No, that is NOT how an architect normally operates. Are you certain he’s a licensed architect, not a draftsman or designer? It can be hard to tell initially for homeowners, as a friend says, “oh, you’ll love my architect,” so you assume someone is an architect who in fact isn’t.

Whether he’s an architect or not, I would find someone new. This start wouldn’t give me confidence he can design a custom home to meet my needs. Think of it this way - you’re lucky you’re finding this out fairly early in the process.

Why isnt he drawing up home plans for you based on your lot configuration and based on your wish list? Why is he taking existing plans and trying to pass them onto you?

Where are the other bedrooms? I would ask why the things you wanted werent incorporated and if you don’t get a design that meets your needs find someone else.

I can understand your disappointment, but I’m wondering if the 3 car garage is on your wish list? It does take up a large portion of the lot. If it is a requirement I think you may be wanting more than your lot can handle.

This looks like plans from a draftsman/designer and not a licensed architect. Big difference.

I can see why you are disappointed......some of your wishlist items are pretty major to miss (like the bedroom layout). I think the overall shape of the home could work well on your lot, but it sounds like the layout itself is missing the mark. Are you hoping to have both an office and a flex space/playroom on the main, along with two more bedrooms and amother full bath? Also, with two kids, you will want a bigger mudroom than this, believe me!

Can you share the two homes/floorplans you liked?

While I would NOT be happy with an architect/residential designer, who was hired to build a custom design, giving me a plan that is one of his former designs, I will say that not everything on a wish list always makes it into the initial design.

When we met with our residential designer (not a licensed architect, but I was fine with that) I gave him our three page list of our "wants and needs" and our basic budget ($800k-$1M for building costs; we already owned the lot.) Also chatted with him about our lifestyle, walked the lot with him, got to know him, he got to know us. He then went off and came up with the preliminary sketch (not a detailed drawing like you have, because why would he put all that effort into it when we hadn't even reviewed it yet? If the first "design" you receive is this detailed, I think that is a warning that he is reusing a plan from another client.)

Anyway, I loved the exterior elevations. Loved the first floor plan. Loved the lower level walkout plan. But then got to thinking "what about xx? And where's yy from my list of requirements?" But after looking at it more with my hubby and chatting with the designer, I realized he had left off things because it just wasn't possible to have EVERYTHING on my list and stay within our budget constraints. If he had put everything in, it would have been a $2M house, and I'd have been left loving it, but needing to cut pieces out. This way, he took his knowledge of us and created a plan that had the basics and some of the most important extras and would fit our budget. Then if something was SO IMPORTANT that we couldn't live without it, we brought it up and he did his magic, or talked about the impact to the overall size/cost. We had a few rounds of modifications, but the reality is that our designer was really darn close to nailing it on the first design, and the things we changed were pretty minor.

We have now been looking at and dreaming of this plan for about 6 months (at the point of getting structural drawings now) and love every bit of it and are so glad that our designer was wise enough to see that all the things we listed weren't possible in our budget. And glad he pushed back by leaving them out of the initial designs to force us to think about it.

Now, all of this was on a 1/2 acre lot and we wanted to keep it around 3000 sq ft (including the 2 car garage and walkout basement, so really looking at 1500sq ft for the main level.) We did end up slightly larger at 3200 sq ft total with 1800 sq ft on the main level, but our lot easily accommodated that.

Your lot looks a lot smaller than ours, and while I don't think this plan was designed for your needs, I will say that I'm not sure your lot can accommodate your requirements. I think your architect may not be the right one based on the other red flags, but don't be surprised if the next one does something similar to what our designer did -- which is to give you the reality of what will work for your situation and your desires based on his knowledge and experience.

It appears from what you (OP) say that this individual is simply plopping a previously pre-designed house on the property you are buying.

That is not what an architect does. It's what a designer or CAD driver does. "Concept Seven Designs" suggests an unlicensed designer. Architects use the term "architects".

Find someone who knows what they are doing. Don't waste your time on this individual.

You must have asked for the bare minimum in architectural services for an architect to show you designs for another client and site unless its a way to find out what you like.

You have not turned on messaging in your profile so please forgive me for saying this on the forum: its best not to post the copyrighted work of an architect with the architect's firm name on it unless you have permission.

