The architect comes first.

We found the land first, then hired a builder who lead us to an architect we just "clicked" with immediately. Needless to say we are weeks away from completion.

Structural engineer IMOO is more important that either the contractor or architect. It boggles the mind when I see serious flaws that should have been picked up in the design phase that a bad contractor makes worse during construction. Every house I have ever lived in as an adult was a serious fixer - upper that thank god my engineer husband could fix. We are working on another one alas......

Without a house design, the builder does not know what to build and the engineer does not know what to engineer. An architect designs houses. All architects have the training to build a house and engineer a house. The architect comes first.

I agree that an architect has the know how to engineer a building, and some architects have the ability to build and act as the contractor too,

However, in the USA and in Canada, the architect usually designs the building and teams up with a structural engineer who provides the structural calculations. Once the project is designed and the documents are completed, then the architect helps the client find a qualified contractor to build the project.

However, this is not always the way things are done. I have seen contractors and engineers design projects. They are not always the best designs and unfortunately the client has to live in the results.........

If a potential client wants to hire a contractor who I work with, then that contractor will bring our firm in to design the project first........we bring along our structural engineer as part of our team and then the contractor bids the project and builds it once the drawings are done and the city has reviewed and approved the plans.

As the architect, we stay involved in the project even while it is under contruction and work closely with the contractor and the client to make sure that everything goes well.