Hiring an architect is worthless!

Would you like to build your dream house?

The easiest way is to find the builder that will make it so, fast and economical. Why should you spend more money having an architecture project, when this could be used into other things? A Project isn´t the built by itself, so why not spend the funds directly into what we´re really going to use?

By hiring directly the building contractor, we bypass the project phase and all those project expenses on architecture, usually around 5% of the build, so applying the same formula, let´s also do without all the technical expertise, who needs engineers, any good contractor assumes this technical rolls into himself taking action and solving any problems on site…

Making do without a project and all this bureaucracy, building can take place immediately, if not legally. But who cares about those things, if you don´t mind let´s worry about that later on.

But suddenly, we have some unexpected problems:

We find out the property isn´t all level after all, and now one of the room is below ground. So to solve this, the contractor decides to build taller foundations, this implies having some stairs so we can enter our home, which is now looking like is sitting on a pedestal. Could this situation be avoided, saving money and time?

The sewer piping from the upper floor bathroom is protruding from the living room ceiling! Last second solution, having this pipe take more turns making it longer and lowering the ceiling to hide the problem. The living room is now feeling a bit claustrophobic, the ceiling being so low, but there´s no turning back now!

The bathroom sinks and fixtures were moved from their original places, the toilet is now where the sink was. The contractor justifies this by saying he thought about it and decided it looks much better this way. Will you agree with him or are you making him put it back as before? Who pays for the different pluming and all this modifications?

Entering your room, you notice the wall sockets for the lamps on the bedside tables are on the wrong side of the room, opposed to where you intended to have your bed. You never really ended up talking to contractor about this, and neither have you seen any electrical project for your home…

Those lovely sunny afternoons you dreamt of having in your living room, look like they don´t exist, your living room was cold and damp all winter. Your living room is facing north and so you end up instead reusing that small room on the other side of the house, which has great lighting and those energizing sun beams that feel so good during winter.

This house you invested so much having built may not beyour dream home after all!

And when you decide to sell, will it still have the market value you had imagined?

Probably after all this, you end up thinking:

“What if I had hired an Architect?”

An Architect will probably start by doing a detail analysis of the site and its surroundings, the local climate, all topographic characteristics of the terrain and feasibility of the desired build, helping you decide what can work on your land, giving shape to your ideas according to what you want and can really be built. Your house will certainly be integrated into the landscape, without the need for unexpected stairs to work out unevenness in the terrain or other unexpected surprises. The Architect will advise you on having the best solar exposure, door and window locations and other important questions on how to get the best from your home, making it cozy for you.

And will the Architect be the one taking all this decisions?

Important decisions are yours and what is important is having your dream home come true! The Architect role is to advise and manage, using his experience. Having an initial exchange of ideas, will enable the production of a preliminary study, defining the characteristics of each space, so it is in accordance with your expectations.

During this phase, the Architect will be able to produce some 3D visualizations and/or virtual integrations into the landscape, so that the client can have a better idea of the real look of his House.

After all the options have been taking into account, and reaching a final solution for the concept, the Architect will start the licensing phase that will be approved by competent the legal entities, and transferring full responsibility to the technical authors of the project. So, you will have full certainty your project will comply with all legal requirements, with the advantage of having a legal build, according to the plan, avoiding any nasty surprises and big problems.

The Architect has the role of managing and coordinating the project, making sure all the different technical specialties and expertise are compatible: building systems and design structural, water and sewer systems, thermal, acoustics, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, and electrical systems. All technical engineers will take part in the project creation, discussing with the client all personal preferences so that your home will be according to your daily routines, the best possible solution.

All electrical fixtures and equipment will be studied and designed by a specialized technician, with the client participation informing all his needs and preferences, like furniture placement and his daily routines. With the water and sewer project, you will have the guarantee that you will not have unexpected piping on the sealing or less water taps than and where needed. The telecommunications and infrastructure technician will respect your inputs and reach a viable working solution, so that no unnecessary wiring will be seen in your home, and focusing all technical wiring into an enclosed technical rack. In the end, all technical specialties will allow errors and inconsistencies reaching a solution during the project phase and better economy for building resources.

The execution/ implementation project is another very important phase, where each detail will be developed and detailed, identifying each material and finishing so that the project can be understood and respected the way it was thought and intended, and the final build be as expected. This detailing and planning has the advantage of enabling the client access to the final cost estimate for the build, avoiding nasty future surprises.

During the building phase, who coordinates?

The client can empower the task and responsibility of attendance to the build phase to the Architect that, based upon his knowledge of the project, has the obligation and responsibility of making the client demands be met. If no legal accountable is present, all penal sanctions will fall on the owner that can even be called upon to answer before the law.

The contactor will not be able, ever, without written authorization from the Architect or the client, to change anything in the project. The build will have to fully respect the project in it´s whole, without any undesired changes.

An adequate planning and optimizing of the building phase, will enable saving on material and man-hours, having a determinant role minimizing construction scheduling and time-lines.

If you are pleased with having saved one month during the project approval, going on with an illegal build, now, taking into account all problems and unforeseen situations this build brings, you shall notice that all this during the execution of the build will sum up to a much larger delay than the original month saved. One month lost with bureaucracies, can bring on one year of money and time saved during the building phase!

Architecture is a service, building and art. The art, the construction aesthetics will be an asset from whom specialized on this thematic, the Architect. The building quality will reflect on the market, making the building market value increase.

Are you still thinking on the 5% more you have to pay for the architecture project?!

Comparing the cost of hiring a competent professional to the total cost of the build, we verify that this represents only a small fraction considering the benefits, and enabling a much better investment.

Architecture isn’t financially unreachable, because when taking into account all this, it is central to the construction and money invested into it represents a small fee in the global cost, allowing better and more effective results. Especially so when nowadays prices are much more competitive.

In truth, many times we take the easier route that at first look seems more efficient, and only later on we reflect and understand this isn´t always, if ever, the best way.

So it will weight on your conscience, the answer to the question:

“Is it worth hiring an Architect?”