Appliance Selection Service is just one of the many optional services Clients can choose with HOME ARCHITECTS ®.
Appliance Selection Service is where the Architect helps Clients find the right appliances for their house project. Often this involves the Architect accompanying the Client to a large appliance showroom wholesaler.
This architectural firm offers this service, because all of the choices can be overwhelming to a new owner of a house, especially while the house is still under construction. This Architect uses a combination of online research, electronic catalogs and appliance showroom specialists to discover the most appropriate choices for each project.
Colors, materials and finishes are often driving selection factors, along with cost and functional features.
Sometimes, national chains like Lowes and Home Depot are able to compete well for some appliances. In other words: the big box commercial outlets can sometimes have lower prices than the wholesale appliances centers. This can vary.
So: this particular architectural firm creates a spreadsheet (see image above) with JPG images of each appliance, make and model numbers, source for purchasing and price. This allows a comprehensive method of pulling it all together. This helps bring organization to the chaos. Clients appreciate this guiding hand throughout the process.
There can be a bewildering variety of features, prices and other characteristics than can and do confuse most lay people, trying to make selections for their residential projects, whether it is for a kitchen renovation or a new house. Many people don’t know the difference between a built-in Microwave Oven, an over-the-range MicroWave Oven and a countertop MicroWave Oven. Buying one type, where they intended for it to be used in another type of application can be a disaster on the jobsite when the owner plunks down the wrong type of appliance for the Contractor to install. That becomes a “showstopper”, where nothing can be done until the owner takes a loss on the wrong type of appliance they bought, then pays to obtain a new one of the correct installation type. Expensive lessons to be learned, and exactly one of the reasons why an owner may want to pay their Architect to provide an appliance selection service for them. The money an owner might otherwise waste on improper appliance purchases (which are usually a total waste, as you can’t usually return those, after paying for them and having them delivered to the project), could have been used to pay an Architect to do it right the first time.
Also, the Architect can provide an optional service for Cabinetry Elevation design, wherein they design the cabinets, including the utility connections for electricity, gas & water, not to mention the electrical outlets above and below the counter and task lighting, and wall switches, integrated with the layout in three dimensions.
Keeping track of the utility connections, especially when Clients or manufacturers change appliance make and model number can be a critical task, to make sure that the cabinet maker, Plumber and Electrician all understand where and how each appliance connects to the wall and the size of openings in woodwork and granite. No one but the Architect is as well-equipped to manage this challenge.
Check with this architect to arrange for this appliance selection service for your next residential project: Rand@HomeArchitects.com