That would not be my experience.

As has been said here a few times, being an architect means you got a degree - it doesn't mean you are that good at designing homes/floor plans.

You might just consider going with a remote person. Meeting face to face is nice but not essential. Think of the things we do remotely nowadays....

Thank you David for your response. Definitely doubting myself and expectations after my first experience. Your reply helps.

The remote option may be best. I was just really hoping to work with someone familiar with the vernacular of the region where I grew up. I'm sure location is really no guarantee of that but thought a local architect might be the best bet.

Will have to regroup I guess. It took a bit of discussion to get my husband on the same page with this as we have several people in our circle currently in the building process. They went the stock plan with modifications route, and husband's initial thoughts were that we would do the same thing. I tried to explain what I percieve as the benefits of working with an architect, and this experience did not in any way confirm this.

We didn’t build a new house but we went through a full renovation. Having a good local architect is very important, unless you go with a design-build company. We interviewed a number of architects for our project and went with the one that we felt understood our style and needs. We never regretted that we picked him. We also realized that it was important to retain him through the entire construction process. Having an independent architect inspect the work site on a regular basis provides comfort that everything goes as planned, no corners are cut by a builder, and also allows making changes to the design before it’s too late. I would never recommend an online service. Things always go wrong with the design and having a back and forth with an architect who never even saw your project side can be very stressful and frustrating.

Sounds like your current architect isn't the right fit for your needs. You're not in too deep to move on and find one who is a good fit.

Modifying a stock plan might be a good alternative. For southern homes in traditional styles, I recommend you check out Our Town Plans https://ourtownplans.com/ plans by Looney, Ricks, Kiss https://www.houzz.com/pro/lrkinc/looney-ricks-kiss and William E. Poole https://www.williampoole.com/

Doubt this one has ever designed an entire new house. Designing an entire house is actually not that common. Lots of demand for architecture on smaller scale projects and modifying stock plans. sounds like he is way out of his comfort zone, and maybe knows that.

our architect who designed our house also never had designed a whole new house Before ours. It worked out ok for us but there were some rough patches. Our project was very modest/simple which helped

your project sounds like it may be more ambitious. You probably want an architect whose whole houses you can go look at or at least email the owners. If you go with an architect and you are their first new house then expect to lean on the builder more and get them involved early

Architect are more artistic type and sometimes act as premadonna's. Some of us like non-conformant, Vernacular architecture - and architect tend to blow the gaskets, because this architecture does not fit a particular historical style, or location.

Just making a suggestions:

1) You want to retain an architect, you can work with, you are comfortable with, it will be a long term relationship. It will be difficult to dump him, unlike girlfriend you can dump by just text.

2) You want to pick an architect with a quick turn around.

3) You also should keep an open mind. They can work differently from what you would expect. It is about final product.

4) If you are not building in the next year, you may be too early.

Your initial contact with your architect sounds similar to our experience, including sending info about ourselves, our wish list, and examples of floor plans we liked. However our architect was able to consolidate those floor plans (e.g. the walk through shower in one, the L-shaped kitchen of another, the second story loft of a third) to draw up a rough first draft for us, not just modify one of them.

It did take 3 drafts over almost 6 months before we got to the final plan, but our architect listened to us. I don't think your expectations are unreasonable. This may not be a good fit for you, so I'd keep looking. We actually found our builder first, and chose our architect from his recommended list. Knowing they had worked together in the past and it went well enough for them to be willing to work together again was a good sign.

If you don't mind doing remote, look up architectrunnerguy on this forum. I'm sure he's familiar with the style homes you like.

Is it normal for an architect to ask a client to choose a Southern Living floor plan (yes he specifically mentioned Southern Living as preferred source) and then come to him for modifications and final drawings?

No, and certainly not with this architect. The "architect" you describe is embarrassing. I like to encourage using local architects, but if that is what is available locally

keep looking further away.

If this isn't how it is supposed to work, any suggestions for next steps?

Find an architect that designs homes from scratch that fits your needs and fits your site.

Do I meed to change expections given the location of our project or perhaps interview architects who aren't in as close proximity to our project?

Reach out as far as it takes.

Thanks so much everyone for your comments and helpful advice. I really do appreciate it. Someone mentioned that starting from scratch on a home seemed out of this architect's comfort zone, and I really do think that was the issue.

CPartist, I have considered contacting architectrunnerguy as I have admired his process and the work that has been posted here. I have one or two people in the area where I now live that I may contact in the next couple of weeks. I do like the idea of having someone fairly close by during the process. Our property is about 2 hours away from where we currently live so it wouldn't be totally out of the question for an architect from our current city to make at least an initial site visit and the expense would certainly be worth it to us.

JKent, your experience sounds more like what I thought might happen. We know the basic style that we like but I have not found that style with a floor plan that meets our needs. I would really like an L shaped plan and was hoping he could help us get there. I think I might contact one or two builders in the area that have been recommended by friends and family and see if they can offer any additional insight.

