Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 17, 2012 2:13 am For those building custom homes, did you first get sketches done by an independent architect or designer, or was the design done by the builder's inhouse designer? We have chosen 3 builders to quote for us and have spoken to one of them so far. Their inhouse designer drew up concept sketches but it deviated from my specifications without actually improving on my ideas. I guess it will take a few discussions to get it right, and I don't relish repeating this process with 2 more designers from the other companies. So I imagine it would be simpler to get the design done once by an independent designer/architect & then get quotes on the one design. It will cost a bit more, but may be worthwhile. Will I get a better design this way? What was your experience? What is your advice please? How do I find a good designer? Thanks! Re: Who designed your new house? 2Oct 17, 2012 2:41 am We started off going to builders and making changes to their plans...weren't happy with that as what we wanted wasnt being produced! So then decided to find a company that draws them up for you and then tenders out the plan to a few builders. i was put off this as the guy we spoke to never looked me in the eye once..but instead something else...so no thanks! Next step was drawing up our own plans on some graph paper. we had a good idea of what we wanted and it wasnt too difficult. MANY versions were drawn...each one getting closer! Doing this meant we could take our plan to different builders to be properly sketched up and quoted. don't be scared to let the builders know this. We are happy we went this way Re: Who designed your new house? 3Oct 17, 2012 2:48 am Oh and i forgot the most important bits...if you do it yourself you own the plans and can take them anywhere and get ideas from the builders you go to for quotes and its free!! If you go through a drafting company they own the plans and you pay thousands. if you aren't happy with the quotes you get and want to try other builders you may have a problem...one of my workmates got stuck in that situation! Re: Who designed your new house? 4Oct 17, 2012 4:58 am Hi,
We basicly when through the following steps and we already owned our own block of land.. 1. Worked out what the maximum dimensions (external) could fit on our block and a budget to work with. 2. Sat down and worked out what we wanted in our house ie. Number of bedrooms, double garage, open plan area, theatre room etc. 3. Visited every builder’s web site we could find and studied their on-line plans. 4. Went through a lot of display homes with notebook and measureing tape in hand and took down notes. 5. As we couldn't find anything to fit our requirements I drew up a house plan using a application. (http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/pro ... ner-suite/) Its not free but there are other basic programs on the web that are. 6. Visited as many builders at their display homes and took a copy of my plans and asked if they could build it and to supply a quote with their standard inclusions. Well thats us.. my current progress on my building is linked on my sig.. Cheers Re: Who designed your new house? 5Oct 17, 2012 8:37 am kylie40 ...Their inhouse designer drew up concept sketches but it deviated from my specifications without actually improving on my ideas. I guess it will take a few discussions to get it right, and I don't relish repeating this process with 2 more designers from the other companies. You will find that no matter how many designers you talk to, they all will try and incorporate some of their own ideas into anything you want them to start with. The measure of their professionalism will be how they take having their ideas rejected and how willing they are to include your own specific requirements. One tip though, listen to the advise they do give and ask them to explain everything so that you understand (I assume you’re not a builder, neither am I). From the explanations’ you’ll get a feel as to if their reasoning for something is purely an aesthetic ‘thing’ they want or if it is a practical or construction issue. kylie40 So I imagine it would be simpler to get the design done once by an independent designer/architect & then get quotes on the one design. It will cost a bit more, but may be worthwhile. Will I get a better design this way? Simpler.... it is and it isn’t. Yes, you’ll only work with one designer/architect but you are locked into their philosophy/design ideals. Also, if you get to a point where you are not happy with the architect you started with and part company, be careful when approaching your next designer/architect with the old plans (as they will have some features you like) as the original architects may hold the copyright to the original plans. It will cost more – no question, if you go to an architect then the sky’s the limit and in my past experiences with a few of them, they don’t have a firm grasp of costs and reality. Home designers are less expensive and seem to have a more realistic view of current costs, I’ve never used one, but my parents have used the same one in Newcastle