Advice on choosing an architect/designer?

[DevilAlumna]

Hi all,

Since bjornolf's gotten some good advice on his thread, I'll try my luck as well.

The husband and I are wanting to make some pretty serious renovations to our 1970's house, including altering a roofline, tearing down some supporting walls to join the living/dining rooms + kitchen into one big area, and putting in a new bathrooom in the basement. While we're at it, we want to get some style and color into the currently-all-white place. My father-in-law's a contractor, and the husband's very handy too, so we'll likely be doing much of the work ourselves.

We need to have drawings and such for permitting, so we'll need an architect/engineer. I'd also like to have someone who can take our somewhat-formed design ideas and help create a cohesive design/color/style plan (including kitchen design & best practices)

Question for the board is -- how do I even go about finding that professional who can pull something like that together? Any ideas on costs? (Long shot -- any recommendations for Seattle architects?) What do we need to be considering when choosing an architect/designer?

Can you tell I'm new at this? Any and all advice (including home-remodel horror stories) is welcome!

[captmojo]

Looks like you've done your homework.....

Father-in-law should be a big help, especially if he's a local guy.

Good luck.

[Jim3k]

You might not need an architect if you can find an experienced plan designer. We used an architect on our first remodel (We've done three, plus a redesigned roof).

After that we realized that the contractor had to make adjustments for this and that and the building inspectors enforced requirements that the architect (a moonlighting city public housing employee) had missed. Nothing major. The architect had some really good ideas about roof lines and light. Years later, though, the roof needed to be re-pitched due to some dead spots that leaked. Taking off the roof provides a great opportunity for higher level insulation, getting rid of the shake in favor of fireproof material and adding full sheathing (pron. 'sheeting') over the skip sheathing. The last strengthened the house here in earthquake country; you'll certainly need it if you go to a tile roof.

Yet when we did the second (now that we were experienced) the non-architect designer (much less expensive) seemed entirely familiar with our needs and worked with us just as well as the architect had and the contractor was happy with the results. That designer had no problem adding a wing and meshing the roofs (different area from roof problem which showed up after second remodel). I did have to get an engineering permit for a laminated beam for a vaulted ceiling in one room, but the county did it for a small fee.

Same thing happened when we redid the kitchen. The designer was not an architect, but she was plenty good.

So ask around for a designer and save yourself the architect fee. Nevertheless, we did find the architect helpful when serving as a go-between between the inexperienced us and the contractor, so if that is important, the architect can be very useful there.

If the original blueprints are still around, get them out. They will save whoever draws the plan a great deal of time and will eliminate some surprises for the contractor when bidding.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

The professor and I have built three houses, two additions, and one one renovation....each with it's own set of problems and degrees of satisfaction at the end.

Throughout it all one thing has remained constant. Success or failure has depended in every case on the competance of the lead carpenter.....not the contractor he works for, not the architect.....not NObody but him! So my advice is to not make a move until you have found the right guy to actually saw that wood and nail those nails. We've signed with contractors who have shown us examples of their work.....only to find that the guys who would actually build OUR house aren't the same ones who built the ones he showed us. Made huge difference. So my advice is to work backwards. First, find the names of really good carpenters and ask them who they work for and for names of architects or planners whose plans were good to go by.

Good luck.
Love, Ima