Hiring an architect for the design of your new home might seem daunting. This articles outlines the services an architect provides and gives you a number of things to consider and ask when reviewing options for architects.
What Is An Architect?
An architect is the most common house designer people know of. They’re often seen as a desirable person to hire to get a great design.
In the United States architects are licensed professionals who have completed an extensive university education in design, including a thorough understanding of the basics of structural, mechanical, and civil engineering principles and how buildings are put together.
Once they’ve received their degree they’re typically required to work for a minimum number of years for other architects before they can submit for a professional license. During this period architects must obtain a minimum amount of hours of experience in all aspects of the profession.
Once the required hours have been completed, architects must take and pass an extensive series of professional exams. Architects become licensed professionals within a state upon successful completion of their exams.
The states oversee all professional requirements. These include all legal and ethical requirements of the profession. They also require architects to obtain continuing education throughout their career in order to renew their licences, which are limited to a few years of being active.
This level of education and professional diligence allows architects to understand zoning and code requirements for projects, provide professional assistance and services throughout the project, and provide the highest level of design services to their clients.
The Services an Architect Can Provide
The traditional services provided by architects are broken down into a series of steps, called phases, from start to finish. Each phase focuses on different levels of design and services through the completion of construction.
The typical project phases for an architect’s Basic (Standard) Services are:
Programming – This phase focuses on working with the client to determine their requirements for their home. This often includes creating a project program – the collected information that will guide the design of the project. The program often consists of a list of the desired rooms and sizes, the types of activities, furnishings, and features desired for each space, the aesthetic goals of the client, and often an initial opinion of the potential construction cost range for the project based on this criteria.
Schematic Design – This phase is when the design starts. The architect will visit the site with you to see what challenges and opportunities are available. Several initial site plan, floor plan, and exterior design options are created to be reviewed with the client, who then gives feedback for a series of revisions until the client is happy with a particular plan and exterior design.
Design Development – This phase starts with the approved plans and exterior design and begins to integrate the building components and the various systems into the design. These include the structure, enclosure systems, heating and cooling, electrical, and plumbing systems, along with interior development.
Exterior and interior material options along with door and window options are created for review with the client, along with options for cabinetry, lighting, plumbing fixtures, and interior finishes.
Specialty systems such as security, central vacuum, irrigation, WiFi, and others are also integrated into the design.
Contract Documents – This is the phase where the specific documents are developed for the project to be bid to contractors and to be submitted to the local authorities for approval to obtain a construction permit.
These documents include all the drawings showing the plans, the structural system, the heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing systems, details showing the specifics of how things are to be built, and the materials of the project.
Also included are specifications. These are written documents that describe each component of the project including the manufacturer, model number, the expected quality of installation, and all warranty requirements.
The specifications also include “front end” sections telling the contractor what is expected of him or her, the obtaining of construction permits, how he or she is to use the site, what they’re to provide at the site such as material dumpsters for removal of debris, temporary toilets, temporary water and power services, water drainage protection during construction, and other miscellany.
Also included are requirements for bidding the project, the contractor and subcontractor construction insurance requirements, and the processes for payments. Items and information required to be submitted to the architect for review and compliance confirmation are outlined, and the final project review and close-out procedures are described for when the project is completed.
During each design and contract document phase the architect will coordinate with any subconsultants such as engineers, landscape designers, and interior designers to confirm that their systems and designs fit into the overall house design.
Bidding – During this phase the architect will distribute the plans and specifications to the contractors selected by the client to bid the project. The architect will address any contractor questions and provide any clarifications needed during the project.
Once bids have been received the architect will review them, ask any for any clarifications to the numbers, and then review the numbers with the client.
Once a contractor has been awarded the job the architect will then draft the contract for construction that will be reviewed by the client, contractor, and legal representatives before execution.
Contract Administration – During this phase the architect will review all contractor submittals including drawings, material and color samples, and pertinent product information. The architect will indicate any adjustments needed by the contractor before material purchase and installation.
The architect will also visit the site periodically to confirm the progress of construction and review compliance with the contract documents. This information is then used as part of the payment application review that is typically provided each month.
The architect will also provide a series of final walk-through’s with the client to identify any remaining items needed to be completed prior to the closeout of the project.
