Hi Sochi,

You asked me to update you on the interviewing architects question (cross post in "Building a Home".

We spent Friday and Saturday interviewing architects. We had chosen three who met our original criteria, ie having built at least 10 houses in our location (which is a location that poses challenges).

The first firm (partnership, really) we interviewed was my favorite going in. They have a somewhat unique style that we like, and, despite being pretty well known and published, a reputation for being cost conscious.They also showed us the type of documents that prepare and the detail was impressive. Two issues: they'd either have to take a ferry or fly to the site, and they cannot take on any new work for at least 6 months.

The second firm (again a partnership), distinguished itself by being very well prepared. They no longer live in the area but they did for many years and have done many many projects. They had actually obtained a copy of the survey and marked up 4 different site plan ideas. They had done a ton of due diligence. Two issues: they are also very far from the site, and the finished projects they showed us were not our style. A little too McMansiony, albeit very nice. I feel as though we would really need to lead the design process to get the vibe we want, and what do we know about design?

The third firm is a local resident who has done several dozen homes and lived there for decades. His style, like ours, is very very simple and casual, even on very large very pricey projects. He showed us some of his work and we loved it. In particular we saw one barn conversion that had a lot of the creative, sort of utilitarian like style details we want for our beach house. And it was a project he had done for the owners 20 years before, and they just hired him again last year to put a new kitchen in the mainhouse (good sign). He correctly summed up the local vibe as the confluence of country and ocean.
Issues: He is a sole practitioner, which may be a risk, and he hand draws everything (we had that last time and I was really hoping for some Sketch up at least!).

We really felt worn out after spending a few hours with each of them, but honestly all of them were very impressive and we were glad we went through the process.

Now all we need to do is close (a new whacky wrinkle in the deed needs to be fixed).

Did you chose your architect yet, Sochi?