Lunch at Chick-fil-A?

Only if you don't like the architect.

Here are some excerpts from "What Your Contractor Can't Tell You," by Amy Johnston. (I have a copy from my library and like it, but I'm not prepared to assign you more reading and spend $20 of your money by saying you should buy it.)

"Who would pay for corrective work in the event of a design-related error?"

"What ideas does the architect have for your project? This would be a good time to be quiet and let the architect reveal his true design leanings without any guidance from you. You will probably be excited about your project and want to gush about it. Resist the temptation and find out if he is a kindred spirit first."

"Don't be intimidated by the architect or suffer silently for fear of offending him when you do not like the designs. It's you who have to live with this house long after the architect is gone. Your sense of awe will fade fast if you are handed a big fat bill for designs you hate. Get used to giving a quick thumbs-up or thumbs-down as each design element arises, and move right along. But don't be shy about providing more photos, magazine clippings, sketches -- whatever will get your vision across. Architects can respond only to what you tell them."

Johnston also recommends trying to find an architect who does not think exactly like you do. She's "visionary/artistic," and some of the details got missed when she worked with someone of the same disposition. Although she had problems working with someone "all about order and precision," too, causing this section to be titled "Goldilocks and the Three Architects."

At our initial meeting, we met our architect at our current house and then he followed us out to the property we are building on. He was interested in seeing our house and how we live and of course needed to see the land we were building on. It was quite a lot of time actually. And in the end, he really gets us and our goals for the property.

Beyond what you did, the only other thing that we did was to prepare a description of how we see each room. So something like:

Kitchen, open with lots of windows, minimal upper cabinets as we are both short. DW is a great cook...... should have view into the family room, but not necessarily completely open to the rest of the public space.

Master bedroom doesn't need to be big or opulent. We are seldom in there. Master bath needs to have a large shower and tub, but we don't like a large Spa feeling.

You get the idea. This really helped us to see our wants and needs- I think better than me us just listing things, but that may be just how my brain works. YMMV.

Determine how you want to live, then convey it to your architect; that's the rub. Your architect will guide you through the whole process and gather the information they need from you. Design won't start until the site is determined.

Ditto on the ""What ideas does the architect have for your project? This would be a good time to be quiet and let the architect reveal his true design leanings without any guidance from you. You will probably be excited about your project and want to gush about it. Resist the temptation and find out if he is a kindred spirit first.""

We interviewed a few who quite plainly told us the only thing that interested them about our house was the paycheque. Others said they would design a house, but only if we changed our minds and would let them build non-ICF.

We walked away...

There are a number of postings in this forum that should prove helpful to you. Do a search for Bubble Diagrams on this forum. There are three or four results that will appear. Make a bubble diagram in order facilitate better communication.

One of the most useful suggestions that I have learned from this forum is how to select an architect. Architect Runner Guy has a lot of experience. He has suggested, and I think it's brilliant, to find an experienced architect who is an independent contractor who has low overhead. This means, working from his home or home office. Thus, meeting at the Chick-fil-a isn't all that crazy. Assistants and offices cost money that comes out of your pocket. The independent contractor architect can pass that overhead savings on to you.

lol -- CPA... With as many kids as I have, and unable to really do babysitters, the architect will *beg* to go somewhere the kids can be let loose with minimal supervision!

Dauglos, thank you for the excerpts! I really need to focus on those, because I can be quite conflict-avoidant. :-/

Doc, that actually makes *far more* sense to me, and I would much prefer to do The List that way... I just kept reading on here that it needed to be formatted differently, so I will definitely go back and re-do it. We totally have time. Not rushing this at all.

Mark, I'm gonna totally make my list more like Doc's. Room by room (and exterior) descriptions of how I live (and the challenges I face in my current place?) should best help convey what I like/want/need. I know the design can't be specific until the land is acquired, but I have to have an idea of what the property should look like/how big it needs to be/overall shape(s) first. :-)

LIME, yes, absolutely!

Chef, I read about the bubble diagrams, but I think I will avoid them if at all possible. I can totally see myself inadvertently drawing a floor plan, lol.

Thank you all!

We went through 2 architects. The first team was super talented, and offered great meetings, site meetings, and then the team presented 4 different designs. They were also design build - which we wanted initially because we wanted them to design something they would build within a budget. Unfortunately, despite the known parameters and the discussion of how "different" we wanted this house to be, they priced it out and it was 1) conventional construction and 2) 45% over budget.

We had already invested significant money. The team offered to do another design and another costing - but we decided to part ways. Now, we are still close with the main architect and have a social relationship - so it was amicable.

So - my guidance is that "you never know" - and don't be afraid to walk away. Also - as has been noted, be VERY clear on your wants and if you feel something is straying - say it loud and get things back to your vision. Each architect has a style - because essentially this is as much an art as a science. So ensure that you like the overall style based on her / his portfolio and you can get closer to your dreams.

Oh - and I LOVE chick-fil-a!!!!

"...Finding a sole practitioner is a top priority. How flexible can I expect meetings/consultations (especially the first one) to be? Is it common to meet in a client's home? Lunch at Chick-fil-A?..."

Well, you will have to ask each architect you contact. If the initial contact is to simply have a brief "get-to-know-you" conversation, before deciding on your architect of choice, then most likely it will be in the architect's office as a means of saving her/his time and money. These sorts of meetings tend to be free, but brief--not more than an hour. The architect wants to get to know you, your personality and communications, and project scope/budget, as much as you want to know her/his ability, experience and personality/communications.

