I may be partial, but I recommend working with a local architect. Architects are educated, trained, experienced, tested and licensed to do what they do. Talk to a few architects to see what type of services they offer and to see how they would be to work with.

Inspiration picture missing.

If the potential architect already has a relationship with your trusted builder and is a residential architect, the ROI will be worth it. Your home will be built to fit you, not some generic internet family. If you go with a plan-mill plan and a drafter to "tweak" it, you will run into issues that no one will take responsibility for.

Over and over again on Houzz, we see drafter-tweaked plans that

• can't actually be built (oops! we needed that load-bearing wall?) for a reasonable cost
• are uncomfortable (gee! didn't think changing the gable meant I'd bump my head going down stairs)
• don't really understand how a design will live once it's built (I never thought how shlepping the groceries from the garage, across the LR to the kitchen would be a PITA)

An architect has the specific knowledge required to avoid these kinds of pitfalls. Most drafters do not. A home is a big investment; building a home is a giant, stressful production. It's worth employing the most appropriate people. In the grand scheme of your house build the $8k extra you spent on an architect will pale to insignificance.

Assuming the architect you'd select is competent, the only downside is the relatively small $10k cost difference. Don't be pennywise and pound foolish and risk building a home that wont fit your need, be a poor design, or not be the best fit for the lot.

It is possible to get what you want without going with an architect…it sounds like your needs are more basic than fancy…and that just really needs to be drawn….a good draftsman usually can inform and discuss as you develop the plan…we had both…using the draftsman mostly ….with questions as needed for the architect…i disagree that 10k is a relatively small difference …i call that a lot of money to spend if it is not needed

$10k is a significant sum, true. But in the context of $450k (and given construction prices these days, probably more), it's small potatoes for a tailored solution and legal recourse. The guy at the lumberyard is not going to be the one paying for his oversights or errors.

In the end, you have to weigh your price sensitivity against your appetite for risk and your desire for a thoughtful design. But if a generic house is good enough, better to choose one that your builder has built before (preferably several times) than a tweaked plan from a plan mill. At least then you'll benefit from your builder's experience. And you may be able to arrange tours of the previously built ones to help you decide which of your builder's plans suits you best.

I would like to say use an architect but do your research and communication is the KEY. Also you get what you pay for. A family member who is notoriously flamboyant but not very good with $....used an architect to build on a lot with a gorgeous view of the Puget Sound. Good = most of the house takes advantage of the view. Bad = the two secondary bedrooms are too small and awkwardly shaped for even twin beds, which is weird because the primary bedroom is absolutely HUGE and has wasted space. Also the laundry is all the way down in the basement 28 stairs. The driveway is hugely steep and angled sharply making access difficult especially when it rains, but it does not do that much here in the Seattle area...(Sarcasm) and did not need to be this way... the neighbor with the same elevation on his lot has a casual slope to his driveway. My family member was known for being poor at communication and probably just said "okay whatever" to any plans, but afterward I recall a conversation with the architect where she apologized for the awkward bedrooms and the need for a sump pump at the bottom of the steep driveway so the garage did not flood. The more you know...

I have s family member who got great results using an architect, a family member who got mediocre results using an architect, a family members who got great results using an online plan and 2 family members who got really good results using a plan from a builders book of plans.

I think the great results were obtained because the people who built/owned the homes were incredibly detailed and knew exactly what their families needed. It wasn't their first home, they documented their family activities and figured out what rooms they really needed, how much space they needed in those rooms, how much storage space they needed, how they prepared and served meals and what they needed in their kitchen. Because they documented every activity and what they liked and didn't like in their current/past homes and looked at tons of other homes to get ideas they got great results.

I bought an existing home while planning on building. While looking at listed homes for ideas I happened to find a home that had everything I needed. I had gone through the process of documenting the size of all my rooms, what rooms we used, what rooms were wasted space, where we needed additional room and where we didn't fully utilize the space we had. I knew this was perfect because it fulfilled every need I had documented.

The intimate details of how your family lives in a home are better known to you than anyone else. Your involvement is the key to getting great results.

Some good input here… but I think it might be helpful to find out what the average cost per square foot is … in your area… for new builds and completed homes….this will give you a clear picture of where the numbers should be … as a guide and to stay in line with your goals…

An architect marries the site, the exterior, the interior and your family lifestyle wants, needs, dreams ........into a cohesive whole

An interior designer marries the finishes, the fittings, furniture and fine tunes your wants, needs, dreams needs to suit you and the house

A kitchen and bath designer does the same thing, but very specifically to those areas, to code, comfort, convenience beauty and budget.

