“An Architect is said to be a man who knows very little about a great deal and keeps knowing less and less about more and more until he knows practically nothing about everything, whereas, on the other hand, an Engineer is a man who knows a great deal about very little and who goes along knowing more and more about less and less until finally he knows practically everything about nothing.
A contractor starts out knowing practically everything about everything, but ends up knowing nothing about anything due to his association with Architects and Engineers.
A Subcontractor starts out knowing something about one thing but never learns anything more, as proved by the fact that he continues to do business with Architects, Engineers and Contractors.”
I forget exactly where I found this quote, or who wrote it, but it was (waaaaay) back before Pinterest when I used to clip quotes and inspo images from Elle Deco magazine and put them in a folder for later. I literally had a library of three-ringed binders full of plastic sleeves housing image upon image of what I thought was beautiful. In any case, whenever I read the above quote, it makes me smirk. It’s really kind of true. And if you are in the design/building industry, it’s even funnier because nothing tickles our fancy more than to poke fun at the “other” key players that make a project happen. I constantly tell my husband why contractors are neanderthal ass-holes and he is incessantly complaining about how anal architects are or how the snooty interior designer said this or that. But at the end of the day, no matter the size of your build, the right team of professionals can make a HUGE impact on the sanity of the client and ultimately the quality of the end result.
So how do you go about choosing your dream team??? Do you really need a team? Can’t you save money by just DIY?
Okay, so for my personal story, the design-build team was pretty much predetermined. Myself being the designer and my husband being the contractor… The engineers and pretty much every single subcontractor is a personal friend or an associate we have worked with in the past. Or in my case, worked with in my past life before I became a stay-at-home-mom. I see where I am an extreme case. Most of the time, there are a lot of interviews, scheduled meetings and deep discussions about budgets, typology and difficult decision making involving the meshing of personal characters.
I can’t say exactly how the process will be for any given individual, how pleasant or unpleasant the whole dog and pony show will be, but I do have a few bits of advice on the matter of hiring design/building professionals.
When to hire an Architect/Interior Designer:
- If your project involves approvals from the city. Believe me on this one. DO NOT go this alone. You will want to kill yourself.
- If your project involves a kitchen or bathroom (basically anything involving plumbing and specialty lighting/ventilation)
- If your project involves busting out walls and altering the existing structure. For obvious reasons.
- If you are building ground-up or adding onto an existing structure, especially if you are adding a story.
- If you don’t have the time or the know-how to navigate the kajillions of options when it comes to materials.
- If you can’t quite envision what you really want but know that you need a change.
- Basically, my typical response is: Even if you are an amazing DIY type, if you feel the least bit over your head, hire an architect or an accredited designer.
When to hire a Contractor:
- If you hired an architect/designer, you should probably hire a contractor. Period.
These days, we are all keenly aware of the possibilities that are out there. Whatever our budgets may be, with websites such as Pinterest and Houzz, heck if you Google ‘gorgeous bathrooms’ for example, your brain might explode with all the lovely images, the endless how-to articles and a cacophony of options of what you could do to your home. The client of today is smarter, their tastes are refined, and their expectations of what a professional should deliver is in tuned with the shows on HGTV. (Some expectations may be bit off from reality, but nonetheless, I find that clients know their shit and know exactly what they want most of the time.)
What gets them is the time. The time it really takes to grind it all out. And who has the time to make it all happen the way it should? We all have our real jobs and our daily routines in place. Not all building projects are weekend warrior material. I personally am doing this myself because I love it, it was my profession and basically I have the connections to make it a reality, but still, even with my resources, I don’t have nearly enough hours in a day to get things done in a timely fashion… Building sections? The ones I’m doing for this small house should take a week, two at most. I’ve been drudging through mine for over a month now because I have 2 kids to feed, and bathe and give attention too…
No one REALLY likes dealing with change-orders, time delays and budget crises. The right design/build team can help you navigate those inevitable issues that crop up during every-single-project. Because there is no such thing as a project that goes smoothly from beginning to end. I’ve never heard of one, have you? There are way too many people involved, too many decisions that go with too many trades and way too many purchases that need to be orchestrated just so. And all of this, which should be on-time, on budget, and executed beautifully.
Yea, right.
Do you have time for that?
Bottom line, if you do not have the time to pick all of your finishes and need help ordering things or haven’t a clue how to coordinate the bidding, hiring, and contracting of other licensed professionals needed to get you from ‘point A’ to ‘point Completion’, it’s a pretty good idea to sit down and interview a few architects or interior designers and ask them who their preferred contractors are. Designing and Building is their job. Let them deal with the nitty-gritty. Because a good team is worth every penny!
Dreaming of a completed home someday…
-K
