We started the process of selecting our architect over two years ago. When we were meeting with them we gave a timeline of 18 months to be in the house and they all felt like that was a good timeline. Well, here it is 26 months later! So I would say "get going!"

We cast a wide net. We started at the Seattle AIA website where we did a search for residential architects. We got about 50 hits. We visited each of their websites looking to see who was doing homes in a more modern style, who was doing "green" homes, etc. We narrowed it down to about 20.

We emailed them, telling them a little bit about our project and timeline.

Surprisingly, some never contacted us. A couple asked for phone interviews prior to meeting, and some wanted to set up face to face meetings right away.

We ended up meeting with 2 over the phone and 6 in person. We had 7 appointments but one woman blew us off. We had second interviews with two. We checked references, we visited the Houzz website, did searches for complaints, and finally made a decision. We chose one but, sadly, we should have chosen the other. Not because we won't have a nice home, but because the architect's process and manner ended up being quite poor. How do you know that in advance? And of course the references they choose to give you wont tell you anything negative either.

My spouse and I disagree as to the value the architect brought to our project. I would say our home is on the lower end of "true" custom, and therefore is maybe not the best display of an architects talents. But I believe we got quite a bit of design and value, though if you look at it strictly in dollar terms, the $60,000 we paid the architect would have bought a lot of home automation, higher end appliances, etc. The house is on the water and most online plans do not account for specific orientations. And since there's only two of us, we got a lot of our "wants" as far as space goes. Like you, no need for 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms which you would probably get if you bought a spec home in the same price range.

My spouse believes we would have been better off finding a plan online and paying a designer to modify it for us, and spend the money we saved on fun upgrades. But of course, I disagree!

Good luck!

jn3344- I am in AWE! I can't believe that price tag!

I do totally agree that you can't start early enough. We started about 1 year before we broke ground. We modified a plan I found on-line. The cost was $1300! After the initial drawings which took about 3 months to complete (we met with him about 3 times), I would pull them out ever month to make sure I hadn't missed something. We ended up changing our mind on the exterior (hardiboard to brick) and it cost us another $200 to have them modified.

The best advice I can give you is to really think about how you actually live, not how you wish you lived. Example- I hate clutter (backpacks, shoes, coats) being "out", so I opted for a small cubby/bench and a large closet in the mudroom. Those benches and hooks look great in the Houzz pictures, but that's not how they look every day.

Thanks for the feedback! I agree on how you live versus want to live. I think at this point we've got a pretty good handle on that. We moved to NC from MI 3 years ago and have since lived in a 4K sq ft house in the mountains, a 2 bedroom 1200 sq ft condo downtown, to now a 2200 sq ft house in a neighborhood. We've tried different areas to make sure we knew what we wanted. We've learned from each experience as well as the homes we owned in MI over the years.

One of the main things I've found is that no one seems to invest enough in what you don't see. I, like you Jenny, don't like clutter. I like everything to have a place and be put away. We plan to invest in storage and the spaces we use. We have no use for a dining room, yet every house seems to have one. We both work from home and need offices. My husband had a work shop in the first house and it was his favorite place to hang out and work on our mountain bikes.

If you engage architects early, do you pay as you go? How does that work?

jn3344...$60k, how much sq ft was that for? My hope is that an architech can make better use of a smaller footprint. I'm hoping that investment will pay off on not having to have as large of a house. I'm looking to be between 2k-2,500 sq ft. I don't want to regret going to small but don't want to say, wow I wish we would have gone smaller.

I second everyone's suggestion to start now! You might get really lucky and hammer out a design and everything in 3 months, or you might take the whole 2 years!

Some architects will charge a flat fee and I think you pay them at different stages, and others will charge hourly, so yes, pay as you go. In your case I would work with the architect until you are happy with the design, including site maps and construction documents and then you could 'pause' for a while, or even start getting on contractors'/builders' radars. Around here they are all pretty busy right now, and it can take a couple months to get into their rotation. You could also use the extra time productively to figure out cabinet design and choose finishes and fixtures in advance.

We also purchased the land last year and won't be building for a few more. It's will retirement home 1000 miles away where we current own a second home and where our Daughter and SIL live full time. We chose an architect who we had a chance meeting with about 10 years ago when we were touring a home he had designed. He had made some interesting comments that stuck with me about why he designed certain aspects of the home in certain ways and it was clear that he was designing homes to be lived in and not just an ego trip personal work of art. I had also followed his work over the intervening years and noticed that his style varied and I liked that because to me it shows that he did collaborate with the homeowners. As it turns out he is also the consulting architect for the DRB of our subdivision, so he understand the criteria.

In our our first email communications, I got the feeling that he thought our concept of a multi-generational duplex with interlocking shared spaces was a bit unique (odd). But at our first meeting last fall after meeting us, talking it though and showing him a few sketches, he started to realize how it could work and bought into the concept. We also gave him a detailed written narrative of what we wanted out of each space. In addition we think he liked working with both generations and finding out each of our needs, wants and preferences. We explained to him that we aren't rushing to build and had a relaxed timeline in the preliminary design phase, whic he found that refreshing.

Since that time he has helped coordinate had the soils report and we had the survey and topo work done. When we met with him last month we saw he gave us his first draft at preliminary plans and we were absolutely delighted and knew we were on the right track with him. He commented that he was really surprised at how easily the design came together as he was drafting given that we had a a lot of requirements for two separate homes in one. We were looking for about 5000 sq. feet + unfinished basement and he delivered almost exactly what we want in about 5039 sq, feet, so very close. He had some great ideas that work well with our concept. Although he nailed the concept, we did have a few tweaks and we've sent them back to him telling him that to take his time because we won't be back until late summer. This is all in the preliminary plan phase.

