So, your company is growing and you have to consider expanding your facility. Or, maybe it’s your family that’s expanding and the once ample house is beginning to seem a bit tight. Whatever your scenario, consider the benefits of hiring an architect for your next building project. Whether your project is new construction, a remodel or an expansion, an architect guides you through the often confusing and complex task of building.
We seek professionals to assist us in many areas of our lives; to manage our health, our investment portfolios, sell our homes. For similar reasons, it’s wise to also seek a professional to manage your building project. An architect has the education and experience to translate your functional and aesthetic needs into a three dimensional design while ensuring that the project meets the requirements of zoning laws, building codes and contractors. "Our architect, Alpha Associates, Incorporated, assisted us with organizing our ideas for our newest branch project by asking many questions about our goals and limits," states Butch Osborne, chief operations officer for Fairmont Federal Credit Union. "They made the process easy by giving us some preliminary building designs that would give us the most visual impact and meet our service needs." An architect is your project manager, your money manager, your marketing department and your designer providing guidance throughout the project from conceptualization to close-out. Anatomy of a
Building Project
Few people understand the progression of a building project and therefore, don’t realize the coordination necessary. For example, you may want to build a mother-in-law suite over your existing garage. You determine that you have the budget and the need, but will your town zoning board allow such a structure? What are the guidelines regarding water and sewage to such a structure? Would there be enough clearance between the structure and the property line? Here are just a few of the many steps involved in a building project that require coordination.
Budget—the resources available to spend on your project
Program—your needs and desires for the finished product
Feasibility— viability of your project given the variables of your site, your budget, etc.
Financing—acquiring the funds needed
Design—developing a plan including drawings and specifications
Review—inspection of design plans by numerous agencies including the zoning board, health department, code official, fire marshal and possibly historic preservation groups depending upon the age of the structure
Revision—changes made to the design required by any agency during the review process
Hiring a Contractor—choosing a reputable, licensed contractor capable of providing construction services for your
type of structure:
Construction—building
Occupancy—building passes final inspection and can be occupied this can be overwhelming to a do-it-yourselfer. However, an architect can take much of the stress out of a project, breaking down the steps into manageable pieces in a coordinated effort. Familiar with these steps, an architect anticipates the variables and guides you through the process. As your representative, your architect provides project management, money management, project marketing and quality design.
Project ManagementOne of the primary functions of an architect is project management. The time and coordination required of most building projects is substantial. Architects also have the ability to seek consultation and coordination from specialists such as structural and civil engineers. "Alpha coordinated meetings and discussions between our firm and developers, engineers, landscapers and signage experts to make the design process and budgeting process flow efficiently," says Butch Osborne of Fairmont Federal Credit Union. An architect assists in such aspects of the project as contractor compliance, quality assurance and adherence to the schedule all of which have a direct impact on your budget.
Contractor compliance to drawings and specifications is crucial. Simply put, it means making sure that the builder does what he is supposed to do in the manner specified. Your architect is responsible for meeting zoning board regulations, code requirements and your personal needs all of which are considered during the planning and design phases of your project. Therefore, your architect monitors your project to ensure that the contractor complies with all aspects of the building plan thereby fulfilling all the requirements from materials and structure to schedule and budget.
Quality assurance is another project management feature that an architect supervises. First, architects are familiar with and have a pool of experienced, licensed construction contractors to recommend based on your type of project and budget. Knowing that you’ve hired a competent contractor with experience in your specialty can greatly minimize stress. An architect also monitors the quality of the contractor’s work by providing regular inspections ensuring that all work meets specifications as well as the owner’s expectations. An architect can save an owner stress and money by ensuring that the quality of the building project ultimately pass building code and zoning law requirements.
Finally, schedule. Many people are likely to have a stake in your project whether it's your family, your client, your community or your lender, and each stakeholder likely has a personal deadline in mind. Your architect endeavors to keep your project on schedule to meet these conditions. Every building project is made of a team of people. They may be familiar with one another from previous projects or yours may be the first time they have worked together. In any case, they must coordinate their efforts. This coordination is often very complex with many aspects of the project relying on one another. There are ways, however, to keep the project on track and your architect is a principle player in this undertaking. Making prompt decisions, conducting regular progress meetings and performing regular inspections are just a few ways that your architect stays on top of the schedule.
Money Management
Another vital reason to employ an architect is money. Hiring an architect may seem like an added expense to your project, but in reality, it is a wise investment. Architects can inform you of options that you might not otherwise consider and can help you develop long term goals that can be broken up into phases if necessary. Through precise planning, budgeting, material selection and value engineering, architects assist you in building more efficient and economic structures thereby saving you money.
