Architect Designs Value into Houses

Architect Designs Value into Houses is about how this custom mountain house Architect designs in features and organization to meet & exceed their Clients’ needs, wants and dreams.

(continued below)

Recently, several people toured an under construction house designed by HOME ARCHITECTS® Senior Staff Architect. All visitors were delighted and amazed by the giant glass/ window areas (the size of a billboard), the spaciousness, the logical planning and placement of everything, the features and openness of the kitchen, pantry, master suite, loft level home office/bedroom and bunkroom, laundry room, outdoor porches, and 2-1/2 car garage.

Along with this amazement of the magnificent design features and incredible mountain view, came some sadness. Sad about what? The visitors’ realization that the ready-built builders houses they bought and paid MORE for than this Architect’s house, had much smaller window areas, lower ceilings, cramped kitchens, smaller closets, no laundry rooms, smaller garages (if any), no pantry and overly compartmentalized lack of organization that is unresponsive to views.

So when people question the VALUE OF AN ARCHITECT in residential design, THIS is what that is all about. YOU GET A BETTER DESIGN that allows you to live life more fully and enjoyably. Not to mention with greater ease, more functionality and logic, along with lower maintenance.

But there’s more: the visitors to this wonderful house unfortunately have problems with their older, builder’s houses:

Rot (due to improper construction and no detailing)
Infiltration (due to bad construction practices).
Infestation of bugs, mice, squirrels (due to bad construction and no details or specs).
Lousy views, hindered by small windows and cluttered wall areas (due to bad design).

(continued below)

Water leaking into crawlspaces and basements (due to bad site design, bad waterproofing (or none) and inferior materials).
High maintenance (due to lack of specifications from no Architect during construction).
Leaking, high maintenance roofs (mold, rot, wind damage due to inferior products used by builder with no Architect).
Bad vehicular circulation, bad vehicular maneuvering (due to no Architect involvement).

So: Architect Designs Value into Houses is more than just about cool design concepts and appearance.
Good design has to do with designing the house structurally to allow for much larger glass areas to allow the owner to see their terrific mountain views. This requires a Licensed Architect.
Good design also has carefully planned spacial organization for functional pedestrian traffic flow through the house.
Good design also incorporates materials, practices and systems that result in a more durable house with lower maintenance.
Good design requires Value Engineering, to remove things that are costly and unnecessary and replace them with smarter, more effective features that last longer.

In a nutshell, good design in your house buys you better organization, a feeling of more spaciousness, lower maintenance and huge mountain views. You don’t get that from buying pre-existing builder houses, or even with new builder houses. They don’t have that capability. That’s why God made Architects and Builders. Architects design, Builders build. Use the strength in each profession to obtain the best possible house for you and your family.