I hope you are able to find a good design.

A quick google search you can find the firm skimming it nothing said they were architects but definitely called themselves designers. OP go get a real architect you won’t regret it.

I think there is something missing from this story. Is this a true custom home or is this in a tract development?

My advise - if the relationship and understanding starts off not well - 99% of the time it ends up badly - get out ASAP and find a sympathetic architect - who can understand your needs and translate that into architecture .................. Good Luck

This is another case of an OP thinking s/he is working with an architect, and uses the term "architect" in the posting...but it's not an architect or architectural firm.

I am pretty sure someone there is an architect. They would not be able to design commercial structures otherwise. [You can see plenty of them on their website: business park, fitness clubs, equipment rental].

=

Playing the devil's advocate, the designer went from one b/l setback line to another. I doubt there is a space for all three bedrooms on the first floor and a separate mudroom, a laundry, two master closets, master bath, three car garage, a kitchen, livingroom, dining room and to add the extra two bedrooms will need another bathroom .. all of that on this small lot. You have to manage your expectations.

BT, while they may have an architect for their commercial projects, I'm guessing not so for their residential ones.

Montana does not issue firm licenses but multi-family and commercial architectural work must be overseen by an architect. I'm not sure if that means the architect must be a principal in the firm or can an employee or a consultant. I'm also not sure if Montana is strict about engineers performing architectural work. Every state is different.

Thank for the discussion so far, everyone!

Yes, I used the wrong terminology as I believe he is a “designer”. We will be moving on to find a licensed architect.

I especially appreciated the comment about not posting copyrighted work... I didnt even think about that and feel foolish yet can’t for the life of me figure out how to remove the pictures...

Marie - Houzz doesn't let you change your initial post. I would send them an email explaining that you posted a plan to which you don't have the copyright and ask them to take it down for you.

Good luck finding an architect who is a good fit for you. I'll be excited to see what an architect designing for your and your family specifically can develop :-).

Thank you, Kristin! I’ll reach out to them and hope that they are responsive!

Bringing suits against a client in federal court would be highly unusual for a design firm. And you didn't show enough of the design for someone else to benefit much from using their work. In the future, remove their name to avoid possible embarrassment.

I said something on the forum about the well known internet architect John Tee and he clicked the like button. You never know who is watching.

Since you won't close on the lot for 5 days, now may be the time to reevaluate the lot purchase. You may want to look at something larger.

I agree with dan1888. Your want list is larger than your lot can handle. Small pie lots are very limiting as to design. Getting everything may not be possible.

I akways suggest going through a list to prioritize. Rank as 1-5 in importance. 5 is MUST have. 1 is, if there’s plenty of money left over, let’s add it. Then rank the whole list as 1-25, or however many the list might be. Imagine that every big want is 50K, and every smaller want is 10K. You can really have only 5 of the large wants, and 5 of the smaller wants.

That’s simplistic, and not accurate. But it does allow you to think about what are the actual needs behind some of the wants. Every client that I have wants a “really big island”, even when that is physically impossible. It’s the “why” behind that request that is important. Is it for the added work surface that their current kitchen doesn’t have? Or because they want to have seats and interact socially with visitors? Or is it because a neighbor just put in a 5x10 one, and they want to be able to top that?

Pare down to the actual needs and motivations behind the wish list.

"We will be moving on to find a licensed architect."

Best news I have heard today. I think you will be much happier.

Good for you and good luck. Just remember wants and needs are not the same and usually the budget controls the wants.

To remove the picture from the post hit edit three dots right upper corner. Once in edit move bring your curser to sit past the photo then hit the back arrow, delete button or back space bar and it should remove it. Or highlight it and hit delete. Then once the photo is gone from the post you can hit submit again.

I love The Cook's Kitchen's ranking system. I think your number one big want you need to carefully consider is the desire to have the master bedroom and two additional bedrooms on the main level. While I do think this is possible on this lot, it may not be your best approach. If your location requires you to have a basement (I read Montana somewhere), every square foot on the main level will require a corresponding square foot of basement. Your setbacks can accommodate a larger footprint, but do you really want to use up so much valuable outdoor area?

P.S. If you want a plan that doesn't meet your most basic program, I have dozens. ;-)