The Yule Blog

by Craig Claus

I have to question an approach used by many architects and design professionals that substitutes an average homeowner as the client in a system that was setup to handle large commercial projects.  For a 25,000 sq ft house on $50 million budget it might work, but for a 2,500 sq ft house?  Tens of thousands of dollars spent on subcontracts to surveyors, engineers, and consultants for a house with a total budget typically under $500k is just overkill.  To start with, it kills the typical homeowner’s budget.  Next, it uses up their time by dragging them through a prolonged process, and finally, it misses the mark for what is important in residential design.

How to save money on design (and construction): Plan the layout with structure in mind, without foregoing all other aspects of floor plan layout, think of how the floors, roof, and foundation will align and what type of spans are possible for the load requirements.  Most aspects of residential frames are engineered by the materials supplier or the product manufacturer - like engineered floor systems and truss roofs.  Also, material suppliers have estimators that use plans to generate materials lists - don’t pay someone to do it.  Here’s another secret: the American Concrete Institute has a “recipe”code that covers most residential foundations without an architect’s or engineer’s stamp.

How to shorten the process: Realize that much of the details in homes are figured out along way.  The owner wants to make their decisions about siding, cabinets, and flooring, and they don’t need to have everything figured out before the plans are finalized.  Finish schedules are fine for a hospital, but unnecessary for a home.  Even electrical plans are too much.  Every owner walks through the rough framed house with their electrician point to where they want switches and fixtures, and the electrician aligns their desires with electrical code.

What’s really important in residential design:  Communication between the owner and the designer.  A design professional should listen to what the owner wants, not tell them what they can have.  Communicate the owner’s vision to the designer.  Communicate the design to the owner.  A single hand-sketched and hand-colored elevation may be able to sell a design to the board of a company, but it doesn’t communicate the relational components of living space to the person who will live, eat, and entertain in a home.  Two-dimensional floor plans can be like calculus for someone just learning to add.  Using fast, flexible modeling software, the design can be shown from any perspective and adjusted on the fly.  Drawings communicate the design to the trades and the industry.

That’s enough for now.