House plans

11 years ago

Looking for a house plan. But we can't find anything that we want. There are house plans that are okay but need lots of changing. Is going to architect worth all the money?

What do yAll suggest

Featured Answer

Architectrunnerguy

11 years ago

Get a guy/girl who has design talent to sit down with you and draw/discuss your needs/wants/must haves/druthers, etc. I do this all the time with the owner as an active participant. The session lasts all day but by the end of it we have a house conceptualized.

And, even though I'm an architect, some architects I wouldn't trust to design a house for my dog. Having a license doesn't mean there's any design talent. And then some architects are very talented. Same goes for the design/build people. Some are very talented design wise but for some the word "design" is nothing more than a 6 letter marketing word painted on the side of their pick up truck that unfortunately, some people buy into.

Good luck with your project. Exciting times!!!

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Comments (8)

PRO
Charles Ross Homes
11 years ago
What is the value of a home that is designed for your lifestyle needs and budget? A home that is designed for your unique needs? Only you can answer that question. But when you amortize the cost of a unique, architect-designed plan over the life of the structure or even just the time you plan living in it, I think you'll find the value added by the architect is a small percentage of the overall project cost and a wise investment.
erin w
Original Author
11 years ago
Will they help you map it all out and be patient with helping with every detail or do they just do the floor plan? Will they be the ones who help figure out where electric sockets go and light switches.
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PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
11 years ago
Architects are there to design the whole house meet with more than one and decide who you think you can work with. If you have a design that you sort of like take it with you when meeting with them and for sure have a real budget .
juudean
11 years ago
I spent many many hours looking at house plans online, but got discouraged. We finally paid an architect for a preliminary design but we realized that he wasn't the one for us so we switched to a design guy who a builder we had interviewed recommended. The design guy was great at planning useable space while addressing our must haves, and having it all hang together. He used to be a builder so in addition to designing a pretty good looking house he also had a clue about the challenges that our builder would face in building the custom home. Scout around for a design build firm. If you have a plan to start with all the better.
PRO
GIRSH DEVELOPMENT INC
11 years ago
If you can find a local architect that has designed to your aesthetic,
Is patient with you, and is priced right for you, that is the best way to go!

They will not only be able to turn your vision into a realistic plan, but be able to provide you with a permit ready and build ready set of drawings.

As for the technical aspects of the house itself, I would never recommend building a house without an architectural sealed plan, ever!

This is a large investment and you need to protect it with a certified architect.
PRO
John Barton Architect
11 years ago
One of the biggest mistakes that I see architects and designers make is to work primarily to and from a floor plan. The best designs evolve from plan and elevation simultaneously... Look for someone (architect or designer) who will give you a floor plan and elevation (or better yet, a 3D computer mock-up) at the same time. If they give you only a floor plan first, it means they haven't thought the design through in three dimensions ... You want to avoid saying later ... "if I had known it was going to look like that, I would have gone with something else..."

Good luck!!!
PRO
GIRSH DEVELOPMENT INC
11 years ago
I agree with John. The way some of my architects work, in order to save the clients money, is to come up with the floor plans, get those preliminarily approved, then create the elevations (following the floor plans) and get those approved. Along the way tweaking is done to make sure the client's expectations are met. Make sure you are reviewing and approving along the way and neither you, nor the architect, will have to waste time and money.

3D models are a great tool to help the client envision what various aspects will look like. I have not used those in a while, due to expense. But given today's technology, I would assume its much less expensive to get those done today than it was, say 3-5 years ago.