It is a business deal, and you need to find the one that will work best for you and you can't do that by only meeting with one

Visit with as many as interest you. You want to find the best fit. They are all big girls and boys who know how the interview game works.

They know how it works! If it makes you feel better, you can always mention that you are interviewing several architects, and hope to make your decision by X date. Then it's "in the open" for sure, so that could help your guilt. I have the same problem sometimes!

It's not the interview, or the selection of another that makes the situation awkward. It's how you handle letting the others know they didn't get your business. Say something nice about their specific skill set that you appreciated, and then the letdown. A written note of "thanks, but we decided to go with someone else" is appropriate. Not a text or phone call. No one wins everything. But they remember the class acts who had the courtesy to let them know they weren't chosen.

PG, Please stop and reconsider. The art of building involves a lot more than pleasant conversations. I know you are starting but let me give you some advice. You are prepared to build when you can look anyone of these folks in the eye and say NO! I will take this matter to court! The avg folks don't like that but legally they have very many options each state affords consumers. They prey on peoples good will or ignorance from keeping them here in the legal arena, where its the judges decision not theirs that matter. So again expect the best but be prepared for the worst...threats of lawsuits. Keep as much documentation - written is best emails are good or texts if you can pull archives. If you don't know how, get up now, walk to the nearest mirror and repeat that sentence over until you feel comfortable.

After the prior talk, all these meetings will seem like a breeze and piece of cake rather than walk on eggshells over subs egos. It may not be your personality so get your wife to do it. One of you must have that trait. Its a ying-yang in any relation.

Finally if it helps you, they are doing the same thing to you except you don't see. Ask around here how many people have been held up or forgotten by subs looking out for their self-interest. If a big bank is building they may not even reply or take your offer after the whole invite, meet etc. Now you are far behind by going with only 1 vs having backup offers and competitors .

Good luck buddy

If their offer isn't accepted it won't be the first time so don't give it a thought just treat them like professionals as Linda said. Focus on your needs not theirs.

I get the sentiment, however if you proceed with this train of thought you are going to get walked all over. You must have a back bone. Contractors (no, not all of course) will do sub par work if they think they can get away with it. In other words, this is business, this is your house, your money, your decisions. You have to be prepared to speak up with your builder, contractors, etc if something isn't right. The only person to suffer the consequences will be you if you don't.

It's a business and like any business they are used to the idea that you will be interviewing several people. However one thing you can do is after you decide on who you're going to choose, write a nice note to the other two letting them know you decided in a different direction and thank them for their time. This way they know not to hold onto the expectation and will appreciate that you had the good manners to let them know.

National One you show up here today for the first time and have inserted your two cents into several conversations and in most of the cases you're not making much sense, except to let people know they should trust no one and that we here on the forum shouldn't be listened to.

National One and Lindsy seem to think the OP is talking about interviewing crooks and swindlers. Glad I retired before getting to their projects!

Virgil, not necessarily so. Most people are not privy to the laws concerning each of the areas of their daily lives. You wouldn't know the laws governing your states consumer protections in your vehicles, food or even water let alone houses. The tradespeople will be far likelier to know the lay of the land than the public in each of their respective trades.

They needn't be swindlers or crooks even to use this to their advantage and steer the public how they want. All contractors are humans. As Lindsey stated, its human nature to want things our way and unless there is a deterrent, that way can often be to the detriment of the unsuspecting public.

You are right though - retirement is a good option for those who flout the law vs facing legal consequences. Too many disasters occur when there are no checks for corporate neglect, abuse or misdeeds.

Perhaps I may be biased that way but I don't see how letting people know their legal rights in their state is not making much sense. Maybe to you...

First of all the OP doesn't live in the states. She lives in Canada, which happens to be a different country. Secondly, she's not at the point where she needs to hire subs. She's trying to hire an architect and all she's doing is interviewing them.

Thirdly, my comment is how you insulted us in another thread, which was removed thankfully. Most people who join a new forum don't come on and begin by insulting those who have been here before.

To each and every one of you, thank you...points well taken and nice to get the support. It's true, it's business. As for dealing with contracors Subs etc that is DH job, thank goodness. Also, we have renovated and have previously built homes in both Canada and the USA. We are fortunate in that we have lived in both countries. But these homes were definetly not custom. so this will be a new experience and hopefully fun too. Or not too painful; At least not as painful as some of the stories I have read on this site.

