Not sure how this works....little help

[scab]

I want to put an addition on the back of my house that includes a downstairs shop and an upstairs extra bedroom. Do I contact an architect to draw up the plans I want and then hire a contractor to build them? Or can a contractor do his own plans and cut out the need for an architect? If the answer is either way is possible, which is better and why?

All of my houses were already built when I bought them so I've never had to deal with a contractor. Thanks.

 

[AZ Pete]

I would hire an architect (once I contacted more than one architect to get an estimate/bid on producing the design and construction drawings), then solicit bids to build to the plans that you and the architect put together.

 

[bczygan]

Lots of options.
I used to work for a design/build construction management Architect/builder.
Advantage is better communication between design and construction, and construction management meant open books and chance to save money.

There are also lots of Architectural Designers you could get to do the construction drawings. I used to do that.

So, show us photos of your house and tell us what you plan to do so we can give you lots of good advice! I can at least advise you on the process.

I will tell you this up front. The better the construction drawings, specifications and selections, the more accurate the bidding can be, and the more closely what you end up with will be, to what you expected to get.

 

[scab]

I don't have any pics and I'm going to be away from home for awhile. However, it's fairly simple so I'll try to describe.

I would like to put a man door off the corner of my den on the back of my house. When you go through that door you can either go up a set of stairs along that left wall (also the western edge of the house) to a new bedroom or hang an immediate right and descend down a short set of stairs to a shop. This doorway off the den is about four feet off the ground (there is a deck accessed by french doors there now) so that gives me room to have 10-12 ft ceilings in the shop. The bedroom upstairs will also share an existing bathroom on the second floor. The shop will just have a small garage door, just room for tools, my tractor, and my mower. The shop will be unfinished with the exception of code stuff (e.g., drywall on the ceiling) and both spaces will be about 20x20. And they say you need a thousand words to replace a picture.....

That was probably a waste of time to write bc it may make no sense but it's the best I can do for now.

 

[zcar751]

There are a lot of veriables that you need to know. What are the local code requirements. How well can you get your idea across to the contractor. Will you new print for he planning board or permit department. Go look at crawler07's thread on his wall falling down, it may give you some idea about just using a GC.

 

[Moose97]

If you're in a municipality it would be easier in the long run to hire an architect or at least a design professional to draw up a set of plans. If you're in the county and know a quality , reputable builder with a lot of experience, he could probably handle this for you but there are few anymore I would trust. Are you going to be in the home long term? If so, go with the architect and get exactly what you want.

 

[rsanter]

I would price out an architect to draw it up and design to code.
If that seems like it will cost too much then you can go the design-build route.
If you go that route, bewair that mistakes can come back to cost you as sometimes the contractor will shuck that responsibility. If you go this route be sure you have a really solid contract in place

Seems to me that without the architect, the contractor is far more open to cutting corners

Bob

 

[Krash Kadillak]

I had some drafting experience from high school, so when we were going to add on an addition back in 1984, I simply made up a decent scale drawing of the floorplan I wanted, with some elevations as well (N/S/E/W). Drawings were not detailed enough to be used as actual 'plan' drawings. Anyway, the contractor used those to draw up a 'real' set of plans. I didn't need to hire my own architect. My addition was fairly simple though - just one add-on room, single story.

 

[ddawg16]

1st Step....contact your local building and safety...they will tell you exactly what you need.

Chances are.........1st is a plot plan...then once that is approved, the actual drawings.

In most cases....a plot plan can be as simple as a sketch on the back of a napkin

 

[scab]

Cool, thanks for the input. Out of curiousity, what would someone expect to pay an architect for something like this? I've been guessing $500 or so.

 

[Playwme]

We just had renovations done. We went with a Building company that had in-house designers and draughtspeople. It's the way to go if you're trying to build to a budget. Architects don't always realise what a project will cost, which results in an awesome plan that gets whittled down to accommodate budgetary constraints. Every change costs you dollars too. Our project turned out exactly as the plan stated and cost what the contract said it would in the timeframe specified.

