Do You Need An Architect To Remodel Your Home?

When Do you Need An Architect for Your Remodel?

Do you need to hire an architect for your remodel? If you do a little research online, you’ll find a host of opinions about whether or not an architect is necessary to the success of your project or just an added expense.

Whether or not you need an architect depends on the scope of your project. A good rule of thumb is: if you’re doing a large addition or building a home, you need an architect. If you’re doing an interior remodel or a small addition, you probably don’t.

A more crucial question might be whether or not your architect, your designer, and your builder can work well together. For your project to be successful, you want as much collaboration as you can get! This is why the design-build model of project delivery is better choice. 

Three Roles in Remodeling

There are three important roles on a remodeling team: Structural design, interior design and construction. Simpler project will not need all 3 components but more complex ones will. 

Structural design is done by Architects, Architectural draftsman and engineers.

Interior design is done by interior designers and/or kitchen and bath designers. 

Construction is of course done by a licensed contractor. The contractor takes the designs and turns them into reality and ideally they take responsibilty for coordinating everything although many contractors do not. 

When You Need An Architect?

People often wonder where to start when planning their project… with a designer or with a contractor… and in truth it can be tricky.

Designers and Architects do not price projects. They only create the designs. An most contractors do not provide design services. A lot of contractors will not price a project unitl you get a design done. 

But spending thousands of dollars on a designer before you know how much it might cost can be a waste of time and money. 

This is where hiring a design build firm like McManus Kitchen and Bath is helpful. Because we have experienced designers on staff we create 3D concept drawing and good better best budget as part of every consult. 

Architects vs Draftsman

These days architects are not used as much in residential construction, even though they can provide some real benefits.

A lot of contractors, even “custom” home builders are building off of pre-made plans and hiring architectural draftsman to modify them.

Architectural draftsman are people with training in structural design and building code but they are not licensed architects.

Working with an architectural draftsman can save money but you also lose opportunity to create something really unique. 

When you don’t need an architect

• For simpler projects, like remodeling a kitchen without removing any walls you really just need  a designer and a contractor.
• For an interior remodel where you want to remove walls you will need a designer, contractor and engineer. Though usually the contractor will hire the engineer for you. 
• For simple additions you could use an architect or an architectural draftsman. Especailly if the addition won’t be seen from the street. 

When You Should Consider An Architect

Anytime you have challenging site conditions, complex designs or unique problems to solves on an addition project an Architect can be invaluable.

There are some very talented architectural draftsman in town but they do not get the years of training and study that Architects do. When you are looking for maximum creativity or something unique a architect is the way to do. 

While Architects are great at structural design they don’t receive as much training in interior design so you really need both. 

Coordinating The Architects, Enginners, Designers and Contractors

Where they process gets tricky is in coordinating all the different elements of a project. In general, designers and architects do not manage projects or provide costs. They see their role and creating thedrawings and then handing them off.

Better designers and architects will play some role in project management but even then it is limited and they often lack the contruction expertise to run the project effectively .

So you need your contractor to do the coordinating. Unfortunately a lot of contractors don’t get involved in the design process. They see thier role and getting completed deisgns and then just building the project.

On paper this makes sense but in reality there needs to be a lot of back and forth between the design team and the contractor in both the design process and the construction process.

When hiring your project team make sure to discuss how coordination is done. If your contractor does not seem to have a good process in place then consider hiring a project coordinator on your own.

Our Design-Build Remodeling Process

Our process is different from other remodeling companies–in just the right ways. It ensures you don’t go over budget or have major delays, and it alleviates much of the stress of remodeling because you know what to expect and you’re part of the planning.

Estimate

It starts with a discovery call. This is when you talk to us about your plans and dreams for your remodel or addition. 

Then we schedule a home visit where we discuss your ideas and take a 3D digital scan of your home to get accurate measurements.

We create a detailed a 3D rendering and  ‘good better best’ estimate for your project and review them together in our showroom so you can ask questions, look at actual material samples and adjust the budget and design to your needs.

This not only helps us create the most realistic estimates in Tallahassee but it also means you fully understand your options and costs and can make an informed decision about moving forward.

Design

Once you approve your budget our designers will visit your home.

For most kitchen and bath projects our designers take care of everything. For additions we will hire an architect or architectural draftsman to be part of the project and invite them to the home visit as well.

We manage and coordinate the design process from start to finish and help you select all your materials and fixtures.

We will have 2-4 design meetings in our showroom to finalize all the details, bid the work and create a fixed price proposal for you. 

Construction

After design is complete we order all your materials and store them in our warehouse.

We also create a detailed project schedule and share it with you through our online project portal. 

About 3 weeks before the project starts your project manager will schedule a ‘pre-consturction meeting’ to review job site set up and review project details.

Your project manager coodinates the entire project from start to finish and sends daily updates to keep you informed.

After the project is complete we follow up after 6 months to make sure everything is working as expected.  We continue to follow up annually after that. All our workmanship is warranted for five years.