Why hire Home Architects is about why you might want to consider engaging the HOME ARCHITECTS ® company to design your next residential project.
1. ALL ARCHITECTS ARE NOT THE SAME.
HOME ARCHITECTS ® IS BETTER
You will swiftly discover this. We believe you will realize, after reading below, why the HA firm is better for your project, because it has better qualifications and does a better job.
2. EDUCATION AT ACCREDITED AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE
Not all Architects went to the same university. There are hundreds of universities around the world where they may have attended. Is your project in the USA? Do you tend to favor American schools of architecture? If so, you may wish to focus on those Architects who attended and successfully graduated from one of those.
Home Architects ® Senior Staff Architect attended one of the largest and best Universities in the SE USA (U of F) and its Graduate School of Design, which is one of the toughest schools of architecture in the world, with a 3.9 GPA (out of 4.0). He took the Architectural Design courses as his major, the most difficult and demanding in the department. He was awarded 2 degrees: a Bachelor in Architectural Design (with honors), and a Master of Arts in Architecture.
3. LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE, AND IN RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE
Not all Architects are the same age and those with more experience with more projects tend to be more mature. That comes with the territory for any profession. The Senior Architect at HA has decades of experience in architecture, with a focus on residential design.
Not all have a specialization in residential architecture. If you were going to have a heart operation, you would want a cardiac surgeon, wouldn’t you? Not someone who sets bones as their main focus. Same thing with architecture: buildings are incredibly complicated things and houses are the most complex type of architectural project on the planet. More is going on in and around a house per square foot than any other building type. Having someone who specializes in residential architecture makes sense, don’t you think?
So: you really don’t want someone who designs 7-11s, Office Buildings, or University buildings, or other unrelated project types, designing your house, do you?
Let’s think about just the above points for a moment:
1. All Architects are not the same.
2. American university educated (with architecture degree) at an accredited school of architecture.
2. Experience: mature Architect that has decades of knowledge and wisdom.
3. Architect who mainly focuses on residential architecture.
And that’s just for starters. Let’s continue:
4. LEVEL OF DETAIL MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE
Not all housing Architects (and especially unlicensed “residential designers”) believe in the same level of detail. You should want and demand a very detailed set of construction documents, signed and sealed by the Licensed Architect who designed and detailed your house.
Why: Can you spell: C-H-A-N-G-E O-R-D-E-R ? Change Order. That’s when your Contractor will unexpectedly charge you more: tens of thousands of dollars (and more), multiple times, because your documents were ill-prepared and without the necessary detail to properly communicate what it was you wanted in the project. If your Builder has to guess, that’s a sign of an inadequate set of documents.
And if your Contractor guesses differently than you (and they will), and you then say to him/her: “but I thought that the ceilings were going to be wood planking! That’s what you have to put it for me.”
And then the Builder replies: “Well, you may have THOUGHT that, but the documents upon which I made my bid didn’t have a Finish Schedule, so I automatically thought: ‘white painted drywall’. Look: if it ain’t in the documents, you ain’t getting it for the amount we bid. We aren’t Santa Claus. I got to feed my family and my crew, so I’m not going to be giving away things to you, just because your Architect didn’t prepare a set of documents that adequately defined what it was you wanted.”
Welcome to Change Order #1. Or #2, #3, or #25. This happens everyday. You either pay your Architect to create a detailed set of documents or you pay many more times that amount, later, during construction, to compensate your Builder for all of the things that weren’t defined in the documents.
THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES YOU OBTAIN FROM HOME ARCHITECTS ®:
Detailed Documents.
This company prides itself as being one of the most detail oriented residential architectural companies in the world. More sheets of drawings, and many at larger scales, to make sure that Builders can see what it is they are expected to provide.
Depending on the services you contracted to receive from your Architect, for every $1 you pay your Architect, you may end up paying your Contractor perhaps another $12.50 to build it. Your Architect is therefore one of the best values in your residential project. Good design, planning and detailing, will mean that the likelihood of your Contractor delivering a better house to you will be much higher. One that is has the beauty, durability, energy efficiency and healthy characteristics that you wanted. And your construction will proceed much more smoothly.
Have you heard about other people who had a nightmare with their construction? That was probably in part due to inadequately detailed construction documents, created by someone who was not a Licensed Architect who calls themselves a “designer”. Contractors have a nose that can smell potential change orders from a mile away (or months away). It is quite common for Builders to take inadequately detailed projects for a low price in the beginning, Knowing that they will be able to obtain expensive change orders later, to provide what you really want. The end result: you may easily end up paying much more for your project than you would have, if the Contractor had based his competitive bid on proper documents. Once he/she “has you” as their exclusive customer, and the project is underway, you are at their mercy, unless you have detailed documents. This is where just one of the strengths of the HA firm will be realized by you.