Architects (like builders, accountants, lawyers, dentists, etc. ) are service providers. Selecting the right one for your project is very much about establishing a relationship that is the right "fit."

You should be able to narrow the field to no more than three architects by visiting their websites, seeing the kind of homes they've designed in the past (ideally, the size/style/construction cost would be similar to what you have in mind) and possibly speaking with some former clients in advance of meeting with them. Develop selection criteria in advance of the meeting and ask questions that help you evaluate each vis a vis your needs in a fair and time-efficient manner.

I'll second cpartist's recommendation to drop a note to those architects you interviewed but did not choose to work with thanking them for their time.

I also encourage you to select your builder early in the process and involve them beginning in the design phase. This will help ensure that the home can be built on your specific lot within your intended budget.

Best wishes for a smooth and successful project.

We have selected 3 architects to interview next month. The issue, is
that we will feel bad because we won't hire all 3. We don't like
letting people down or waste their time. They all offered complimentary
site visits. And all have been very responsive to questions and emails.
They all sound nice..we don't want to 'string' them along...

It's like a job interview ... you don't hire every file clerk you interview.

Having these talks with the potential client and getting or not getting the work is part of being an architect or landscaper of plumber ...

I think the most important thing is to treat everyone equally, so they feel like they had a fair shot at the work. So you give them the same relevant information, as far as you can. They will tend to have different "takes" and ask different questions, so pretty soon you will see who fits and who doesn't. Try to be very, very prepared for your meetings, do your research and homework. If you have a very clear idea of what you want, and your needs, you'll get better feedback, and you won't waste anyone's time.

A lot of people in the building industry will want to know how many others you are interviewing. Three is perfectly fair and normal. Some people will ask you how much the other contenders are charging, but I would duck that question, since, in the early stages at least, it's often an apples to oranges comparison.

You need to get used to this process, uncomfortable as it might seem, as it happens all the way down the line with all the professions and trades involved. And don't think you are wasting the professional's time, provided you adhere the guidelines above. A pro gets "market feedback" and general customer knowledge from these meetings, which is not valueless. And all positive business contacts are valuable in themselves, because you never know when you might get a phone call in the future. It's part of marketing. So please don't feel bad about it.

Of course, prompt "thank you" messages are a must!

Hello Charles Ross...lazy gardens...scone. Thank you for your advise, much appreciated. It's definetly that 'fit' that we are looking for...and this can best happen with face to face meetings....we are preparing ourselves as much as we can, and everyones advice is very helpful..

After over a year of working with an architect the best advice I can give you is to ask for references. The architect we chose is more than qualified in skill and examples of his homes that he has built over the last 30 years are beautiful. I am happy about the house we are building but getting to the ready to build point has been mentally exhausting. Designing the house took 7 months then revisions 2 or 3 months because none of the bids(only 1 viable bid) were in our budget, he does everything by hand(old school) and it would take FOREVER! I just do not have that kind of patience and time. I should have asked for references and talked to other clients about what the design process would be like and then chosen someone that would have fit best with our schedule. This is huge to me. Goodluck, hopefully you will have a clear front runner!

Also, there are several threads on here for suggestions on questions to ask potential architects. I don't know the particulars of your position or your locale, but a general frustration, as echoed by mlg32's experience, is that many, if not most, residential architect's are out of touch with the current costs of construction, so to the degree that you can get a potential GC involved during the design phase to avoid ending up with plans which greatly exceed your budget.

I know you are starting but let me give you some advice. You are prepared to build when you can look anyone of these folks in the eye and say NO! I will take this matter to court!

I think this might be the worst advice I have ever seen. I would say the opposite of this is true. You are prepared to build when any one of these folks can you look you in the eye and say that you are wrong without worrying about getting fired or taken to court.

It is always good advice to be prepared for things taking a bad turn, but it is better advice to create strong relationships built on trust. It is also good to create incentives to help encourage actions but the threat of litigation will only get you so far.

From time to time situations happen that land someone in court, and it behooves everyone to act prudently leading up to and following those situations. Those are always losing situations, in court everyone except the attorneys lose.

To the OP - architects know what goes into the design process and they know when it clicks with a client. I bet most of them will have a good idea whether or not they got the job before you walk out of the office and certainly before you do. I doubt they are going to be insulted so long as you don't string them along.

