Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Architect/bespoke design for (almost) the cost of a proj 21Aug 14, 2014 7:48 pm I have no idea of how to know you have a good architect ... but a mate's parents are a pair of award-winning architects (they've done projects such as the Museum Of Modern Art in Brisbane), and they reckon a good architect should be able to save you what you spend on architect's fees because they know what they're designing is going to cost (both to build and maintain/heat/cool/etc). So there may not be an answer to your question. Certainly stuff like long spans without supports, extra steel requirements, cantilevered rooms which appear to be hanging in mid air, walls of glass (fixed or louvres); these are all exxy. Re: Architect/bespoke design for (almost) the cost of a proj 22Aug 14, 2014 9:44 pm Forg Certainly stuff like long spans without supports, extra steel requirements, cantilevered rooms which appear to be hanging in mid air, walls of glass (fixed or louvres); these are all exxy. Thanks, Forg. That's exactly the sort of stuff I was after. We took our first draft of the concept to a builder over the weekend. The first floor was indented 1.5m when compared to the ground floor on the North and the East sides. The builder took less than 30 seconds to pick it up and said "that will be an extra long span of steel beam needed there ...". We had never thought about it before. It's this sort of things that I want to pick out (possibly remove) from the initial stages before we get too far down the track and get a sticker/quotation shock ... Any thoughts from other forum readers? Re: Architect/bespoke design for (almost) the cost of a proj 23Aug 14, 2014 11:45 pm By "bespoke/custom" design do you mean a house that is just a floor plan heavily customised to your needs or do you mean modern architect-designed? I built a project-"style" home with a small-medium builder in less time and for less money than I would have paid with a big volume builder. The floorplan and facade was all based entirely on the sketches and instructions I gave the builder's subcontracted designer - the tick tack on changes was all handled through e-mail. I only had one short phone chat to the designer. I gave the builder a fairly detailed spec on fixtures / fittings which was largely followed and got itemised pricing from them for all these specs upfront. The house was also built based on a fixed-price contract. If you're willing to carefully spec out what you want ( without going over the top ), you might have some success. Just avoid complex architectural features and stick with techniques the builders are generally familiar with. The spec I gave the builder and the designer as a starting point was about 20 pages. 50% of this was describing what I wanted for each room. The rest was a description of all the elements I wanted itemised pricing on. Once they gave me a first cut at the floorplan and pricing I then picked out of this what 'options' I wanted in the fixed-price contract. ( incidentally double-glazing was one thing I dropped ) Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Architect/bespoke design for (almost) the cost of a proj 24Aug 15, 2014 9:03 am Maximus - Great input. Thanks. By bespoke/custom, I meant customised to our needs. Architect designed is not a big factor for us - We do want to show-case some features of the building, but nothing over the top (I hope). We are looking for things like a double height void over living spaces, coffered ceilings in some areas, perhaps a bulk head feature for the kitchen and some recesses in walls. Your experience sounds like a text book case of exactly what I would like to go through. I will rummage through your build thread. How did you structure your initial spec to the designer & builder? Did you have something to guide you through the topics and content for the 20 pages you gave them?? Re: Architect/bespoke design for (almost) the cost of a proj 25Aug 16, 2014 11:26 pm I structured it into a couple of sections. First a general description of the home and fit / finish then went into a room-by-room description. I also copy-pasted photos of kitchens / bathrooms that I liked. That was to give them an idea of the level of inclusions I wanted them to work from. I also gave them a list of inclusions. The first step was they produced a series of overview floorplans which I then completely reworked to my preferred layout. Once those changes settled down they then gave me a price proposal. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Architect/bespoke design for (almost) the cost of a proj 26Aug 17, 2014 10:09 pm We have just started construction on our "bespoke" architecturally designed house. We overcame all those issues by choosing an architect who is married to the builder! We bounced ideas to her, she bounced them off hubby and we altered design according to cost to maintain our budget. Fingers crossed it all works out for us but I think the builder will be harassed from all sides if things don't go the way we or the architect like it! Our house has been designed to match every need we have and no one is building like we are despite it being the perfect design for the tropics (we are rural Darwin). Good luck Your build is relatively simple, I believe your job can be easily done by a good building designer, you really do not need to pay for the architect. Remember, architect's… 3 10990 I've just had a look at the website. The company are just building broker's. There are plenty of similar companies that basically draw your plans (they own them so you… 8 10947 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That laser level looks lovely! We bought one for less than a quarter of that price off eBay. It worked really well for us and it's still going now, five years later. After… 1 16716 |