Once you have selected an architect, one of the first meetings should be at your site. In your case, helping you make your final selection from among several preferred sites.

After that are the discussions, bubble diagrams and early design concept explorations--the "what-ifs".

Good luck. Truly exciting times ahead. And it's a wonderful time in Texas right now for this!

Hi odd. Well there is a bit more to our journey. We interviewed some by phone, then whittled them down to meet at our property. Indeed, some were more guided by $$$. For example, some indicated that my budget...was way, way to low. Whereas, most agreed that the budget was reasonable and made sense. The list was narrowed down to 3. We excitedly met them at our lot, the weather was a balmy but snowy -10f. Happily, we decided to work with one of them, so we flew back home, (2200 miles away). The next step was to send in our wish list, which we expedited quickly. Then we waited...waited...waited...I sent a follow up email....waited and waited and waited again...finally I sent a txt message..we didn't wait as long...within a few days, he replied, saying he cannot do our project for personal/family reasons. Interesting, during our initial phone interview, I asked him if he would do a 'charette' as per Architectrunner, he didn't feel comfortable doing so and was willing to back out, with no hard feelings. Hey, we liked the guy so we decided to put up him in our top 3. What a disappointment! Can you imagine having to start over, from such a far distance...all the research efforts to find the "one" down the drain. Thank goodness for this forum, I reluctantly emailed architectrunner, DH thought I was out to lunch, lol. In the end, well, what can I say....you all know the rest of the story! Cheers and good luck.

Janni, thanks so much for sharing your design/build experience. I will admit to the temptation (seems simpler), but I know things aren't always what they seem.

And I probably can't hear it enough, to not be afraid to walk away, lol. When you're in the trenches, well, it just sounds like it's super hard to do.

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Virgil, thank you for realigning my hopes/expectations a bit. :-) My husband and I can do office meetings, we just have to tag-team it, with the kids. And honestly, I can get along well with virtually anyone, so it's more important to me that the architect's personality meshes with my husband's. I think my husband is super easy to get along with, but I'm married to him, so it's not like I'm unbiased, lol.

Thank you, too, for the encouraging words, that it's a good time to be doing this right now. It's a horrible time to be buying an existing house (I have zero interest in bidding wars and dragging my kids around from house to house for shopping purposes), so I was a bit apprehensive that it wouldn't be a very good time to be designing and building, either. I am a patient person, and would have no problem waiting a few more years, if I thought it would be a more pleasant experience (even if I risk it being more money).

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PG, I loved hearing the details of your architect journey! I have seriously considered contacting a few (okay, who am I kidding, almost all) of the architects here on the forum, but I am *so* worried about working remotely with someone. I feel like I need someone to represent my interests on-site as the house is being built, and I certainly can't expect an out-of-towner to be willing to fly here (although, technically, we could take care of airline tickets and hotel stays) -- just seems to over complicate things, lol.

Will you hire someone to negotiate/make sure the house is built as drawn, on your behalf, or will y'all do it yourselves?

Shop around for a local architect. Expand the definition of "local" until you find one that fits. If the architect wants to meet in their office, take the husband AND the kids; they will supply a lot of information.

Most of my meetings are at my client's home or cottage or at the site. Most of my clients live outside Michigan and some outside the United States. I am currently working with a client that I have only met via FaceTime. I had one client I never met. I'm sure there are several architects that have similar practices.

Most builders I work with are also use to working for clients from outside the area and most of the time there is little need for me to be on site during the construction process, but there are those times.

I've had a couple project where I was the on-site architect for am architectural firm from outside the area and our client didn't want to pay for travel time.

Bottom line (literally) is to start looking local.

Hi again ODD...Will you hire someone to negotiate/make sure the house is built as drawn, on your behalf, or will y'all do it yourselves? We plan to be very involved. DH wants to do his own GC....and some builders are willing to provide supervision and assistance...and in a way, share some of the responsibilities, kind of 'a la carte' service.

I agree with Mark, hire local, if you can. And builders can do a lot of the work without the architect present. It will be a fun experience. Cheers !

I thought most business meetings were held at Starbuck's.

Can y'all imagine a troupe of five kids, two parents, and an architect filing into Starbucks? I've never been inside one (I'm not a coffee drinker, lol) -- Would we even fit at any tables? Or would we take up half the restaurant? :-D

We had numerous meetings at a busier Starbucks with our builder and designer. I expect that will change now that we will be moving into he build phase.

I had a job interview at a Starbuck's. Multi-purpose space.

ODD, any place which will accommodate your family and your architect will be just fine. It's important that all of you be involved and present at the meetings, from first to last. It's your family and all good architects will understand and work with you! Such an exciting time! :-)

Hey, McDonalds has the play place...so the kids will b happy too!

Mr. Virgil, thank you SO much for saying that!!! So many times, with other professionals in various fields, having the kids around is so stressful for everyone involved. :-( I was afraid that s/he would not want to deal with the insanity that is my family sometimes, lol. If my boys-to-girls ratio was flipped (it's currently 4:1), I wouldn't worry about it, but the boys are active and loud and fun (as boys naturally tend to be, especially in groups). :-)

Thank you. <3