for their last two builds very successfully. kylie40 What was your experience? What is your advice please? How do I find a good designer? Lourance approach sounds pretty good. Our experience has been pretty similar. We have our block and a current survey plan of it. I’m a draftsman (not house’s though) so I designed up what would fit the block and in the style we liked. We approached a smaller builder who does have some of his own plans but is more than willing to build what we want. He and I have now massaged the design (he removed some un-constructible things I wanted and added a few other details that were needed that I’d not considered). Also, he has provided the colour consultant (50% through that process) and meetings with tiling, flooring and kitchen companies to make all the selections needed to complete the fixed price contract. Word of mouth seems to be the best way of finding a designer. First contact with a potential designer/architect – A couple of key things to ask. 1) Of the last 10-20 designers done, how many were built? There are plenty of stories of people spending thousands (especially with architects) to get a design done only to have it independently costed and completely blow the budget. 2)Ask for a list of their last couple of designs that were actually built and the contact details of the owners so you can check what the experience was like for the home owners –it will be positive but with a few leading questions you’ll be able to find out if the architect/designers estimates were accurate, if the design was ‘buildable’, how much support was needed from the architect/designer to the builder during the build, etc. ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Who designed your new house? 6Oct 17, 2012 8:21 pm Thanks everyone! All helpful. I have drawn up my own fairly detailed floorplans, but we have decided to speak to an architect to get an expert opinion on my plans - make sure I haven't done anything stupid, answer my questions & quandries about technical stuff, and hopefully come up with a few improvements. We have made an appointment with an architect service which provides a 3 hr consultation and concept sketches after 1 or 2 weeks for about $1400, and we keep copyright of the design. I feel like this is sort an insurance, or I guess more an assurance that my design ideas are sound & workable. We met with a second builder today, a local one recommended by an acquaintance, and showed him by plans. He said it's very similar to one he recently built which was designed by the draftsman he works with, & that we should look at it. Turns out to be the house of the acquaintance who recommended the builder! Re: Who designed your new house? 7Oct 17, 2012 8:30 pm We knew roughly what we wanted. So drew a a freehand plan until we were happy with the concept. We then transferred this to graph paper so that dimensions then become more accurate. When we were happy with all this, we finally went and had plans drawn. We used our own ideas, building company ideas, and various suggestions until we were happy. We owner built and are know happy with what we got, as we have designed, built, and now own our own house. For the fourth time! Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Who designed your new house? 8Jan 30, 2013 2:23 pm Quote: We have made an appointment with an architect service which provides a 3 hr consultation and concept sketches after 1 or 2 weeks for about $1400, and we keep copyright of the design. I feel like this is sort an insurance, or I guess more an assurance that my design ideas are sound & workable. UPDATE: That service was a complete waste of money & time! The 'architect' we met couldn't answer basic questions like how much set-back do we need to allow on each side of the house and seemed to know nothing about solar orientation. Instead of using the 3 hrs to get a full brief or discussing the plans I had, he insisted on wasting time, drawing up his own ideas - without asking what we want or need, so he had no useful input. Time was up so I had to email our brief to him for him to draw up the plan we wanted. I made a typo in my brief specifying bedrooms to be 6.6m long instead of 3.6m long so his sketch was unusable - which was my fault. Even if he'd done it the right size it would have been no more than what any draftsman could do, as we got no input or advice from him. We have now found an architect who specializes in cost-effective sustainable design & is someone other architects go to for thermal comfort star ratings etc. So, although costly, it could save us in building costs and running costs. He can also advise us on products & tell us how hot each room would get - so we can determine whether or not we need air-con upstairs (which has been in debate b/n my hubby & I). We've just had our introductory meeting, so we've yet to see if he's all he's cracked up to be. Re: Who designed your new house? 