No matter the location, no matter the size, no matter how "simple" the home and your lifestyle? A talented team will rarely disappoint. Will make you consider things that never entered your head. It's a synergy........the builder, you, and the three above. Invaluable.

Simple is never as simple as simple looks. It's a lot like "Just" . I just need this, I "just" want that. .......it's just a simple home, and we just live simply.

Know when it's simple? When it's VERY well done, and you're thrilled......! Know that there is no "just" in design. Just trust me on that : )

You definitely need an architect. A good architect could save you more than the fee and should increase the value of your house by many times the fee. Look at the fee as a good investment or cheap insurance depending on your point of view. Ask him to provide for a future addition in case your family grows more than currently expected. That's happened to me and many of my clients.

To select an architect, first look at the architect's work and talk to his former clients — then find your state's archtect registration look-up site to see how long he's been licensed.

3% seems fair for full design services but since so much of the work will be drafting, $125/hour seems high. Ask if he does the drafting and what his services include. Make no assumptions. At that rate he would need to work fast to produce a good set of documents, help you select materials and oversee the work.

His relationship with the builder will be helpful for design and cost estimating but could be a problem in the construction phase. Don't expect the builder to provide quality control and assurance for his own work; this is major work with major opportunities for miscommunication and mistakes.

Where is the project located? Post any relevant information about the site and what you like.

What I took from the above story is the most likely place to find a talented person is in an architect's office. Nevertheless, nothing is a substute for due dilligence in selecting a house desginer.

I think ARG said it best.  Pick someone with design talent who has done work that you like.  This may be location specific,  but there are some design firms without licensed architects that do much better work than the average architect in the area.  Of course the opposite is also true.  I do think it's very individual specific and you need to pick the right person,  independent of title or paper credentials.

I think $12K is low for a whole house design. I spent that ten years ago for just an addition. So if you are getting this bargain because of a personal relationship, I recommend you take advantage of it. While I know some people have bad experiences, my architect designed addition was exactly what I wanted and turned out great. It helped sell my house two years ago. The buyers specifically said so. As @Jennifer Hogan says, no matter how you move forward, there is no substitute for your involvement in the process and knowing what you want. If this is your first house I think you need an architect even more. Good luck!

IMO even the build cost seems low but we do not know where the OP is located . As for the architect issue IMO a stock plan unless perfect is going to cost money for every tiny change that can eat a lot of cash. What does the builder say as to who they would work with ? I do agree no matter what route you take you will need to be involved all the way through the process. I aslo would be getting an independant KD architects are in my experience never really good at that.

The architect designed home should live better for you and have that special something that draws your eye to it when you are out driving around and think "that's a really nice house" or "that house sits on that lot so well" or - you just can't describe it.

It WILL come at a cost. I do not buy that you will save money. Quality, design, detail all costs money - as does the person who has the skill and creativity to pull it off. The question is, is that worth the cost to you.

Bad design is a daily irritant. Its the burr in your sock, the hair in your salad, the squeeze your bum against the island to open the fridge door. Good design is invisible, so many do not see the effort needed to achieve good design, as opposed to bad design.

Bad design is far easier to achieve by low creative types with a software license. This is why it surrounds us to the point that its now normalized to have brick floating above a window, or a garage as the major out front design feature, or an island so large that you get in way more than 10,000 steps making dinner.

You have a higher chance of achieving a simple good design with someone with a design education. The lack of a good grounding in historical design styles and proper artistic forms kinda directly correlates with them confusing complexity with “interesting design”. We see it daily in the forum, with people equating complex badly designed floor plans as ”interesting” and well designed more simple forms as ”boring”.

People want drafter level Mr Potatohead add ons frills, because they no longer understand design, and lack any art appreciation education. They can’t see how bad it really is, because they cannot see art or functionality at all. Their depth perception is as flat as the video screen they have their noses stuck in.

Simple is actually much harder to achieve than throwing on another gabled addition for the house to get a little bigger. Bigger and uglier with more Mr Potatohead stuff is an easy substitute for creating a more dense, pleasing version of the multi functional ”not so big house”.

i researched and drew all plans. We got a Sales Tax license by registering as a company. We obtained wholesale lumber and truss quotes. We chose and supervised individual craftsmen for segments we didn't diy. About 2000sq.ft single story on our own land. Our building department inspectors were very helpful whenever appropriate. We were prepared and they supported us. The savings was substantial. The quality level was our choosing. We preferred higher than builder. I spent over a year prepping. We had no significant negative surprises. We fired a draftsman, drywall team and rough crew. Replacement for the crews took one try. I totally would choose the same path.

