Working with an Architect to Design Your New Home/Remodel
Guest Post: Scott Roberts, Creative Architects
Great! You have decided to build a new home or remodel your existing home. That is a wise decision, because of the new technologies and innovative design ideas of today. A new home or well planned remodel has many advantages, including:
- Designs that accommodate our new life styles and help the family interact with the open concept, home offices, and aging in place features.
- Brighter homes with more and better-placed windows to let in natural light.
- Better insulating methods and materials.
- Energy efficient heating/cooling and appliances.
- Lower-maintenance construction.
- And many other reasons.
Now you get to meet the first team member (other than the builder), your architect/designer. With the proper information, your architect can be a valuable member by helping the direction of the design to fit your needs and expectations.
How do you work with your architect in the process of designing the new home? A good architect is not only a talented designer with knowledge of market trends and construction techniques. He or she needs to be a detective.
The first meeting or conversation should be with the builder, so the architect/designer understands the limits of the budget, level of finish, site information, or other information that will help the architect create a successful design. The last thing you need is a design that is too expensive.
The architect’s first step is to find out what you, the homeowner, wants and needs in your new home or remodel/addition. This process involves a personal meeting and/or a written survey. I like the personal interview, because an answer to one question may lead to another question that might not be asked otherwise. I can also gauge if there is excitement, hesitation or confusion about the topic of discussion. This conversation goes back and forth with the architect asking questions, offering ideas, explaining options, sometimes playing devil’s advocate, and even getting couples to communicate with each other about the design.
To make the interview process more productive, you should think about the basic design items you want, and be thinking of your lifestyle. With this information, the architect can probe further and help you think of things you never thought of before. Remember, it is just as important to know what the you do not like as what you do like. Some of the basic questions and information the architect needs follows:
- Survey of your lot.
- Family profile—number and ages of children.
- Approximate budget
- Approximate size of the new home
- One- or two-story?
- Number of bedrooms?
- Number of living areas?
- Special rooms?
- Lifestyle—entertain or private?
- Work out of the home?
- Space for guests or live-in parents?
- What do you like and dislike about your current home?
- Style of exterior design.
- And other questions that may be on the architect’s survey.
With these needs, wants or pieces to the puzzle, as it were, your architect/designer can add imagination and innovation to design your dream home. The architect can also make suggestions and avoid certain design elements to reach the budget. He can also inform you when you are adding costs but should refrain from quoting how much more or less (that is the builder’s responsibility, since the architect cannot know each builder’s costs). This also keeps the communication flowing among all three parties. The architect should also relate to the builder any important information he gathered during the client meeting.
To get a successful design, the trick is to communicate, communicate, communicate. You will find the results very rewarding.
Scott Roberts is the principal of Creative Architects, a Garland firm involved with residential design and planning. Scott Roberts has over 40 years of experience in residential and commercial architecture, and can be contacted at (214) 530-4872.