At least the prep work for the meeting helped us better define what we want. Until this point, it's been more dreams and wants, but actually scheduling the meeting made us hunker down and better define priorities . Mark, I was really hoping you would comment as I was interested in your take on the situation. I thought I knew the basic gist of what you might say, but again, I was really doubting myself after this experience.

Thanks all! I will update if I make any progress in the near future.

MS is 50 out of 50 in a many categories. It’s not surprising that good architects would be difficult to find. Especially rural. If north, look to Memphis or Oxford. If central, look to Jackson or Birmingham. If South, look to Mobile or New Orleans.

eroider, I posted a reply to you over 8 hours ago and it was never made viewable by anyone except for myself and only when logged in. Seems to have been a strange issue with my account. Anyway, this is my second attempt at replying to your thread:

My heart jumps a bit, due to excitement, any time I learn that someone is interested in building a "new" old home. That's exactly what we are in the processing of doing, and I like to offer my advice whenever I think that it may be applicable. . .

Is it normal for an architect to ask a client to choose a Southern Living floor plan (yes he specifically mentioned Southern Living as preferred source) and then come to him for modifications and final drawings?

No, it is not. And, based on your goals, I would view that as a major red flag. The purpose of hiring an architect is for that professional to create something custom which meets your requirements. I do not see the point of hiring an architect to modify another architect's plans. And, being the person that I am, I would question the legality (i.e., Copyright Laws) of doing that without permission from the original architect. If you want to work with a modified plan, your best (and, probably cheapest) option is to have the original architect modify his or her plan.

If this isn't how it is supposed to work, any suggestions for next steps?

If I was in your situation, my next step would be to move on to other architects. I would not limit myself to local architects. I would, actually, do both state-wide and interstate searches since not many architects specialize in classical or historical design. Then, just ask directly if they would be willing to travel or work remotely. Our architect has a small rate that he charges for miles in addition to his normal hourly rate. We do not find it excessive since he doesn't have to come out to our site often.

Do I need to change expectations given the location of our project or perhaps interview architects who aren't in as close proximity to our project?

I do not think that you should be changing your expectations this early in the process. You definitely need to interview additional architects, though. And, be direct with them. Let them know exactly what your requirements and limitations are. Since you are wanting to build a new-old home, it is imperative that you have them be upfront with you about their own experience, capabilities, and willingness to see your project through. I have found that building historical replicas can be quite challenging for many professionals (i.e., GCs, subs, architects) and not all of them have the patience or desire to learn along the way.

Tendrac, thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. Much appreciated!

I have two architects on my list to contact this week. Hoping for a much better experience.

I do want to clarify the part about copyrighting. I do believe the man's intention was for us to purchase a set of plans from somewhere like Southern Living and then he would charge us for modifications. When he first began discussing this, I wanted to run out of his office. Why do I need an architect if this is what I plan to do? Why not work with the original architect who designed the plan to make the modifications? I made myself sit still and try to finish out the meeting politely.

I probably also need to clarify a little bit more what a new old home means to us. While I would love to build a replica of a historical home, or even better, purchase a historical home, I know that our budget is not completely in line with those options. I do hope to build a home that keeps some of the traditional concepts of the homes built early in southwest Mississippi and adjacent Louisiana. I think what we are looking for would be much like the dogtrot style and/or raised cottage style common in the area, but with a twist. One of our main goals is to build a house that takes into consideration the climate and topography of our site. I spent a lot of time in my great-grandmother's home when I was a child. She never had central air or even a window unit, but her house stayed cool due to the siting and the design. I don't want a home without central air now but I would like to capture some of those same benefits. I loved her big front porch and spent many hours in the swing as a child. Where we would differ from a house like hers is that she had her formal front rooms and then daily life happened in the back of the house. My husband and I don't really need or want those formal rooms, so that's been the difficulty in finding what we need in a stock plan in a home with a more traditional exterior.

As examples, John Tee's Louisiana Garden Cottage is a style that we love, but the floor plan does not match our needs/wants. Allison Ramsey's Holiday House is more of the type of floor plan that we like. Both designs are about the size that we would like, 2500-3000 square feet, but both are missing some important priorities. Where we live now, there are exceptional architects who could design something grand and beautiful. I'm just not sure how willing one of them would be to take on our much smaller, less ambitious, project.

Again, thanks everyone for the great comments and tips. This thread has really been helpful for us! I definitely feel more prepared to sit down with another architect.

The great news here is that you have figured this out after one meeting rather than after trying to make it work for a while. You will be well served looking into other options for sure. Good Luck!!

So glad to hear you're off to a good start. Please keep us in the loop as you go through the process. Best of luck.

Thank you for your update so far. This new architect sounds like a real architect rather than someone that is just modifying existing plans. How exciting for you to find someone that you can work with to achieve your vision. I can't wait to see what you and she come up with for your new home :)