Selecting an Architect for your Home Plan
Home plans are very important to home construction work. These are essential to avoid problems with your home project. Avoid budget overruns and costly change orders by giving your contractor quality home plan to work from. Follows are some tips to find architects of great repute and how to select the right one.
Selecting an Architect
Remember, you are looking for an architect who specializes in residential construction. You want one who can show you various completed projects. Discuss how mistakes will be handled. Everyone makes mistakes. If the architect goofs somehow, ask how this mistake will be paid for. As a general rule of thumb, most mistakes come to the surface after all of the rough framing is completed. Suggest that a portion of the fee is withheld until the rough framing is complete. Simply develop a plan to deal with this circumstance.
Ask about written specifications. Generally, most architects who have computerized have these written project guidelines already sitting in their word processors. Written specifications are an important part of a project. They are similar to assembly instructions you might receive with a bicycle. They tell the builder what things to use where and how to put certain things together. These specifications can prevent substitutions of products. In other words, if the plan calls for baseboard in a room, just what type does that mean? You might think a nice tall baseboard. Your builder might think it means a piece of #3 pine! Specifications can clear up problems like this.
Look for schedules on plans. Schedules are groupings of information. For example, good plans come with Door and Window Schedules. This is usually a table which lists each opening, what type of window or door goes there, the make, model, options, rough opening size, size of structural header, type of interior and exterior finish, etc. These schedules are loaded with valuable information that is useful to everyone involved in the project. They leave nothing to speculation. You can have a schedule for appliances, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, room finish schedules, cabinets, etc. They are very useful.
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