aesthetics: You need to see if the architect can create something that suits your taste. Ask to see many of her prior designs. Ask for introductions to the owners. Go to the completed houses and see if the floor plans make sense and are comfortable for you.
- Experience: You want an architect that has designed many custom homes and is familiar with the process. A commercial architect who specializes in office buildings may be looking for the next new challenge, but his lack of residential experience could create problems for you down the line with builders and planning departments. An architect needs to have a minimum of 15 custom homes under her belt to be considered for your project.
- Local knowledge: An architect with local knowledge and experience can save you from costly battles and exercises in futility, as every municipality and planning department is different in the way they process custom home plans. Some are more bureaucratic than others.
Most custom home architects are small businesses; they’re shoestring operations without huge profit margins. They tend to be overloaded with work and less concerned for your time frames than you may be. The more successful the architectural firm, the busier it will be. You need to manage your expectations and the process.
Architects generally charge in one of three ways (or a combination of all three for various stages of the project): on an overall percentage of the build, on an hourly basis, or on a fixed-price basis.
The first way of billing is on an overall percentage of the build. This method can range anywhere from 3 to 10 percent of the total project costs, not including land. In some high-end projects, architects may charge as much as 20 percent, equaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. You need to evaluate the value of the architect’s services that you receive in exchange for your hard-earned money.
The second way of billing is on an hourly basis. Hourly rates vary widely depending on the firm you engage, its experience and reputation, and its location.
The third way of billing is on a fixed-price basis, where your architect quotes you a firm, all-inclusive price for the entire job. On one hand, this option can be beneficial to you because you know exactly what your architect will cost, but an architect may underestimate and you may suffer when he feels he has already put in too much time. Therefore, you need to think twice if you consider working with an architect.