When should you hire a Residential Architect?
Eric Rodrigues, OAA, LEED AP BD+C, CAHP
Hiring an architect is one of the best decisions you can make. If you are planning on building a new home or renovating an existing one, you should hire one. But are all Architects the same?
In this article, I will help you determine when and if you should hire a residential architect.
Specialist vs Generalist
Architects are alike other professionals, such as doctors, accountants, or lawyers. An architect must go through extensive education, licensing, and practice before they can offer services to the public.
In general, a licensed architect will provide services in a variety of building types and scales, with the necessary standard of care. The same applies to general practitioners in other fields such as family doctors, generalist lawyers, accountants, etc.
A specialist is a professional that you engage when the matter is of utmost importance, and there is risk involved.
Let’s say you required spinal surgery, would you rather have the general practitioner or the specialist at the operating table? You get the picture.
Determining if you need a specialist is an important step when selecting an architectural firm to help you with your project.
Advantages of hiring a Residential Architect Specialist
The Wealth of Experience
We all agree that designing a 40-story office tower has a different set of challenges when compared to designing a single-family home. However, residential architecture is developed with very particular complexities, including construction and structural systems, legal framework, approval processes, and construction costs.
It’s critical to go through the process of building a residential project multiple times to be able to confidently say that you are a specialist.
Advantages of Repetition (Practice makes Perfect)
Although every project is unique, there are advantages to hiring a specialist that works on your project type every day. A specialist residential architect will be able to quickly solve design challenges and obtain answers faster than a generalist. They know exactly where and what to look for. Chances are, the same problem happened to them in a similar project as yours.
Foreseeing Issues (Two, or three steps ahead)
A seasoned residential architect will make design decisions that not only address the design goals of their clients but reduce construction costs and timelines. They have the ability to foresee issues based on their professional experience.
We all know at least one horror story related to someone that started a construction project. Either the project cost twice as much as they could afford, or lasted twice as much as they anticipated. You will avoid these issues when your design team has the experience to think ahead and keep you out of trouble.
Network of Professionals and Suppliers
One of the great advantages of hiring a specialist is having access to their network of pre-qualified and recommended professionals.
We all know how long it takes to find and source the right professionals for your construction project. Do you want to risk investing your life savings in someone local you found on Yelp? Sounds like an unnecessary risk to me.
If it’s someone that your Architect trusts and recommends, you feel at ease and know you’re dealing with qualified professionals.
Understanding Costs and Budgets
Residential construction costs are completely different from commercial construction. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic effect, it’s challenging to keep track of price escalation.
Hiring a residential specialist architect will reduce the risk of your project going over budget as they have direct access to the residential construction market and a deep understanding of pricing. A specialist architect will also ask for your budget very early on in the process. This ensures you have a realistic expectation of what you can build, and can afford.
Guided Permitting and Approvals
Residential construction projects may have to go through a variety of approval processes. Beyond the typical building permit application, some of the most common are:
- Heritage Approvals
- Conservation Authority Approvals
- Committee of Adjustment and Rezoning
Each building type has its own set of special approvals. If the design team is not familiar with the processes, you might experience some delays along the way.
Conclusion
I would like to start by congratulating you. As an informed homeowner, you’re making the great decision of hiring an architect. You will be dealing with a professional that has the right skills and sincerely cares about your project. You are already ahead of the curve.
Like any other highly technical profession, there is a critical need to specialize due to the complexity of an ever-evolving industry. To specialize, you need daily dedication, research, and commitment. The sole purpose of this article was to highlight the advantages of selecting a specialized architectural professional.
I hope this article has helped you with your planning. If you have questions, book a free 30-minutes Discovery Session with Boldera Architecture. This will unlock the full potential of your project and help you develop a quick action plan. My goal is to help you develop successful projects.