 

[bczygan]

Architect working out of his home might do it for $1.200-1,500. Architectural Designer, like me, would do it for $800-1,000.

Depends on the jurisdiction and what they require in the way of drawings.

Here are the steps to take.

Anonymously, look online at the zoning maps for whoever has jurisdiction for your location for zoning approvals.
Find out the zoning for your particular property.
Look online at the zoning regulations for your zoning.
Carefully read EVERY thing that applies to you regarding lot size, setbacks, height and area restrictions, maximum lot coverage etc. Your property description and mortgage survey may also show easements for utilities or other purposes, that you have to take into account for placement of the addition or any paving.
Get a copy of your mortgage survey and plan to use it for your plot plan.
Anonymously find out what building code, and what revision (Year) of that code your building department uses. Also find out if there are any revisions to that code.
Note that sometimes different jurisdictions will cover zoning approval and building inspection. IE township and county.
Next, check if you are in a wetland or historical district or HOA. They can all restrict what you can do.
Then you need to get all this information together and start calling designers and builders.
Bring them over to see the site and to inspect the existing residence and all the existing conditions. They will take lots of photos and measurements. If you have drawings of the existing residence, this will help greatly. If they are "as built", even better.

With this information and a sit down session with you and your family, they can put together a preliminary sketch and maybe a ballpark estimate for you. Many will charge for this, some will not, hoping to get the design job and maybe the build work.

This initial interaction will allow you to judge who to hire.

Note that this is a small job, even for an on the side designer.

You aren't going to get a big Architectural office excited about it or a big time builder champing at the bit.

You could get some initial help right here if you get us all the same information listed above.

I like to play around with these kind of projects here on GJ

Note, Drawings are, at minimum, going to require, plot plan, section, elevations, floor plan (Showing electrical, mechanical and any plumbing) and structural notes.

The jurisdiction may issue permits based on this, what I call, all in one set of drawings. If they need separate framing, mechanical, plumbing or electrical plans or other details, then the difficulty and cost rises.
Note that if you are on a septic, adding a bedroom may require adding to the drain field.

Now, this is a set of permit drawings. Not design drawings in the sense that they have door and window schedules, interior elevations, finish schedules or fine detailing of inter trim.

They are good enough to give to a builder, and after a lot of selections are made, an estimate and bidding could be done.

A good designer will give you advice on what to do to make sure you get good competitive bids from a GC, based on his permit drawings, and your specifications and selections. That is what I would do.

An architectural firm would go into more detail in the drawings, making them design drawings with more construction details. They would develop a set of specifications derived from their standard office ones. They would go through the selection process with you (Especially if they were a design/build firm). All that would add much cost. And this is too small a job for that.
For specifications and selections, you just want the builder to match what is is the existing house.
Any Questions?


Bill

 

[Mike Miller]

I took my rough sketch of an addition just like what you want to a design studio. They drew up the plans for quite a bit less than an architect wanted, (in fact the architect suggested it). The plans flew through the permit process and the addition went together by the plans like a champ. Best money I spent on that project.

 

[wssix99]

All of my houses were already built when I bought them so I've never had to deal with a contractor.

If you hire a contractor to deal with the architecture, you'll only have one throat to choke if something goes wrong. You'll pay extra for the service (doing the facilitation with the architect) but it may be worth it for you.

If you deal with an architect directly, you become a middle man and must manage the two and their interaction. If the architect and contractor do not have a good working relationship, you may get called in for every little detail that isn't right when the addition is being built. (... and there will be many little details that will be off)

If you don't have experience managing construction, you'll also have a learning curve that could cost you more than having the contractor sub the architecture out. Even if you do that, you can still have approval authority over the final design, participate in the design process, etc.

 

[Gary S]

Where do you live? What are your zoning rules? What are your building requirements? You need to do a bit of legwork first and ask your questions of someone who can answer them instead of getting wrong information from the internet.

Here, you hire a contractor and he takes care of everything. Or, you get the building permit yourself and take care of everything yourself. No architect or plot plans are needed. Everything has to be inspected as built to ensure it meets code, but none of this information is of any use to you if your rules are different.