Good design and detailed documents help prevents unexpected change orders.
5. EXCELLENT DESIGN QUALITY, AWARD WINNING COMPANY
Once again: not all Architects are the same. You cannot expect someone who designs military compounds for the government, or automotive repair centers, to understand how to properly design a quality residence, or perhaps even a well-designed mountain style house. No one is capable of learning all the techniques, details, specifications, residential codes and aesthetics inherent in residential design, if they instead create commercial architecture. It is very different. Sort of like asking an Attorney who litigates tax issues for large Wall Street companies to represent you in a DUI case. Not the same skillset. It’s the same with Architects: you need the right person for the specific job. So if you want a nice house design, hire an Architect who specializes in residential design.
HOME ARCHITECTS ® is an award winning architectural firm, and this includes specifically for quality residential designs. In 2016, this company won the coveted ArCHdes™ Design Award of Excellence for a project they designed in Sevierville, Tennessee, USA. The project is beautiful, and orients large glass areas to 50 mile views, at what feels like the top of the world. So: obtaining a beautiful house is no accident. It takes great artistic skill. Has your Architect earned awards from ArCH (Architects Creating Homes), the global preeminent society of Licensed residential Architects in the world, headquartered in the USA? The HA firm has and is also a long-term member of this knowledgeable organization.
6. DURABILITY
Have you seen neighbors (or yourself) having to make repairs on houses because components are rotting, leaking, growing mold, making their family sick, or even falling down? Who is responsible for such things? Financially: you guessed it: you are. It is important that your huge investment in your next house project is properly designed, detailed and specified by a Licensed residential Architect who specializes in the design of houses. This one factor can be what allows your roof, insulation, structure, windows, doors, finishes and many other features to last longer and perform better. This can mean big money stays in your bank account, after your construction, rather than continuously needed to be used to maintain your house. To have better performance, you need a better design and better construction documents. That’s where the HA firm can help you: they prepare better designs and better documents than just about any other Architect on the planet, for single family residential architecture. Arrange a meeting with them and ask them to prove this. They would be happy to show you a set of drawings that is the best you’ve ever seen for a house.
7. NATIONAL RECOGNITION FROM CONTRACTORS
HA’s Senior Staff Architect was asked by the Washington, D.C. main office for the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) to make a presentation about an important subject at the national NAHB conference in Asheville, NC.
“Aging in Place: Accessible Friendly Residential Architecture.”
That presentation will be attended by licensed General Contractors from all over the USA. These sorts of honors and responsibilities do not happen without good cause. For the national association of the Builders who construct your house to ask this architectural firm to provide a seminar means that this firm knows what they are doing and is trusted by those that build housing across the USA, to help educate them about good construction and good design. That’s the kind of expertise and trust you need designing your next house.
8. VALUE
The fees your Architect earns will likely be paid back, over the life of your house, in the form of reduced energy bills. And this is only one aspect. The reduced maintenance, possible higher resale value, smoother construction, and other characteristics ought to insure that your investment is a good one.
9. THIS ARCHITECTURAL FIRM LITERALLY WRITES THE BOOKS ABOUT RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE
Check it out here: BOOKSTORE
There, in the HA Bookstore, you will find multiple e-books, written for people, just like you, who want to learn more about residential architecture, Contractors, Architects, Home Planning, the Design Process, and more. The fact that this firm WROTE all those books means that they know more about these subjects than other firms that did not. Is your Architect not only designing good architecture, but also is an author about that subject? The HA firm is.
10. THE TOP ARCHITECT IN THE COMPANY WILL DESIGN, DETAIL, SPECIFY AND MANAGE YOUR PROJECT, NOT SOME DRAFTSMAN
Ask whomever you are considering using to design your project if the person with all the degrees, design awards and experience will actually be the person who will be designing, detailing, specifying and managing your project. You’re going to be surprised. Usually the larger the company, the less likely the most experienced personnel you’re going to have doing your project. Smaller companies are the best to design your house. Why: you’re going to have a greater chance that the top dog will be your Architect. Why is this important? Because younger, less experienced people trying to design and detail a residential project will make mistakes. Plain and simple. And the younger they are and less experience they have, the bigger those mistakes will be. Who pays for those mistakes. Regardless of what you might think: you. In the long run, if not earlier.
You want the most experienced person in the company designing and managing your project. Why: they make less mistakes and do a better job. So ask if the best person in the entire company will be doing your job. And if they say “Yes,” then tell them that you’re going to be calling and emailing that person all through the project, right? If you then hear hemming and hawing, they told you a fib: someone else will be managing your project, and likely doing most of the work on it.
This is not the case with the HA firm: the Senior Staff Architect will personally manage and design the project. You will get the best person doing your job. And that’s what you want, isn’t it?
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