An ID is the one with vision and not the contractor as much as they think they are designers they are not generally. If you are planning on removing walls raising the roof then an engineer would be the go to guy for your designer.

As part of your due diligence, you should be talking to references and seeing work in progress. Ask if a designer was used. We lucked out with a GC that was creative, great taste, and willing to learn different techniques to give us what we wanted. But we knew that going in, because we talked with references, and saw work in progress.

We aren't sure what we are wanting to do. We'd like to put in a pool, but that isn't the main thing. I'm sure there will be wall removal. We even talked about a second story. Just not sure what exactly would give us the most bang for our buck. :)

If you are in the investigating stage, then I think you would best be served by talking with several professional remodeling firms - design/build type firms. They can help you to start to piece together the cost of various options. I can't tell you how many times each year we get plans that homeowners have paid for only to find that the cost of the remodel is 3 - 5 times more than they wanted to spend once the bids come in. Plan designers and architects rarely understand the cost of the projects that they draw. Most of the drawings we get are also very general and not nearly specific enough to gather bids and know that they will be comparable. Do your homework, go to home tours, ask family and friends for referrals, meet with various remodeling firms - you will find the right person (or team) to put together your vision. If you see an interesting remodel going on near your home, stop and talk to the contractor and/or the homeowner. But please be honest about your budget up front and communicate it. If you are wanting to invest $100k, don't have people designing a $400k project and waste your money on plans that have to be thrown away.

Thanks. Yeah that's what we don't want to do is get our hopes up for something we can't afford. That's really what I'm after, what can we realistically do with in a set budget. Looking at different options from bathroom to kitchen to creating an office etc. then we can decide. One thing I see if we knock down walls we are then looking a redoing all the floors.