Working with an architect on your custom home design is a two-way street. While it is important that you have a list of questions to ask your architect, it is equally important to focus on what questions he or she asks you. A little advanced preparation on your part can go a long way. So, think about what you are trying to accomplish and the level of service you seek.
Designing and building a home is a very personal experience, and how your personality meshes with that of your architects will ultimately determine your comfort level throughout the project. Large projects, like a custom home design process, may take over six months and the build process will likely take over a year. A good relationship with your architect will make that time feel easier, positively affect your ability to communicate, and lead to better outcomes. Here’s how to start your custom home architect search:
What to Consider in Your Search for a Home Architect
As you begin searching for architects and reviewing websites and portfolios, keep these factors in mind:
References
Personal references are always helpful — beginning your search by talking to those close to you will put you on a path to success. However, it’s not always realistic to choose the same architect your friends have used. Turning to Google is helpful, but in this age of SEO and AI, understanding your search results is also helpful. Scan results with a discerning eye to ensure you find the right potential partners.
When viewing your potential architect’s work, think about whether their style, or styles, mesh with your taste. Some architects come with a distinct style, while others focus on designing homes that reflect the owners. Consider whether the quality depicted represents the fit and finish you desire. Do you feel that your architect has a depth of experience in the luxury space and has appropriate hands-on experience to better understand the built environment?
Preparation
Before you begin conversations, put some thought into your expected construction budget. This includes the scope of your desired work as well, which an architect will help you define. Construction costs vary greatly based on not just the size of the house, but the challenges of the building site, and the quality of the finishes in the house. Projects can quickly spiral beyond your budget without paying attention to all three categories.
Perhaps even more important than your budget is whether or not you have a building site. If not, the design exercise will be purely theoretical, and we cannot connect the house with the ground on which it sits.
Your Desired Level of Service
The services your architect provides can vary from a basic builder’s set of drawings, where you and the builder make all the selections and deal with field issues, to a concierge end-to-end experience where your architect is involved from day zero through the completion of construction when you move into the home. Do you want a comprehensive partner? Or would you prefer to take a more hands-on approach? This will also inform the type of architect you choose to partner with.
Thinking through these items will help you search with intention. Once you’ve begun your search and narrowed down a list of custom home architects to contact, here are the questions you should ask.
Questions to Ask for the Best Custom Home Building Process
1. How do you work with clients to define the precise scope of your project?
The precise scope of your project is known as architectural programming — and it’s important to be on the same page about this from the start. You and your architect should have a discussion about how you intend to use the house and what spaces, both inside and outside, you feel you want. This is a time-consuming process but it leads to a much clearer design solution. When asking this question, make sure you feel listened to and comfortable with the process as the architect describes it.
2. Are you familiar with my location and my local market?
Before your first engagement, think about the architect’s experience in designing luxury homes, their familiarity with the market and or location in which you plan to build your house, and how you want to use the house. Building science can vary greatly with location. The architect’s understanding of local building practices goes a long way toward achieving ideal results with a smooth and easy process.
3. How do you collaborate with other professionals?
The traditional process in creating a custom home is to hire an architect, complete the design and construction documents, send the drawings out to bid, and then select a build team. This is how it’s been done for many years, and while it works, there are more innovative and efficient methods.
A more effective way to work on highly-customized projects like your dream home is to hire an architect who engages the build team and other professionals early in the design process and collaborates with them throughout. Though there is no contractual relationship between the architect and the builder, and they both work for you, this helps build trust and leads to a stronger rapport. By engaging the build team early, we can connect the theoretical drawings with the physical built environment, and work together to perfectly align our respective efforts. More importantly, when field issues arise, we have already established a collaborative approach to addressing them.
4. How do you determine your fee?
Traditionally, there’s an association of the cost of construction with the architectural fee. Most residential architects will charge between 5% and 10% of the overall construction cost, not including the land cost.
However, the cost should vary with the scope of work. There are several factors that affect the scope of professional service: the size of the house, fit and finish, site conditions, and possible outbuildings. Additionally, the number of revisions, changes, and adjustments throughout the process will also alter the cost. Finally, the level of service you expect will dictate the fee. Because concierge process involves a much higher degree of interaction with the client and the builder than simply handing off a set of architectural drawings, it can have a higher initial cost. However, it makes for a more efficient process and higher client satisfaction.
What You Should Expect from Your Custom Home Architect:
Your architect will have a playbook of how he or she approached pre-design through post-construction. You should expect detailed questions to help you surface your wants and needs.
In an initial discussion expect high-level questions about your vision: the quantity of spaces, the quality of construction, and how you intend to use the home. For example, is it your main residence or is it a vacation home? How do you like to live and entertain?
In follow-up meetings expect a deeper dive into your future home: like room count and usage, adjacencies, aesthetics, outdoor spaces, and garage bay count. With a custom home design, there are endless details to be discussed. Your architect should have a solid process for developing the detailed program.
In this discussion, think about any very unique items that will make this your forever home. For example, one of my clients insisted that the main stairs come down into the family room so that she could engage with her children when they came home after being out with their friends. Conversely, I had another client who wanted their kitchen separated from the house because someone else prepared all their meals and they didn’t want the smell or noise from the kitchen to interrupt their socializing.
Finally, expect to discuss the overall schedule. Large homes take months to design, and sometimes years to build. It’s important to remember: slow is fast. That means spending time at the beginning to discover all your requirements, identify and collaborate with the build team and other professionals, and prepare a thorough construction document package will lead to a smooth client experience.
Enjoy a Successful Process for Your Custom Home Design
Building a custom home with the right partner is a rewarding process that should be full of excitement. To learn more about our process for building custom homes, get in touch. We’d be happy to discuss your vision and goals and answer your questions about the build process.