Closeout – This is the wrap-up of the project. In this phase the contractor will submit all product information and related operation manuals and warranty certificates. The final payment application will be submitted and reviewed. The final payment will be made once all items of the contract and documents have been completed.
Programming is often rolled into the Schematic Design phase, and Closeout is often rolled into Construction Administration.
The Role of the Architect in Design
During the design phases the architect’s primary role is to create a design that meets the client’s program, budget, and aesthetic requirements. Their role is to also provide alternatives and suggest improvements to the planning and aesthetics of the home as the design progresses.
Additionally, the architect will coordinate with any other design consultants that might be involved in the design of the project, such as soils and structural engineers, mechanical or plumbing engineers, landscape designers, interior designers, etc. This coordination involves making sure all systems and components work together in the design of the house.
During the Contract Documents phase the architect will create the technical drawings and details and the specifications for the projects, working with the client to make sure everything is addressed and understood.
The Role of the Architect in Construction
The primary role of an architect during the construction of the house is to observe the progress of construction to confirm that the intent of the contract documents are generally being met.
The contractor is responsible for ensuring all work is completed to all requirements of the project documents. Since the architect is not the builder and cannot be on site all the time, the architect cannot ensure every little part of the project is being done specifically to the requirements.
The progress of construction determined by the architect will be the basis for any payment applications the contractor will submit to the architect. These applications will be reviewed by the architect, adjusted by the contractor as needed, then reviewed with the Owner for their payment to the contractor.
Researching Architects – What to Look For
When researching architects you should start with searching for professionals in your area. Web searches are a good place to begin, as well as contacting the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for a list of residential architects in the region.
Architects will provide information on their websites about their services and include photos and information on the houses they’ve designed. When looking at their projects online, be sure to look closely to see if the aesthetics and quality of design fit your expectations for your house.
Secondly, research to see if any of the architects’ projects have been published in magazines – printed or online. Magazine articles often have a written narrative about the project which can give more detail than often found on an architect’s website.
Third, you should ask anyone who has worked with any of these architects what their experience was during the project. This might be difficult unless you know someone who has worked with any of them or have connections to people who have worked with any of these firms.
Fourth, contact the state to confirm that the architects you’re considering are currently registered to practice in the state your house will be built. Also check to see if any complaints have been brought to the state regarding their services or if the state has imposed any penalties against the architect or their firm.
Contacting Architects
You can contact architects directly by phone and some will have a means of contact through their website. When contacting them, be sure to tell them a bit about yourself, what type and general size of house you want designed, and that you would like to meet with them.
Since architects understand that residential clients often have full-time jobs, they’ll often be willing to meet with you before or after your work period at their office, and sometimes during the evenings or weekend at your home.
Meeting with Architects – the Questions
An architect is someone you’ll work with closely during the design and construction of your house. You need to be comfortable with their personality and how they communicate with you. Interviewing architects is your opportunity to determine your comfort level.
There are numerous questions you should ask during interviews with each architect.
What’s Your Process?
Programming
Every project must start with an understanding of what you want. Ask the architect what they typically do to determine and document this information.
Some might keep it simple such as a list of rooms and the sizes you’d like, while some might go deeper into finding out what all goes into each room, what special items and features you want, and diagrams of the rooms you want. This information would then be put into a single document to be used as a project guide.
Designing
Discuss with the architect how they go about the design process. Will the architect do the actual design himself, or will they assign a talented design team to create the design? How often will you meet with the architect?
Ask how the design is developed. Do they start with hand sketches first, or will everything be designed in computer?
Ask to see examples from other projects that represent what they provide through each phase of design. Don’t be afraid to ask what the examples represent. Most people have never been around architectural design and so might not understand what they’re looking at.
Ask what their experience is with various types of construction that might benefit your project, even if you don’t know what those would be. There are many options available today for foundation systems, structural systems, enclosure systems, finish systems, and mechanical systems, so understanding their experience with these is beneficial.
Ask how they’ll handle information regarding the materials to be selected for the project. What materials do they typically obtain a physical sample that you can see, hold, and touch? What materials do they provide only product information but not samples?
Do they present these samples and information as part of a material’s board so that you can see everything together, or do they prefer to provide groups of samples on a table so that you can play around with them?