This question has been raised over and over on Houzz and discussed on many posts.

The overwhelming response from designers/architects and many others is you must use an architect, yet architects do very little new home design work and only somewhere between 1 and 2 percent of all new homes built are designed by an architect.

If we had 1000 homes sold in AnyTownUSA.

11 would be new construction and 89 would be existing homes

of the 110 new construction, 22 would be custom, 88 would be tract/spec built.

of the 22 custom homes 1 or 2 would be designed by an architect.

Reality is that although everyone deserves to live in a custom home designed to meet their specific needs only 1or 2 in 1000 home owners have that luxury, and not all architect designed homes are well designed. There are good and bad in every profession.

Here is a good article on this subject:

https://commonedge.org/architects-design-just-2-of-all-houses-why/#:~:text=Architects%20Design%20Just%202%25%20of,%E2%80%93%20Common%20Edge

Another interesting read: https://architecttwocents.com/do-architects-design-their-own-houses/

If the cost of building the house is going to be in the 400 - 450,000K+ range, and the differential between having an architect or not is 10,000 dollars, I do not understand the hesitation. No - every architect is not going to give you the prime results you would expect and that is why it is important to have a clear idea of what you want in the house - and to do due diligence, in order to find a good architect for your build. Personally, I would cut corners on finishes, appliances, light fixtures, etc., before I cut corners on having an architect on a build of this magnitude. jmho.

I agree with ARG.

may i be nosy and ask why a ”partial” basement. the first floor cant be very large with the size of your home. if youre going to dig a basement, why not just do a full basement? such great space after all.

I googled "Well designed home", and this is the first image that came up.

I leave it to you to judge.

Well designed--not! :-)

Mr Has a Plastic Surgery Addiction Potatohead.

Can you post the online plan you found?

Mark, it's important to note that the image you posted is of a house designed in India. Styles are different all over the globe, and I believe that others around the world would also find some American home styles to be hideous.  Within the US, I also see geographic preferences such as styles that are really popular in Colorado that wouldn't work well elsewhere.

T T - True, but I am in the United States, "and this is the first image that came up" when I searched. I guess it shows how misleading the internet can be. Who knows where the online plans were designed and usually no one knows who designed them. Who knows the background of a house designer.

That is mainly why I recommend a "local architect", so at least there is a common basic foundation to qualify them to design a house. That said, not all architects are alike; and sometimes that "local" is not very close.

Look, there's a whole lot of both bad and good on the internet. No different than any main drag, in any mid to large town, having good and bad restaurants. Want bad??

I googled "How to design a simple house" ..................%$$##@@^&& EEKS. That's a whole lot of very very very bad., below.

The money you spend on really great "simple" design may find you need less in square footage......and get more in that "less" . Not to mention, most of the floor plans you find online? Have been tweaked beyond recognition. Essentially ...just what you are considering attempting.

So,,,,,consider your length of stay, budget, needs, wishes, dreams and remember that life is rarely if EVER exactly as you planned. Same with houses,

THIS IS TRULY...........BAD . BUT AGAIN, ....it's the internet.

I would def. Architect. And the fact that yours already has a relationship with your builder all the better!!! My daughter and future son-in-law are having a house built for them by his dad. I don’t know who did the plans, but it’s all framed up and I thought extremely busy looking for the finishes. Ugly front door, weird portico etc. in a few short posts with architects on this forum I was made to understand what was already wrong and I seriously hope they fix it at this stage!! But I would def. Use one!!!!