We're on an hourly rate during this phase and so far the bill has been very reasonable and paid by return mail. He does have a flat fee for some phases -- design review, permitting and construction drawings -- and then back to hourly as needed during construction.

We also are planning to start interviewing builders this summer, some of which he will suggest and others that our SIL (who is in the industry) has suggested.

Hoping to break ground in 2017 so we are still a long way off, but so far so good for us. Even recent sales indicate that the value of our lost has increased by a bit more than 100,000 since we bought it last year.

Wow, so much to think about. So, is it best to use an architect for the entire process or if you have a builder you trust can you use them just for the design?

I would have liked the architect to help out a little with construction but I just had to turn the money spigot off after a certain point. It was getting out of hand.

Write it into the contract that the architect help the builder realize the design...consult with the builder for X number of hours...go out there a couple times, etc etc. Otherwise once their cap is reached its all over, baby...

Our builder is really good (for the most part!) so its not that I don't trust him. But there are a couple things that I think the architect could have helped the builder with. But like I may have mentioned elsewhere, he wasn't that personable so whatever.

Jn3344...so $60k later and your architect didn't even work with your builder? Sorry, I don't mean to add salt to the wound so to speak.

There was a one time only consultation. But I could have paid for more!

The simple answer to "when to engage architect" is simple: when one is ready to have their home designed and the construction documents prepared. It's that simple--really!

What all too many consumers don't understand are the services an architect offers, and what is required in order to design, bid and award construction contract, get design approval, obtain loan, get building permit, start and administer construction and to enable occupancy. Add to that, when required, soils tests, perculation tests, engineering services and a host of other special approvals which may be required by local building officials, depending on site and jurisdiction.

Designing and building a custom home is a lot more than modifying the master suite on an Internet plan and substituting granite countertops. Just a few thoughts!

It doesn't seem that simple. It actually seems pretty complex. I agree that there is a lot more to it than people realize. I've never built a house before. It is very overwhelming, being that I don't know what I don't know. That's why I'm not sure when I should really seriously start talking to architects. If I start when I'm actually ready to build, I'll be behind the 8 ball because it is such a long process.

My goal is to break ground within 2 years or less. I don't want to start too early but I also don't want to wait too long and delay the build. I was concerned that an architect might feel I'm wasting their time reaching out if I'm two years out to build.

You are never wasting their time because believe me they will be sending you bills throughout the process, no matter how long the process takes!

There are some people out there who are always designing, never building. Those people are probably the ones who keep the lights on over at the architectural office.

But if you intend to build, two years out is not that far out for a custom home.

Sure, you can rush into a random architect and shout "I need a house plan by next week" and the appropriate arrangements can be made to get you one, of course. But that's not the ideal way of approaching this.

One issue I had with our architect (among several) is it did not seem like we had time to discuss some pretty important things: kitchen, for one. Master bathroom, for another. We ran out of time basically (and billable hours). He knew we had an 18 month timeline but had forgotten, or thought we weren't serious. So it was rushed at the end.

Figure out what you want to know. Ours was "I want to know if I can build this kind of house for around this kind of money on this particular lot. How much do you think we will be into your for on the design end before we figure out the answers to these questions?" We got the answers we were looking for and moved ahead with the project.

We are a good 20% over that at this point...but that's what everybody says, right? There's a reason why they all say that and its not because the clients are stupid and don't know what they are doing.

I say get going! Conduct your search for the best architect for you. The search for the architect is kind of fun! More fun for us than any of the other parts of this process to be sure.

Good luck!

This question raised all the time. Architects are not there to save you money... But to deliver better house (hopefully). But first there are high cost in most cases, second how do you know that the architect is good? Most if asked like Greek Revival style house can do it perfectly, however very few residencies build to a particular style.

1) Most online plans seems to me either dated, or non practical.

2) Betz and Gardners are fine, but with some issues.

Most houses is a compromise of either interior or exterior or both.

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To answer your question:

1) If there is already builder that has an approved plan with 90% of what you like and you are ok with exterior - go with it. He is familiar with it, he knows cost to build, and it is nailed down. [It takes three month for my county to approve new plan.]

2) If your budget over 400k and you want truly custom house with custom finishes, I would allocate 10% for an architect. I would involve architect after: (a)purchasing the land (b) determining a budget (c) selecting exterior style (d) general layout: (1) master first/second floor (2) #bays garage (3) #bedrooms (4) kitchen style (5) location of the laundry room (6) foundation; basement/crawl/slab. I would also try to find capable GC prior to an architect.

Do not waste architect time.

Brian S raises a good point about engaging a general contractor early in the process. Designing and building a home is a process which involves a variety of professionals, suppliers and trades. Having them collaborate beginning early in the process greatly improves the odds of your project being completed on-time and on-budget.

Best wishes with your project.

I'd raise a constructive opposing point of view to Brian S's suggestions 2 (c), (d), (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6), since these are exactly what an experienced architect does best in the schematic design phase. If a home owner wants to do these, that's fine, but thereafter all you really need is a draftsperson who knows how to put together a set of documents for building permit and construction bidding. To each their own

As for the suggestion to hire a contractor during the design phases, this can be a good partnership--if the contractor has successfully worked before with architects and home owners AND IF the home owner understands they s/he will have to compensate both the architect and contractor for their time in this phase, separate from work needed later in the project.