9Jan 30, 2013 2:30 pm kylie40 Quote: We have made an appointment with an architect service which provides a 3 hr consultation and concept sketches after 1 or 2 weeks for about $1400, and we keep copyright of the design. I feel like this is sort an insurance, or I guess more an assurance that my design ideas are sound & workable. UPDATE: That service was a complete waste of money & time! The 'architect' we met couldn't answer basic questions like how much set-back do we need to allow on each side of the house and seemed to know nothing about solar orientation. Instead of using the 3 hrs to get a full brief or discussing the plans I had, he insisted on wasting time, drawing up his own ideas - without asking what we want or need, so he had no useful input. Time was up so I had to email our brief to him for him to draw up the plan we wanted. I made a typo in my brief specifying bedrooms to be 6.6m long instead of 3.6m long so his sketch was unusable - which was my fault. Even if he'd done it the right size it would have been no more than what any draftsman could do, as we got no input or advice from him. Gosh how annoying, sounds like he was a total douche. GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Re: Who designed your new house? 10Jan 30, 2013 3:26 pm It is disappointing that your first contact with an architect ended up like this, an unfortunate experience but in a way a good one. You can now gauge your next designer against the last to get a much better feel for if he/she is leading you astray early on. Designer #2 sounds a bit more switched on but without wanting to cast a dampener on him straight away, ask for a schedule of rates up front to get a true idea of what his service is going to cost. Good luck with number 2! By any chance was the first guy a contact provided by ArchiCentre? ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Who designed your new house? 11Jan 30, 2013 3:40 pm we had an idea of what we wanted spoke to a couple of builders that really just wanted to follow their ideas including one builder who told us that they had other more important clients and for the home we wanted we would need to forget kitchen etc. then we came across adenbrook homes spoke with the owners the sales people and their designer. told designer exactly what we wanted in a home sizes of rooms etc and he came up with the home we are building in a couple of days awesome work. he even came up with the idea of split level to suit the block everything we wanted in the home came within our budget and he was very nice and even came to our land to look at it, Re: Who designed your new house? 12Jan 30, 2013 4:34 pm I think Talking to an architect is a waste of time if you don't know what you want because they will have absolutely no idea of where to start and will mostly do their own thing which is fine, some people don't have a clue and just let the architect do what they want creatively, I'm not that person. I like just popping into an architects office or draftsman and if they are happy to go through a few things and have a chat before you give them any money it's usually more worthwhile then someone who will charge you just to get in the door and chances are you'll work better with the other person. You'll know instinctively if it's a good fit. I've spent 6 months working on our plans and researching everything from cost effective ways to build and environmental ways to build and then working out how to put it on the land. I pretty much have my house designed, I just need to go to a draftsman to get it drawn. Things I can't determine, for example the roof designs, I'm in consult with the builders to find out. My best friend has been a tape measure and my own house. I can go into my hallway and say this is too small, measure it and figure out how big I would like it to be. Same with kitchens and toilet rooms and that sort of stuff. There are heaps of programs that help you design a floor plan but my first 6 or so were done on graph paper. Look at real estate websites, most of them have floor plans online with measurements so you can look at how big the average room sizes are. My builder specialises in eco design which is really helpful to have the building expertise AND eco knowledge. It's pretty refreshing in a world where a lot of the, don't care two shakes about the environment. Ultimately though it is what you are most comfortable with. For instance our builder said we could probably do all our elevations and drawings ourselves using sketch up but I am not comfortable doing this for council so I will pay the 1500 for the draftsman to do it right the first time. He'll pretty much be doing exactly what I tell him though and there won't be too much of his own design skill involved but i think by the end of it it will have been a group effort between the builder, the draftsman and myself. My partner doesn't care as long as there is internet and a dishwasher. Blog http://tobuildahomeimprobable.blogspot.com.au/ Settlement Apr Council Jul Contracts Dec Earthworks Dec Frames Jan Trusses Feb Roof Feb Windows Mar Yes well there solution is to blame everyone else while I a 65yr old woman with major medical problems have to just continue to boil water and wash myself in a bucket… 2 15998 If you make sure all taps inside and out are turned off, what does the water meter show if you leave it for a while. 2 20230 13 6605 |