"...Which architect to choose?..." Choose the one with the least amount of hair. S/he has earned her/his place in the marketplace.

Serially, if skills and personal chemistry are equal, choose the one who will provide all of the services you desire. Forget about "technology". Architects draw with 4B pencils. If they don't they aren't architects.

Good luck on your project.

Based on the info provided, I'd choose Architect #1 in a heartbeat.

Somewhere I just read that "big" leads to economies of scale and lower costs....lol. If there is a talent edge and proven ability to get the "product" out faster (initial meeting to permit ready documents), there might be a price justification. I prefer walking a project with the principal architect vs a minion. If you don't stay engaged with any architect or builder for that matter, they have to "fill the feedbag" or schedule waiting for you to make decisions and sometimes it takes awhile to work you back into the schedule. Large outfits can usually adjust.

I'm biased - we chose the one man shop. Pre 2008 he had a sizable staff but went back to basics when the economy tanked and said he prefers being hands on with everything. I would not have liked the feeling that I'm being 'passed off' to the staff.

Do they both have grey hair?

I paid one fee for design and another fee for construction documents, for two additions to my house. I found my own contractor. I had to pay some fees for modifications to the plans and also for the architect to come out a few times. Be sure to get an idea of the hourly rate he will charge to come out If you need him on site.

Another vote for #1. I think you will get more attention from him/her. Also, having a professional along for the bidding and construction phases would be a big plus.

We involved our builder early in the design process with our architect. (Two separate sole proprietors, not a 'design-build' firm.) Because of this arrangement we did not feel we needed to spend the money to have the architect involved in construction. (Wait! Don't have heart palpitations! We had an absolutely amazing builder who gave us the luxury of making this decision. In every step of the process we felt he treated the build as if it were his own.)

After reading "What Your Contractor Can't Tell You" by Amy Johnston, we thought we would go through a bidding process. But, after interviewing 3 architects and several builders, we decided we would not put the plans out to bid. To do a fair and accurate bid process you should have very detailed specifications which means deciding on all materials and building details before asking for bids. (If you don't have very detailed specs then you can't compare apples to apples between bidders.) The architects we interviewed did not have the staff to work through that level of detail. And to spec out construction details, we needed a builder involved. The builders we talked to would not spec out that level of detail unless they were the chosen builder.

Anecdotally, one builder told us that he had seen it happen where the architect and homeowner put together the detailed specs for bids only to find out that they were way, way over budget. It seems to me that a bidding process makes sense if the project is huge and the architect and homeowner have industry resources to draw up detailed specs that range from digging the hole for the foundation to picking out light fixtures.

I guess bids could consist of the builders' "typical" materials and allowances but doing it that way makes the playing surface uneven for the bidders. Low bidder could mean low-end materials and finishes or it could mean a builder who does a good job of managing his vendors and costs.

Sorry to ramble on and on but we were where you are just two years ago and have learned a whole lot since then!

"...The architects we interviewed did not have the staff to work through that level of detail..."

Sounds like these were the wrong architects to interview.

A liitle off the OP's question but to expand on nanj's comments above, this is why I like to get a builder on board as part of the team from the start. As a matter of fact I can't remember the last time I did a competitive bid project, they've all been negotiated. I know costs fairly well but I don't pretend it's better knowledge base than a builders (and as a sidebar, the reverse is true, a builder should not pretend to know design better than a creative designer, yet many do exactly that and many owners buy into it!).

And the reasons are:

-It's all well and good to say "Let's get bids!!!" but rarely are all bids equal. One guy's quote has window brand "X" even though the plans say "Y" because "These guys give much better service", another guy looks at the plans and starts suggesting cost saving measures which are incorporated into his bid, etc.

-It forces the owner to make a boatload of decisions up front often resulting in "decision overload" which very likely means changes later, the "bid" documents notwithstanding.

-Folks, we're building a custom home here, not a 7-11, and as a result there's a high level of emotion and therefore changes, both up AND down, ALL of which will be negotiated with the builder on a non-competitive basis. A negotiated price is based on trust and the critical element of trust better exist in the relationship for it to be a happy one so why not address the "trust" factor from the start, get that out of the way, and take advantage of the builders cost expertise from the very beginning?

-And speaking of trust and compatibility, we're not buying a car here where the relationship with the salesman lasts a couple of hours, we're building a custom home where the owner and the builder are going to be joined at the hip for the better part of a year, maybe longer. It's fine to interview builders for an hour or two in a competitive bid scenario but that vetting doesn't compare to being involved with a personality throughout the entire design process.

-As many of you know, I do most of my conceptual design work in a "real time" format with the owner as an active participant. I've found that the builders often have some great ideas during these sessions too and I like them there for that alone and of course for the cost expertise while we're drawing fanciful lines on paper.

-And finally, "bids" tend to promote decision making that is 100% price based, really not much different thinking than when going to the food store that sells cereal the cheapest. With that said let me close by citing a quote by John Ruskin, an economist and a bunch of other things, on price vs. quality. He calls it "The Common Law of Business Balance":

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone
cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who
consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too
much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a
little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose
everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it
was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little
and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is
well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have
enough to pay for something better.”

Dear nanj, no one has a time to read through 300 pages of specs. It is stupendous and waste of time. Your specs should be on a plan page itself and as short as possible. I would ask an architect or a designer to produce extra sheet(s) for a plumber (optional), an electrician (required) to get rid of plumbing, electrical allowances and list exactly what you need on the plan itself.

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If you read Amys "What Your Contractor Can't Tell You" - you should know to ask only for what are You charging per sq ft - and not what would this fancy plan will cost me. She makes very strong point about that. When I call framers = this is exactly what I ask.

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Plumbers = price per # of bathrooms + kitchen, [list faucets right on the plumbers floorplan ] or even state already purchased, be aware that fancy faucets may take more time to install.

Spending $100 to produce extra plumber bid sheet is well worth it. To be perfectly honest you can create it yourself...

Go with Architect #1.

I worked in a practice for 7 years that was very much like architect 2 before starting my own firm. We did amazing work and I learned a ton.

When I launched my firm, I decided to be more like architect 1. I have a lot fewer clients, but they all get my personal attention with no translation to less experienced employees. My clients get 30 years of design experience as well as a wealth of construction and technical knowledge. I have intimate knowledge of every set of plans, and can often answer questions by memory while driving. I respond quickly to questions from the field, knowing that 8-10 people might be standing around until they get the answer they need to proceed. In a larger firm it might take a couple of days to track down the person with the answer.