Learn the Value Of A Residential Architect for Home Construction
A Licensed Residential Architect Brings More Than Design To A Project
Building or renovating a home is a complex job. As a homeowner, having a residential architect on your side is a smart choice. But hiring an architect adds to the bottom line of your project, and many homeowners unfamiliar with the process of working with an architect ask: is it really worth it?
Hiroko Lindsey has worked in architecture since 2004, and owned her own firm, Lindsey Architects, since 2012. She’s made it her mission to bring her client's better, more beautiful, more functional homes totally customized to their needs. For over 15 years, she’s designed people’s dream homes – and then helped them build them without all the hassle and challenges that the home construction and renovation process is infamous for. Today, she wants to show you the value of what an architect can do for your project.
What an Architect Does
An architect is a professional who is specifically trained and licensed to work on the planning and design of buildings. A residential architect is a design professional with the education, training, experience, and vision to best design your home and guide the process of it becoming a real, built facility.
“I work with clients to analyze their site, design their home, and create different drawings for the client, contractors, and permitters,” says Hiroko. But her work doesn’t stop there. Like most architects, Hiroko often serves as project manager, advisor, and advocate throughout the home construction or renovation.
Top 4 Reasons to Hire a Residential Architect
1. Your home is an investment
For most people, a home is the largest or one of the largest purchases they will ever make. More than that, your home is the place where you, and your most beloved family members, will spend the majority of time throughout your life.
Whether you are building a new home or updating an existing one, a good, professionally-produced design increases the satisfaction and value of your home over time. “If it’s going to be your forever home,” says Hiroko, “It’s worth taking the time to get it right.”
Most of us wouldn’t buy a car put together by a random person with no degree, qualifications, experience, history, or time-tested design skills – so why would we do less for our home? Your home should be healthy, durable, well-designed and a perfect fit for your needs. “No pre-made, off-the-shelf design is going to be perfectly customized to a client the way an architect’s work will,” says Hiroko.
2. Greater understanding of your needs
It’s your architect’s job to understand your lifestyle and your needs intimately, and to use that to create a beautiful, creative, functional design.
Hiroko says that the clients she works with often have some idea of the kind of home they want for themselves and their family, but without a lifetime of expertise, they often struggle to translate that into a fully-realized, one-of-a-kind home. More than that, the design needs to work with the natural elements of the site and surroundings, all while factoring in budgets, schedules, building codes, and zoning requirements.
Architects present opportunities not just for realizing your vision, but also for things you couldn’t have thought of on your own and that no stock design could provide. The experience of working with an architect is fully customized to you, just like your home should be.
3. Architects solve problems – and prevent them
An accurate and detailed design helps a contractor to make a more accurate bid – and stick to it. Architects are extremely qualified in site analysis and can make sure the design works with the natural features of your landscape or existing structure, rather than against them. An architect’s work also helps with the permitting process.
Hiroko, who has worked with various permitting bodies throughout coastal New England, creates special permitting drawings for her clients. These drawings are specifically meant to be presented to permitters and contain information and details targeted to and easily read by them. This helps the process go more smoothly and often faster than clients trying to negotiate it on their own, which is especially important for waterfront properties.
A residential architect can identify potential problems with construction, permitting, or renovation before they become stopping points that can turn into costly expenses.
4. Project coordination & contractor negotiations
It’s an architect’s job not just to realize your vision for your home, but to make the process of doing so as easy and smooth as possible. Having an architect as a trusted, qualified advisor on your project helps with your peace of mind and simplifies difficult decisions.
An architect can help with the permitting process as well as the transition to working with a contractor. Hiroko often serves in this capacity for her clients, long after the design has been completed. She serves as an advocate throughout construction, ensuring the accuracy of implementation of the design throughout.
The value of an architect is having a licensed, qualified, experienced expert whose sole job is to plan and execute your dream home. Their work keeps the vision for your dream home moving forward, and their professionalism and polish will be felt every day that you call your architect-designed residence home!
Located on the coast of Maine, Lindsey Architects, works with our clients through every step in the process, from design conception to the projects completion. Our small, dedicated team, provides the personal service that makes the home building process both interactive and enjoyable. To learn more about our services, contact Hiroko at 207-641-9739 or hiroko@lindseyarchitects.com.