FAQ: Everything You Need To Know Before Working With An Architect
Do I need an Architect or an Engineer?
Do you just need a foundation for a pole barn kit or a non-modified e-plan? Then you might just need a structural engineer, not an architect. However, for most residential and commercial projects, you’ll need an Architect.
Having an Architect on your team ensures that you have an advocate for your vision. They’re there to support you, mitigate stressful situations, and guarantee your project will be successful. Your architect becomes your stalwart producer and guide through the process. From recommending the best builders to navigating the local building codes and ordinances (especially when the building is over 50 years old) your architect has – or will find – the right solution to meet your design needs.
What services do you provide?
We provide Feasibility Studies, Architectural Engineering, Building Spatial Planning, Sustainable Design, Adaptive Reuse, and Master Planning. Read more in-depth about each of these services here: Defining 6 Helpful Architect Services You Might See When Building Your Custom Home or Office
Having worked with Leesa on some commercial projects, we chose her as our architect for a project dear to our hearts ... our lake home. She made an overwhelming and intimidating process so much easier for us. She truly listens to her customers and incorporates their likes and wishes in her work. She is professional, responsive, talented and fun to work with.
Do Architects do interior design?
Simply, no. We do not pick colors, furnishings, or fabrics. We don’t even select tile. We can, however, coordinate with your interior designer and/or document your choices for a more accurate pricing set.
I found a custom home plan on the internet I like, but I want to make changes. Can you help me with that?
We tell clients to go ahead and purchase those plans. They’re usually somewhere between $1000 and $2500. Using that design as a starting point is a time-saving benefit as we model it in our own system to begin working through the schematic process with you. The purchase of the design is respectful to the other designer’s intellectual property and roughly equals in cost what a first-time design meeting. It’s like we’re jumping into the second design meeting because we already have this platform of layout or aesthetic. Read more on building your dream home here: What To Expect: How To Build Your Perfect House On Land You Own (Case Study)
When should I hire an architect? If I'm not sure where to begin, what do you suggest?
Short answer: always sooner rather than later.
We recommend starting the process with a consult – $250 (meeting in town) – $300 (for travel outside the area) for spitballing ideas.
Which areas do you serve?
More than about an hour’s drive from Winchester, Virginia, but we will make exceptions. We tend to stick to the valley (not Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, etc.) and western WV and MD. We are expanding services into Pennsylvania and Tennessee, though!
Do I have to have a large budget to work with an architect? What are your rates and how are they charged?
For an interior renovation or a small addition, we work hourly and invoice monthly. Depending on how complicated the scope of the project is, our services can range anywhere from $3,000 – $5,000 for schematic design and that amount again to complete permit drawings plus structural engineering as needed. Read more about architectural fees for new construction here.
Why do you charge for an on-site consultation? All the contractors do this for free!
Real-time feedback and ideas are exchanged about your proposed project, drawing from our expansive experience. On-site consultations are very productive meetings and for a variety of reasons, sometimes the project stops there if I can answer your questions during this one visit!
What is the process like after I sign the contract to work with you?
Once we have a contract signed, we begin the research to understand site opportunities and restraints. We study how the environment impacts your site as a part of basic sustainable design principles. We’ll tour and measure any existing structures, and gather zoning and code information and any HOA restraints.
Meanwhile you, as the owner, share with us images of your likes, dislikes, and inspirations.
Then we move through the rest of the process, including Schematic Design, Jurisdiction Review, Pricing The Project, Design Development, Construction Documents, Permit Drawings, and Construction Administration. Read more about each of these stages here.
How long will it take to complete the drawings?
Every project is different, but for new custom homes, from walking in the door to permit drawings, you can expect designs for a custom home to take between 8-10 months but an addition or interior renovation could be just 2-3 months. Great communication and quick decision-making always make the process smoother and faster.
Will you handle permits?
No, we ask that the builder do this, or if the homeowner is serving as their own General Contractor, they apply directly.
Is a HVAC layout or a lighting plan included?
Generally we do provide a lighting plan, but it is used mostly by builders to get to a price estimate (for number of fixtures, for example). For HVAC (heating and cooling) on single family homes, we recommend you work directly with your Contractor’s HVAC installers as “design-build”. We can work in more detail with these installers during the design process if it is a more complex layout.
Can you recommend builders?
Yes, generally, if you are within the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley.
How do you handle “quirky” layouts, spacial challenges, or technical complications?
For residential, it’s a lot of site interpretation at the beginning of the process. We collaborate with the client to work out what they really need and how to make it all fit in the space they have to work with. For commercial clients, we provide a lot of space planning and problem-solving but also a lot of project management — monitoring time and consultants, etc.
For all our clients, we specialize in finding clever solutions to make the space you live or work in as comfortable as possible.
From the very beginning, we asked [Leesa] to help us assess how we could better use our space (an old home downtown with a quirky layout), and Leesa provided a space audit and options for renovation from the minor to the more drastic, and gave us the pros, cons, and considerations for each. In addition to being a pleasure to work with and providing us with high-quality, thoughtful, loving, and very "us" design work, she also introduced us to excellent engineers, contractors, and other vendors and advisors. We recommend Leesa to all of our friends, colleagues, and family. If there was a sixth star to give, she'd get it.
Is integrating old and new in an addition possible without going to any extreme design styles?
Yes – it’s not always about architectural juxtaposition when it comes to additions. At DFC-LMA we take our inspiration from you. So, if you’re looking for an addition that looks like it’s always been there, or if you want the addition to make a statement, we come to the table with ways to make your ideas a reality.
We really appreciated the frank analysis about what was possible with our existing home, which gave us some much-needed clarity. And imagining our new home was a fun and collaborative process.
Can you do 3D and walk-throughs?
Yes! The software we work in for drafting is built all in 3D. What we present on paper are 2D renderings — usually simple black and white exterior views around the home and/or addition. We are learning the latest “walk-through” software and plan on providing this experience to our clients in meetings soon.
Do you have a preferred architecture ‘style’? How is collaboration and control of the final design shared?
We know it’s a little cliché, but our architectural style is whatever our client’s vision is. It’s so rewarding to work with folks when it is a truly collaborative process.
We are in the process of building our ‘forever’ home and wanted to make sure that we did it right from the beginning....Leesa and Don have been incredible partners in this endeavor. They have listened intently to our thoughts and even when we could not articulate exactly what we wanted, they anticipated our needs with excellent design ideas. We fully expected to have to make quite a few changes to the plan, but made only very minor edits saving us valuable time. They fully understood our vision and are working with us and the other team members to make our dream a reality. We could not recommend DFC-LMA more highly! They are outstanding professionals who have been an absolute pleasure to work with.
Are you starting a building project in 2023? How can we help you live more efficiently and happily in your home or business?
