the necessity of an architect for whole project?
Hi everyone! I’m a new brownstone owner. I’ve been reading a lot of the forum discussions and it’s been a great help so thank you!. The building I just purchased needs some structural work and lots of restoration. Additionally, the kitchens and bathrooms pretty much need to be entirely re-done. Additionally I want to put in a balcony above the mud house with a staircase so that the parlor level has garden access. Question- I’m ok at the g.c. and subcontractor end (except for plumbing -suggestions anyone?), but am frustrated in my search for an architect and the necessity of an architect on a project basis as opposed to an hourly basis. Sight unseen, I’ve had architects tell me that “at the low end” things will cost 800k, with a cut to them up to 20%. This seems ridiculous to me. Am I being naive in thinking that it is possible to hire an architect on a hourly basis to draft the plans that I already have in mind and have them paid hourly to check in on work? Has anyone gone the hourly route? How did that work out? any recommendations? thanks!
mistyfaun
in Brownstoner Renovation 12 years and 3 months ago
10
Please log in, in order to post replies!
10 replies
hamster | 12 years and 2 months ago
Try Richard Perry T 212 532 3561\. I didn’t end of hiring him because he was booked and could not start for 2 months. I had to reach out to Richard later to get contacts for land surveyors. The architect I hired didn’t have any contacts.
Augustiner | 12 years and 2 months ago
You could get a good GC who deals with expediters and architects where necessary. That’s a practical approach that puts budget first. The catch is that without plans you won’t get a bid from the GC that is reliable in terms of numbers I basically had all of these paper pushers involved and in the end the only person who performed on point and to my full satisfaction was my GC. I ended up firing my architect and 1-2 engineers along the way. So many fakes in this business who take your money and steal your time. They get away with it because the stream of unexperienced clients with money to spend is endless in this city. Make sure you start with the right crew. Don’t rush in the beginning. I don’t think Scott Schnall is the solution to your problems. Reding Brownstoner you get the impression that he is the only expediter in town, he’s not. 800k should get you an amazing house including (almost) everything.
anotherposter | 12 years and 3 months ago
We used an architect for jobs others might have just done themselves with a GC and we have no regrets. What we thought were basic jobs, he made so much better along with getting us through the LPC and DOB hurdles smoothly. I also found GCs to be all over the place on certain issues and in the end, the architect usually had the correct and/or best solutions and answers. Plus, it was someone else to keep an eye on what the contractors are doing and making sure things are done properly. When we got to tricky problems, the architect and his engineers helped find solutions we were happy with. Our contractor had plumbers he works with. He pretty much had a crew member or a good relationship with a company for just about everything we needed.
briank | 12 years and 3 months ago
sorry for the gender mix-up, “mistyfaun” should have told me better.-Guilty as charged :-). BTW, I am operating in Park Slope, if you contact me at: licensedarch@gmail.com, I can stop by, and it will be a free of charge consultation, you just provide your Tylenols 🙂
briank | 12 years and 3 months ago
Hi there, You seem to be wondering whether you have a mild flu and can pop 2 Tylenols or you need a major surgery in a renowned hospital. If you don’t care about design (or if you are too confident in your taste and preferences) and your wife wil select tiles and finishes, you can even go without an architect. (We don’t like working with clients’ wives either:) Unless you are changing number of dwelling units or adding/moving plumbing fixtures you may not even file at the DOB. If you have to file, hire an architect just for this job. It shouldn’t be more that $10K. But (and this is a big but) you want a proper design job with detailed drawings for custom layouts-just have an architect for a flat fee + hourly for supervising the construction. Then read and think about this: http://thinkarchitect.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/how-to-treat-your-architect/ Always with my best :))) BK
mistyfaun | 12 years and 3 months ago
thanks so much for the answers! this helps clarify some thoughts. other opinions welcome please. i’d like to have someone in place by the end of the month.
jeanmarine2 | 12 years and 3 months ago
Prior poster here with more thoughts based on a re-read of the original post – if you are REALLY sure that you can keep it simple and just hire hourly, and be in and out with the architect and not have it blossom, then go for it and I can give a referral to my hourly person offline. You also could ask Scott Schnall for a referral to an architect, he sees a ton of them probably (same with contractors). But my question to you is, why not just hire an architect based on fixed price for a fixed number of alternative drawings – basically pick a price for design services, not hourly, or ask for help on an hourly basis but cap out the number of hours you’ll pay for to get to deliverables to something they can live with, since they may well have a sense of how long it might take. Then pay hourly for construction administration since that’s more controllable I’d think. But I”m still a relative newbie so I defer to professionals on the site for whether this is the right approach if you’re going to divvy it up among initial design, design development, contractor bidding and construction administration and pay fixed or hourly (as appropriate) for the various phases. All I know is, for people not in the business it’s an insanely steep learning curve and thus hard for us newbies to get in and out intact (including intact day jobs, intact sanity, intact finances) and without a lot more grey hair.
jeanmarine2 | 12 years and 3 months ago
I went the hourly route for a smaller project (deck/kitchen, goal under $100K total including fees – should be do-able but seeming less so all the time) and am not thrilled. I like our architect, don’t get me wrong, he’s honest, helpful, well intentioned, smart, we’ll get there with him – kind of… the big problem is, our architect budget is blown out already and we haven’t even done the nitty-gritty kitchen design (did a general layout, bid package etc.), hired our contractor (we’re close, have bids etc.) or dealt with construction administration yet. Instead of being able to lean on him, every time I call or email him I worry about what it’s going to cost me, now, and it’s really not a healthy approach. He also has spent time on things that surprised me – sending over a sketch of a possible kitchen design or a post/column design that in the end was a waste of our money (if not his time since we paid him for it), and perhaps had he not been open-ended he would have asked first, would this help you, before spending OUR money on doing it without asking. I over-corrected from a prior arrangement last year that didn’t work, with a “percentage of construction” architect who would have in retrospect been much less expensive (but who I would have been less happy with) but who wasn’t a good fit for me. Now I want to hire a kitchen designer I like and her (fixed) fee is almost what he has charged us already and oh my goodness, the fees are taking over! In retrospect I wish I’d done neither percentage of construction (no way on residential), or hourly/no cap (too easy to blow the budget, by far), but either fixed price for a fixed scope OR hourly with estimates and caps and deliverables, so that both sides are protected. I don’t want to rip off an architect and their time is worthwhile, but us homeowners need to budget x amount for various fees, y amount for contractors, z amount for materials – and an open ended architect budget is asking for trouble. Trust me, I am living it now. I know where I want to end up and it’s now going to cost MUCH more in fees since we’re going to have to duplicate a bit, the alternative being to cheap out and go with cheaper design services or cheaper materials. Something’s gotta give.
slopemope | 12 years and 3 months ago
you could always go to scott schnall.
dillettanteinbedstuy | 12 years and 3 months ago
ill take an hourly job with no cap any day of the week