4th Question to ask your architect BEFORE hiring them
Kua Bay Residence by Walker Warner Architects - Photography ©DouglasFriedman
Introduction
This is the fourth of five blog posts covering key questions clients should ask the architects they are interviewing. It is the result of many conversations we’ve had with clients who were partway through a project with a different architect or home designer but were unhappy or unsure of what’s happened so far and then reached out to us for guidance. If these questions had been asked during the interview process, these clients would've avoided a lot of headaches, stress, and wasted money and time.
Read the first question here.
#4
What will they deliver throughout the project?
The fourth question clients should ask is what deliverables will the architect will provide throughout the project. This simple question can save clients a lot of trouble and confusion.
Design Documents
There are some architects who only provide 2D orthographic project drawings (floor plans and elevations) and no 3D imagery. This is a bit ridiculous. There’s no reason an architect shouldn’t be able to provide 3d views of a project, especially with the tools that are available today. 3D views are beneficial for clients, who may not be able to read floor plans, and they are also beneficial for the architect while designing. Equally, clients should be given furniture plans. Designing a room without showing, at least approximately, how the furniture can be laid out, is nonsensical. Below is the basic design deliverables clients should expect from their architect.
Plans (site plan, roof plan floor plan, furniture plan): Will they be drawn to scale, dimensioned, sketched by hand, show material and color?
Elevations (exterior and interior): Will they include colors, millwork, details, materials?
Material Selections: Will they collect samples?
3D Images (3D drawings of the exterior and interior): Will they be hand drawn, abstract, computer-generated, or photorealistic?
Construction Documents
Construction Documents are much harder to qualify since clients usually don’t know how to read them but clients should know that there is a range of quality and not all CDs are equally good/valuable. We have seen a lot of different types of construction documents produced by many different types of architects. Some CDs are so poor, they barely pass for Schematic Design drawings.
Generally, CDs include: site plan, demolition plans, floor plans, roof plans, finish plans, building and interior elevations, building and wall sections, reflected ceiling plans, mechanical, electrical and structural drawings, millwork details, building details; lighting, plumbing, and finish schedule
One shortcut would be to ask a good contractor if the construction documents are good ones or not since they are the ones who will be reading them. They will be the first to say if it's not clear or it's lacking information or detail.
Summary
In summary, knowing if the CDs will be good may be difficult, but clients should at least know very clearly what the house (exteriors and interiors) will look like during the design phase (before CDs and construction). Fixing or changing the design during construction—or even during construction documents—is costly. If an architect produces high-quality design documents, there’s a better chance the CDs will also be good.