You may find this e-book helpful, here is a link to resources from my firm, Frederick + Frederick Architects.

http://www.f-farchitects.com/resources/

Hello mlg..freeoscar...I have heard horror stories, of revisions and designs not budget friendly...which resulted in a change in architect and loss $$$. However, my understanding of hand drawing the design is very appropriate in the initial stages of the process. It is widely discussed here on this forum. To the extend that hand design continued throughout the process, is perhaps, another question for the pros here in this forum as well.

the people that I will be talking to are small, family or 1 person companies...I have eliminated a few already due the fact that through telephone conversations, I got the sense that they were quite out of touch with my budget..,or perhaps the 'real' world budgets...

bry911... Totally agree, one ought to begin with a sense of trust and communication. Hence you are right that the pros will perhaps have a good sense by the end of the meeting how it all went, and if they won the job...I believe this is largely due to the interview and rapport that ensues. The thought of court battles is quite awful and a very last resort. So true, however, to keep ongoing documentation, cause you never know.

frederick...Awesome resource, thank you for that.

I have just recently found these forums so have not done any reading on the hand drawing. I don't have any doubts that the architect we are using is excellent at designing homes. The problems I had arose when our first home design that was completed on time was 1000 sq ft over what we wanted and since the total sq footage was never written on drafts we just "assumed" the architect was within our guidelines. Then we reduced the house size(it took approximately 2.5mths) we were 3 mths behind in sending it out for bids, this was June. It literally was moving at a snails pace making the changes, we would go week to week and it was like nothing had changed.

I think 5 contractors took plans, we got 2 bids and one was just a letterhead with an amount more than double our budget. The builder we are using was $300k over our initial budget and $150k over our increased budget. So the architect got with the latter builder and helped reduce cost/ size but really the plans are now 500sq feet smaller and the house is still bigger than our last and it is fine. The point is if the architect had been putting it on a computer, we would have not have missed the sq ft overage, it could have been quickly changed. Ugh, it was like we designed 3 houses. I am not sure I could do this again...ever- lol!

I forgot to conclude with it I had to do it over, I would pick my builder and architect at the same time and work with both of them to stay on budget and task.

mlg32 - that sounds a lot like our experience. Our first design was double our budget, by then we had a builder and he has been paramount on keeping the design close to our budget so we could build our forever home. It certainly has been a learning experience. My advice - find an architect that you feel you connect with - it is a cooperative relationship. good luck.

A coupla thoughts:

I generally get a builder on board from the get-go. I know about costs but don't pretend to know as much about them as a builder. And for the lurkers out there the reverse is true: Most design/build firms know a lot about building and pretend to know about design. The word "design" is nothing more than a six letter marketing term painted on the side of their pick up trucks but many folks buy into it. No one can be everything to everybody.

Today, most good designers conceptual thinking is done by hand with maybe 3D stuff and the technical drawings done on a computer. Here's the process from one of my projects, scroll down to my 5/12 post and while you're at it read my 5/13 post here about a critical key ingredient in your relationship with your architect......trust http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3887104/what-should-i-expect-from-my-architect-long?n=22 All those design drawings where done right there with the client working on them with me. And FWIW, the guy in the grey shirt in the photo is the builder, we're keeping cost in line like I said, from the get-go.

Mlg...Rd2 retire...Hello, how awful for you, I am sorry this happened. It is definitely an experience I will try to avoid. Its hard to swallow cost overruns. I assume you gave your architect your budget at the onset, and he was out of touch with construction costs, which is sad. I will definetly heed your advice and talk to builders as well. So far, builders have told me that they can roughly estimate the build cost by looking at a rough floor plan. And of course, things can change, depending on finishes...it was so much smoother just to buy a spec home being built in a community. Bought what you saw and walked through as well...

architectrunner...'Many folks buy into it'. our area is innundated with 'design build firms'. Their web pages are quite flattering and purport something they are not...In one instance, a friend met with a big and well known Firm's owner/designer. However, never disclosed or indicated that he was not an architect, nor an architectural technologist.. and his fees were exactly that of an architect. He had many awesome ideas and was able to answer questions throughouly. He knew his stuff and had homes and awards to demonstrate this. But It was only through digging on the website and realizing that the 'credentials' were not listed that It was discovered he was not an 'architect'. Perhaps, he was a person of talent and knowledgeable. But Withholding info or Passing oneself off as something you are not is simply WRONG.