A Look At Working With An Architect When You Renovate Your Home
If you're planning a major renovation of your home, you'll probably need the help of an architect. Your contractor needs plans to work from and you need help envisioning the changes you want to make. Here's what to expect when working with an architect.
Share Your Ideas
The architect's job is to help you create a home you love, so your input is crucial. However, the architect can help you realize what will work and what won't based on the structure of your house. In many cases, it's possible to do what you want through adaptation. For instance, you may not be able to knock out a wall without leaving behind support columns. Your architect will learn what you hope to accomplish and combine that with the details of your home's current construction to come up with a design plan. The architect will visit your home, go over old building plans, and consider things like natural lighting and the surrounding landscape when coming up with a design.
Make A Design Plan
The next step is to put a plan on paper. The first design won't be the actual blueprints because changes need to be done and finalized before the official plans are created. A design is a rough sketch of how your home will look after the renovation is complete. This gives you the chance to see how the changes will look so you can make adjustments if you want to. Your architect might even create a virtual model of your home that you can view on your tablet or computer that allows you to have a better look at the design from different angles.
Create The Building Plan
Once you've approved the design, then the building plan is made that the general contractor will follow during the renovation process. Your architect may work with the builder while the work is ongoing to make sure the work is done according to the plan and to act on your behalf. The building plan contains the blueprints for your renovation that can be given to the city if required and used to pull permits to get the work of renovating your home underway.
Architect services are essential when you want to make major changes to the structure of your home. The plan may not be as involved as they would be when building a home from scratch, but the work must still be done in a way that is structurally sound and in accordance with your vision so you'll be happy with the results.
Share