Postcards from a Home Addition- #2: Architect?

Back to the series on the big process of adding on to your house.  In Postcard #1 I talked about nailing down a clear “must-haves” list so you can stay on course through all the slings and arrows of this typically year long process. Now on to the Architect phase.  Lots of different choices here – roll your own, buy prepackaged design online, go through your contractor, design-build, an independent architect.  I went that last route and, while it’s no small investment, I recommend it to anyone with the following “you know you’re a good candidate to hire an architect if” qualifiers:

1. It’s important to you that the flow between old house and new is really smooth and seamless
2. You care a lot about how the outside looks – how well the new exterior blends in with existing house, how much you do or don’t see from the street, how well you like just looking at what you’ve wrought from your yard
3. You’re willing to compromise on some of your wish list and spend more $$ per square foot (on fees yes, but also on the likely more complex build) in order to accommodate #’s 1 and 2
4. You’re excited by the idea of someone taking you to some places (ideas, design elements, etc.) you wouldn’t get to on your own
5. You’re prepared to manage what can be a healthy but sometimes trying tension between architect and contractor

Picking is always tough.  We found referrals most useful.  There are also some good searching tools available at the local AIA site.  As for our specific experience….we used Old Town Alexandria architect Patrick Camus and have been very happy with the results.  Patrick was then with Adams Architects and has since gone out on his own.  Don’t think he has a website but you can find him in the Yellow Pages and/or I can pass on an email if you’re interested.  Great guy, knows this area and all the players well.  A few specific notes:

• The really good – He totally nailed the vision.  Right out of the gate we loved the central idea of his design, which created an awesome set of new spaces and made some critical changes to our existing ones in order to deliver on a great blend of old and new.  Now 2+ years later, we get a steady stream of compliments from visitors about how well all the pieces fit together and in particular on the slam dunk kitchen/eat-in/screened porch he created.
• The mixed – In some cases our plans we’re a little short on the level of detail our contractor wanted for some of the finish work.  And the communication back and forth between Patrick and the contractor was up and down, particularly in the later stages of the job.  I think these were due in part to us catching Patrick at the transition point from working for someone else to heading out on his own.  In the end neither had much of an impact on the outcome but did lead to an important learning….
• A lesson – Take the step of clarifying exactly how much involvement you want the architect and contractor to have after plans are done and you’re in to the construction.  And generally err on the side of caution when it comes to plan detail.  Better to have more not less.

Couple other quick notes on process that really helped us.  We started with Patrick doing ¼ inch drawings in order to arrive at a core design concept we liked.  Then moved to the more detailed 1/8 inch plans for fleshing out the full idea.  Not sure if that’s standard or no, but really was helpful for us to get on the same page about the vision before diving into details.

And get a lot of eyes on your plans.  We carried copies around with us for a while and walked through them with all kinds of friends and family.  You’d be surprised at the great tweaks that can come up this way from unlikely sources.  And the act of talking people through your plan also helps you uncover spots you ‘re not yet totally comfortable with.

One last thought that came up for us at multiple stages including this one – do all that you can possibly afford.  The process of planning and doing an addition is so invasive, better to do as much as you can when the patient is already opened up and on the operating table.  In our case we considered just doing a single story addition and then coming back and adding a second story later.  Thank god we listened to Patrick and others who urged us to do both stories at once.

Next up – Selecting and working with the contractor (with whom you will become scarily close, however the project goes).

And in the meantime check out this helpful post on the financial return you can expect from the dollars you put into your renovation.