A precise, well-defined plan minimizes costs by reducing the need for change orders during the construction phase of a project. Change orders are deviations from an agreed upon building plan and they add up to budget overages very quickly. Overhead, research time and the impact on the project schedule are just a few of the indirect costs that cause change orders to be expensive. Change orders can be as simple as hardware upgrades or as significant as room additions. The potential for change orders exists for many reasons. The key to avoiding these deviations is to thoroughly examine available options and determine your needs and desires during the project-planning phase. An experienced architect is adept at finding areas in a plan that are prone to potential change orders. These facets of a project are researched and discussed so that owners are then able to make well-informed decisions. The earlier these issues can be documented and presented to the owner for resolution, the easier it is to incorporate them into the plan before construction takes place. It is much easier and less expensive to make changes on paper than it is during the construction phase of a project.
By determining your budget up front, an architect can create a building plan to meet both your needs and your resources. There are several key factors in creating a realistic budget. Perhaps, the most important factor is honesty. Be up front with your architect about your resources. Inflating your budget only causes headaches for you down the road. Another key factor is time. Give yourself enough time to really think about your needs and desires. Go to your architect with a clear picture of what you want and he or she will show you the best way to get it. Finally, financing. Once you've decided on what you want, consult a lender to determine how much you qualify to finance. Your architect will translate this amount into an estimate of cost per square foot which will guide you in what you can realistically afford.
Architects are familiar with availability and durability of materials as well as alternative construction methods. Such knowledge is a significant asset when selecting what’s best for your project. Most people just aren’t aware of what’s available or what’s possible with today’s technologies. In addition, through previous usage, architects are familiar with which products and finishes perform well over time thereby reducing the amount of maintenance and replacement costs.
Value engineering is an effort to reduce costs while maintaining or enhancing results over the lifetime of your building. This effort includes alternative design solutions to optimize the cost versus the worth of your project at completion. A practical example of this concept might be if you were remodeling your home with the intention of selling it. Where would you spend your money? Value engineering suggests that you spend the most money where a buyer most appreciates it—the biggest bang for the buck so to speak. Remodeling a kitchen has a big impact on buyers; therefore, the best value would be to spend the largest portion of your remodeling dollars on updating the kitchen. This concept can be applied on a much larger scale whether it is a remodeling project or new construction, residential or commercial. One way of adding value is designing energy efficient buildings. During the life-cycle of the building, energy efficient design cuts heating, cooling and electric costs.
Project Marketing
Of course, if yours is a commercial project, you recognize the marketing benefits of an architect. Renderings are incredibly effective when explaining your project to lenders, stakeholders, community groups and various other entities because it adds credibility and gives others a visual understanding. This aids in fund raising as well as rallying others behind your project. But what if your project is a private undertaking? You may think you have no need to market your private home to anyone, but think again. You may need to provide plans and renderings to zoning boards, home owners associations and historic preservation groups. Such groups are more likely to require changes or to deny approval altogether if they doubt the quality of or misunderstand your plan. An architect gives your project credibility providing regulatory groups with professional renderings and documents that improve their understanding of your project resulting in faster approvals and fewer revisions.
Quality of Design
Energy efficiency is one of the many aspects of building that is coming to the forefront of architectural design. Though energy efficiency has long been a consideration for some, it is a relatively new consideration for the larger segment of the population. Green building practices look at the life-cycle of a building and provide an opportunity to create environmentally sound and resource efficient buildings. Green building promotes conservation, efficiency and renewable energy in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment as well as minimizing waste. In addition, green building also seeks to reduce operation and maintenance costs. It can even go so far as to consider aspects such as access to public transportation. According to US Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary standard for developing environmentally friendly or “green” buildings and land use developments. By establishing a standard of measurement, owners can easily recognize environmental leadership in the building industry. LEED ratings include such aspects as energy efficiency and material selection but also sustainable site development and indoor environmental quality.
Architects—A Wise Investment
As your project manager, money manager, marketing department and designer, an architect is a wise investment of your hard-earned money. Few people intimately understand the process of design and construction the way an architect does. Through years of education, training and experience, an architect guides you through the complex task of building from design to occupancy while meeting the requirements of regulatory agencies and contractors.
Pull quotes
An architect also monitors the quality of the contractor’s work by providing regular inspections ensuring that all work meets specifications as well as the owner’s expectations.
Value engineering suggests that you spend the most money where a buyer most appreciates it—the biggest bang for the buck so to speak.
Green building practices look at the life-cycle of a building and provide an opportunity to create environmentally sound and resource efficient buildings.