Hire the second architect and have them come up with a better design that eliminates any such concern.

Agreed. Bringing up a vague structural issue in the initial interview is not wise.

But it's not clear to me why the architects were looking at a competed design in an interview. Is the house already designed down to the roof spans? Are they really architects? I would have to be pretty desperate for work to take a job like that but I suppose it could happen in these uncertain times.

I once drew up four houses for a developer but it doesn't count because he never paid me. They had stupid names like "The Claybrook". I keep that one in my flat file to remind me that things could be worse.

We were sharing a floor plan I sketched out after reviewing a zillion plans online and finding none that captured our needs/wants. :o)

I kind of figured that it would be the architects job to draw up what made sense structurally. I was only trying to layout placement and general room size. The fact that she made a big point out it where the other didnt just set off a worry button in me.

This is well out of my area of expertise and scary when you dont know what dont know and are spending hundreds of thousands.

Are these licensed architects or draftsmen who call themselves designers? Big difference!

If both are architects, you do not need to bring them a preconceived idea that you sketched out. If you allow them to do what they are trained to do, they will give you what you want and need and in a better way than you could have imagined. (Unless you have a design background)

All you need to bring is your plat, a list of wants and needs, and wouldn’t it be nice to haves, along with photos of houses and details you like and maybe a bubble diagram of what rooms absolutely must be near one another. And lastly how you want to feel when you are in your house.

I agree this is what you hire an actual architect for , they deisgn your home to suit you and your lot . IMO to take a stock plan and then redo it to suit you is always the expensive way to do this . I find by the time you get all the change orders to make the stock plan work for you you could have got one designed right the first time.