@cpartist thanks! I do think we would get use out of it now though. This process has been so mich tougher than I imagined 😵‍💫

Im curious what Mark B thinks 😆

I don't know where you landed on the decision to have a basement or not, but I think the solution here is to have the basement and finish it later when your needs change. A basement is perfect flex space as it's usually a big open space that you can do a lot of different things with. When the kids are teenagers they could move downstairs (another poster was asking about that recently) or at least have a hang out room where they can be away from you. This will be agreeable for both of you as teenagers are as annoying as they are annoyed by you. :-)

I would speak with your architect about it. I personally think it's a good idea. You don't want to finish this house and have regrets later. It sounds like you plan to live in it for a long time.

Seems like a pretty major change with a lot of repercussions. We don't know your current plan layout so we can't really speak to whether it would be easy to do or whether it would totally mess up your entire plan/require rearranging of things. We also don't know your architect - but as someone in a related field if a client asked for that kind of change it would likely mean more $. Depends on your contract.

On your other points:

A basement shouldn't give any one heartburn. Millions of people have them. They are literally PERFECT playrooms for kids. You think you want your kids upstairs next to you but in a few short years you won't. And they won't want to be by you either.

Guest room: how often do you have guests now? A basement can easily double as a guest space depending on how you lay it out, and can be more private. If your husband doesn't really want a shop, then make that space the guest room space.

Old & decrepit: It sounds like you have all bedrooms on the main level already - if you can't make it from the front door to your current bedroom I doubt you will still be living in your house, making a bedroom by the front door a moot point. Also, you have toddlers now. Maybe you will live in this house for 40+ years, but if you do, you are in the minority. I thought my first house was my forever house (we bought in our late 30s), but I'm on my 2nd house now and have no intention to live there longer than 20 years. Things change.

"Im curious what Mark B thinks 😆"

I am curious what I think too. I will read it and comment after my Falafel Shawarma is devoured.

"Or, is this kind of change of mind pretty typical?"

Changes are the norm, and there is no typical change.

If the architect's fee is based upon a percentage of the construction cost, there is a scope of work that the fee is based on. If the changes are outside of what the architect considers the agreed upon scope of work, then he may want to be compensated for the work he performs outside of the scope of work that was the basis of the original agreement. Tell your architect your idea to make the design work better for you and let him tell you it it falls within the agreement.

Does that help?

(the Falafel Shawarma was delicious)

I charge pregnant customers more money.

jk

Architects can be a little too polite to clients.

This is not "pretty typical" of something that would fit in to the original design contract.

The best architects we've worked with conduct an interview(s) prior to preparing a proposal plus at least one in depth session asking questions to prepare for the initial design, depending on the project. The design that appears 2-6 weeks after those meetings and interviews is a high value product and a significant portion of the value of the fee. You are also using the most expensive and talented member of the team. The architect is asking themself whether they can spend more time at this stage revisiting decisions you should have already made or if it is more effective for them to move on to a client who knows what they want. Their old price is no longer valid. They determined the price it is worth to them to continue.

The more you continue to change, the longer & more costly the process will be.

While I don't sound sympathetic, I've done it enough to myself & seen a few clients do it to understand the issues.

My architect told us early on that he just wants us to have a home that we're happy with. However you decide to proceed, have a discussion with the architect. The worst thing you can do is not communicate. If there is an additional expense to modify your plan, it's probably far less than the cost you'll pay every day living with a custom home that doesn't fit what you want. If you want design constraints, then purchase a production home from a builder. Now is the time to speak up before you get too far. My architect says, "It's just lines on a piece of paper. It's never gonna be cheaper than what it costs today to move them."

It all depends on the definition or written scope of service contained in your owner-architect agreement. As others have said, the best course of action is a discussion with your architect prior to any decision.

Didn’t you say you are at a conceptual point? If so isn’t that exactly when you would say I want a bedroom on the main floor.

We do not have a bedroom on main floor but have a powder and office. I kind of wish we had made a larger office that could be a bedroom and had a powder with a shower so it could be for guests. We likely would never use it ourselves as a bedroom but my now less than able bodied relative struggle to get to our basement guest room.

@patrickaz Our architect has said something similar - lines on a paper, easier to change now. Since this post I have decided that truly the basement is the best option due to our land (architect would agree) and we can't afford to do that or the giant crawl space a non-basement home would require and the extra foundation/roof/an additional room would cost. After posting on here about the basement, I've come around to it and am more excited about it now, AND don't have to go back to the architect and say "I know I said 3 bedrooms, but let's do four!"

When I look at our original concept vs the changes, it is VERY similar - we did request a redo of the exterior elevation, but most of the rooms are in the same place (minus flipping the master bedroom with the master closet & bathroom - pretty much within the walls), and a few flow changes. I did have him switch the kitchen and dining once (one was where the kitchen and family were open to each other, the other flipped it to where dining and family room were open to each other) and had him change it back to the first option after seeing it on paper. I'm a visual learner! We also started with using an unfinished upstairs as bonus space, with just a partial basement for the shop, but then realized cost wise that didn't make sense, we needed to use the full basement space and no upstairs after seeing the bids come back and what the upstairs were costing. Changing things due to budget is definitiely in the contract.

Now I just find myself looking at nitpicky things like door swings and window placement, which I guess aren't really nitpicky. I try to send or discuss all my updates in one meeting or e-mail depending on if it needs a discussion, but do find myself feeling guilty when I say "Change the door swing of this" or "move the table showing in the drawing, that's not how I would arrange it" (not an actual plan change, it was off center on a main wall making the scale of the kitchen look weird on paper)... but I want to envision everything as it would be! We are very very close now to the final thing so I'm feeling better. We started last July however I took an 8 month hiatus in between there to have a baby so we really haven't been working on it that long. Still, would not recommend working on a custom home while pregnant or within 6 months or so postpartum - ha!

@Joseph Corlett, LLC while many could give you hell for that comment, after how I've felt through this process, I don't blame you - haha!!

@Mark Bischak, Architect, that helps! Our fee is based on the cost to build.

If interested you can see my comment two above for some ideas of the changes I've done - but ultimately the initial concept is very close to our final product in layout and re-reading our contract I don't think I've done anything outside of the scope of work. A few times I've asked to see something one way to decide and he offered to switch it back if we disliked it, so I think most anyone can understand many people need to see something to decide. I will say there are times I should have probably taken more time with the plan - instead of sending updates 1 week later, sit on it for two or three weeks and make sure my list is comprehensive - instead of another e-mail saying "oh, one more thing!"

Ultimately though some things in our design are "off trend" I'm really excited about it and think it's going to be exactly what we want and far better and more suited to us than any stock plan. I was worried about designing it so strictly to what I want since it will end up sold one day even if that may be my kids' problem, but, the basement mitigates that concern.

I had a client that while I was designing the rebuilding of their cottage, they were selling their publishing company, starting another company, selling their house downstate and buying a house up north, and she was pregnant. I recommended putting the cottage replacement on hold and concentrate on the other projects.