Ask what drawings, materials, and product samples they provide at the end of the schematic design phase and at the end of the design development phase, and ask for examples from other projects. They should walk you through these documents to let you know everything that is provided in each phase. This should include drawings, material samples, product information, and initial drafts of the specifications for the project.
Creating Contract Documents
The contract documents are the most complex of the project documents. The set of drawings consists of numerous sheets of plans, details, and schedules representing all aspects of the project. Be sure to ask for a sample set and have the architect walk you through what the different types of drawings and schedules mean.
In addition to the drawings will be the written specifications. These documents are often bound as a separate book that works in conjunction with the drawing set. However, some architects may incorporate the specifications into the drawing set. Be sure to ask the architect the method they’ll use.
How are Engineering and Other Consultants to be Handled?
There are a lot of things that need to be done in order to design a house. Various consultants are needed or might be required for a project. You should discuss with the architect the typical types of consultants they use, and you should ask for the names of who they typically use so you can do some basic research on them.
You should also ask how these consultants are to be contracted and paid. Some architects might include proposals for the consulting services as part of their proposal, where you would pay the architect and they then pay the consultants. Some might want you contract with and directly pay the consultants, with the architect acting as the coordinator of the team.
The first item to be done is determining the characteristics of the site. Part of this will be a soils analysis to determine the quality of soils, groundwater levels, radon potential, and the options for the foundations. This is provided by a geotechnical engineer, which is typically hired directly by the client.
The property corners will need to be physically located if not already established. This is done by a surveyor which, again, is typically hired by the client.
The residential building codes typically provide the requirements for basic foundation and wood framing designs. However, unique conditions and non-typical systems and designs can require a structural engineer to design components of the house.
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are typically straightforward for most houses, and the final design is often handled via a design-build process. This would entail the architect providing space for these systems in the design, but the final engineering, sizing, and layout of the systems would be handled by the subcontractors for those systems. More complex systems and designs might require design engineers for these systems.
The architect can assist in outlining any requirements needed for consulting services should you need to hire them yourselves.
How are the Design Fees Determined?
Design fees are an important component of the interview process. The fees combined with your comfort level with the architect are the primary things that will drive your selection.
Design fees are typically determined as a percentage of the final construction cost, anywhere from 10 to 20 percent depending on the complexity of the design, regional fee ranges, and the reputation of the architect (a higher design quality reputation will equate to a higher fee number).
Since that won’t be known until the end of construction due to potential design changes and other issues that might arise during construction, the architect might give you a not-to-exceed number billed hourly, adjusted as needed once the final construction costs are tallied.
Some firms might provide a specific fee number for the project rather than a percentage fee. Such a fee would provide you more specific numbers to anticipate. This fee, however, would include some caveats regarding the extents of what the fee will cover and what services would be additional costs to the fee if so requested or required.
Many architects will require a retainer – a portion of the fee paid upfront before they begin their services.
How are Construction Costs Budgeted and Confirmed?
Construction costs are a challenge. The final cost can never be determined until the project is complete. There are many moving parts and influences to construction costs.
At the beginning you’ll have an idea of the type of house you want and its general size and quality level. However, no specific decisions have been made at this point, and therefore no one can tell you specifically how much the project will cost.
You can obtain a general range of per-square-foot costs for the house, but that’s all. Your budget will need to include a substantial contingency number to account for any potential unknowns.
An architect can assist you with the initial range of per-square-foot costs based upon their experience with other projects, and this will be the general basis for the potential fee. You can ask them for the likely range based upon your discussions during the interviews.
During the design of the house the architect should provide updates to the potential construction costs at the end of the schematic design and design development phases.
These numbers might come from the architect’s experience. The architect may also have a contractor they have a good relationship with provide updated budget numbers with the understanding that they’ll get to bid on the project. A small fee might also be required for the contractor.
You and the architect might also select a contractor to build the project prior to the design being complete, with which they would provide likely cost numbers at the end of each phase. This contractor would be selected by a cost-plus arrangement where the contractor will provide a specific fee number for the project to cover their costs and then the final costs of materials and subcontractors are added to the fee once they’re known.
You or the architect could also hire an outside cost consultant to provide those numbers, but this is more typical of commercial and institutional projects.
The actual cost for construction will come from the bidding process based on the contract documents. However, several factors could increase that cost, such as design changes during construction, unexpected issues, and various other items.
Be sure to discuss with the architect the process they provide or recommend.