I agree with most of the comments above. I believe a good, clever space plan is even more important in a home size as you contemplate because every square inch counts. Be super mindful of small details. Garage sizes are generally too small in set plans for most families. Surely wouldn’t want laundry upstairs with a ton of laundry that little ones generate. Lot topography is never part of set plans so making sure the home sits properly and within required setbacks etc is important and experienced architects have a good under of these requirements. Communication is key. It sounds like you are building in the northwest? So local folks will be more sensitive to those factors. What I have personally done, is draw out to scale my home space plan with as much detail as possible. You can get a college student who has computer skills to do that with you. Lower cost, but more motivated person. This then becomes a great vehicle to communicate your dreams and wishes. Then the builder/architect can complete the work with structural aspects, roof design, facade renderings, interior built-ins etc. Kitchens require intense details so a good kitchen designer is very valuable. I have used a experienced custom cabinet builder with great skills and experience to great advantage. So, you get (generally) what you pay for. Simple is nice to say, but great function is more important. Ever watch The Tiny House program? The cabinet/interior member of that design team Zack is amazing! There is no such thing as “simple” in building. And the smaller you go, the more important these clever people are. If you can keep designing for a while, the market and costs might come down so your price tag doesn’t spiral out of control. Good luck with your family. Wait if you can and best of luck. The stress of building anything in the current situation is extremely high. So keep that in mind too.

I don't know what people must do today to become an architect but I spent 4 years in college studying structural design, drawing, drafting and architectural history and then 3 1/2 years in graduate design school for a B. of Arch., then worked for an architect for the requisite 3 years and then took 4 days of exams covering everything from structural design and contracts to hauling in a drafting board on the last day to desigin a small building. Since then I've been required to take continuing education courses equivalent to 1 1/2 years of college.

I would compare my experience to that of a builder, designer or draftsman but I don't know what is required of them or where they would go to be trained other than the Boston Architectural College, a remarkable institution offering evening classes and where I was once was a guest critic and thesis advisor.

What I can say of architects in general (at least the older ones) is you can't question their committment to their profession and that they probably learned the most from those with whom they studied and worked.

I went to Lawrence Institute of Technology. They had night classes too, but they changed their name to Lawrence Technological University after I graduated and never invited me back to do anything, but did ask for financial contributions to their Alumni Association. If I were to bet my life on a house, I would use an architect.

(I put an addition on my house and I used an architect, and I think I did a pretty darn good job, and I never ticked myself off . . . or my wife)

Years later I got an "oops, what were we thinkng" letter raising my B of Arch. degree to a Masters with a fancy document written like an addendum as if I might want to frame it.

Too soon to be filed under "home disasters"

Start by reading The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka

We did not use an architect but we did use someone who I believe has design talent. We are very happy with our home and the design. Any issues we have are budget related, like we should have splurged on hardwood stairs. Layout is perfect for us. Cost less than an architect and we are happy. She has since once numerous awards locally in our province so seems others like her too 😂. Ironically we did not enjoy the ID aspects of working with her which is where the bulk of her praise comes from!

IMHO, the answer partly depends on the land. Is it challenging in anyway? It is a basic flat square/rectangle with no unique features on either side?

You can do well with a basic internet plan but the odds are not in your favor. Having an architect helps but is no guarantee either.

Give some more details and you get a better answer.

In addition to design talent, I would be looking for someone with technical expertise of structures, energy conservation, waterproofing, drainage, etc. This is required of architects for larger projects but for homes its often left up to the builder or the local building inspector which I have not found to be sufficient protection for the owner.

Not all contractors are happy with my detailed specifications and drawings but you would be surprised how many have used that information for future work.

I should also mention that architects learn a lot from contractors assuming the architects are invoved in the construction phase which is always the case for me.

I think I was luckier than RES2 in that when I took the exam they had cut it back to two days as the feeling was with the longer exam it became more of a test in test taking endurance over architectural skills. The best part was I got to see a lot of my classmates I hadn't seen in the three years since graduation. We probably imbibed a little more than we should have at dinner between the two days in those circumstances but it was a great stress reliever seeing everybody!

It appears the OP has maybe left us without comment which is unfortunate given all the great advice they received but the best of luck to them!

"Clothing makes the architect. Naked architects have little to no influence on society."

Mark Twain

Just seeing if anyone is still reading.

This deserves to be in the Top Comments for the coming year…!

I picked that quote up on the internet. I was accredited to Twain, but I kind of doubt he said it.

I always tried to dress professionally since I didn’t know any successful naked architects…Virgil, 2023

I'm not sure Twain singled out architects, but I do believe an architect's fashion choices are important. There is apparently a clothing line https://www.boscovs.com/category/mens-architect for anyone wanting to dress like an architect. I wonder if the manufacturer sews those little animal icons on the inside to aid in selecting clothes that go together or if they're okay with architects and those who dress like them making more bold fashion statements.

Garranimals......? Yeah.... my mostly black/ white/gray closet with little hits of pink? Don't need the little tags: ) It alllll works. Blindfolded. In the dark.