What Alternatives are Available to the Basic Services?
A few alternatives are available to the basic services of an architect.
If you’ve done the initial planning of the house, where you’ve drawn the rooms laid out how you want them, then the architect could provide a reduced schematic design fee.
You might hire the architect for the initial design and design development drawings, then hire a contractor to complete the documents and build the house.
If you want to design the house yourself from start to finish, you might hire an architect to occasionally overlook your drawings to see if there are any issues you should address.
What Type of Contract is Used?
Most architects will use a standard agreement established by the AIA. The architect will draft the agreement which you’ll then review with your legal representative before executing it.
The AIA agreement is an “industry standard” and has been used for many decades. It’s considered to be well-balanced between the architect and the owner. It’s been thoroughly vetted through the decades by its use on projects and its review by the courts of law.
Using a non-standard agreement drafted by your legal representative isn’t recommended since they typically don’t have experience in the realm of architecture services and agreements.
What’s the Time Frame for Design?
Be sure to discuss the number of weeks the architect would anticipate for each phase for the design of the house and the creation of the contract documents. They can also provide a likely time frame for construction.
An example would be 4 weeks for Schematic Design, 6 weeks for Design Development, and 8 Weeks for contract documents, with another 50 to 60 weeks for construction. However, this will vary by architect and the complexity of the design.
What is the Time Frame for Bidding?
Ask the architect about their process for bidding the project, including the anticipated time for distributing documents to the contractors, the time they’ll have to pull together the numbers and their proposals, and how long you’ll have to review the numbers before making a selection.
This could take three to four weeks depending on the size and complexity of the house and the status of the local market – a busy market might require longer for the contractors to be able to pull together numbers due to their being busy on many projects.
What’s the Time Frame for Permitting?
Obtaining permits can be simple to complex depending on the jurisdiction. Larger communities and cities will require longer review period by the building departments due to the complexity and impact of building in such areas. The architect will have a good understanding of what this effort will take.
What’s the Time Frame for Construction?
This is another important issue for you. The time frame will vary depending on the size and complexity of the house and can be impacted by the state of the local construction market – the busier the market the longer it might take.
The architect will have a good understanding of what the current construction time frames are.
Visiting an Architect’s Projects & Getting References
In addition to interviews, you should ask the architect to take you on a tour of a couple of their projects in the area. This will give you a sense of the quality of their design abilities and the quality of the detailing in the design.
You should also ask for references of past clients so that you can get a sense of how effectively the architect works with clients and an idea of any issues to consider.
Getting and Reviewing Proposals
Once you’ve finished your interviews and toured the projects of your potential candidates, you’ll want to request written proposals from them. These proposals should include:
- a written statement of their understanding of the project
- the services and documents they’ll provide as part of the contract
- their fee structure and how it’ll be determined
- the phases and their likely time periods
- any retainer payment that’s required
- when payments will be due
- the design services contract to be used
- the professional design insurance that they carry
- confirmation that they’re currently licensed to practice in the state you’ll be building the house.
- any exclusions or clarifications to the services and fees.
Once you’ve received the proposals you should take no more than a week to review before making a decision. Be sure to contact the architects for any questions you have or clarifications you need to make sure each architect is covering the same scope of work that you want.
Contracting with Your Architect
Once you’ve selected the architect you’ll need them to quickly create a draft of the contract. You can have them start the design before completion of the contract if you provide written permission to proceed and any retainer they might require. However, it’s typically best to have the contract fully executed by both parties before proceeding with the services.
Another Resource
Be sure to visit the AIA online to obtain more information on professional services and the process of design and construction. The AIA consists of a national chapter along with local and state chapters. The local and state chapters can be obtained from the main AIA website.
PHOTO CREDITS
Top: Negative Space
The Services an Architect Can Provide – Schematic Design: Cayl Hollis, courtesy Tilton, Kelly + Bell
The Services an Architect Can Provide – Contract Documents: Cayl Hollis
The Services an Architect Can Provide – Contract Administration: Jaksmata, Wikimedia Commons: www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
Researching Architects – What to Look For: Fauxels
Meeting with Architects – the Questions: Pixabay
How are the Design Fees Determined?: U.S. Treasury
What Type of Contract is Used?: Pixabay
Visiting an Architect’s Projects & Getting References: Cayl Hollis
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