Questions to Ask When Hiring an Architect
Although not every construction or renovation project requires an architect to be brought on board, having one can certainly help to make sure that your plans go off without a hitch. But when shopping for an architect, how do you know that you’re enlisting someone who has the right skills and training for the job?
To help, we’ve come up with some of the key questions to ask when hiring an architect.
What Services Do You Offer?
This might seem like a silly question if you’re not familiar with how architects work, but it’s an important one to ask upfront. For the most part, the architect is responsible for schematic design, design development, and creating construction documents.
However, architects can also help you with bidding and negotiations with contractors as well as supervise the project to ensure that everything is being built according to the original plans. So be sure to ask your architect which services they offer and if they’d be OK with only providing the service you need.
How Much Experience Do You Have with This Type of Project?
It’s not usually a good sign if an architect has zero experience with the type of project or renovation that you hired them to take on. So unless you’re comfortable with your building being the guinea pig for them, it would behoove you to find an architect that’s familiar with the work.
Are You Familiar with Wood Frame Construction and Basic Structural Engineering?
The bids that contracts give you will depend largely on the schematics and blueprints designed by the architect. Some architects go into great detail explaining each specification and how every structural component will be created. This helps the contracts better understand any possible issues with the design and allows them to give you a more accurate bid.
On the other hand, vague blue prints or designs that haven’t been thought through will likely cost more to build. So an architect that has experience with wood frame construction and basic structural engineering could potentially save you the headache and cost of issues down the road.
Do You Have Experience with Green Building or Affordable Design?
Whether you’d like to lower your initial costs or the building’s environmental impact, working with an architect that’s experienced in green building or affordable design has its benefits. You can also ask if they carry LEED Credentials. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
Can You Design on a Budget? Is My Budget Realistic?
Some architects are true dreamers. They care more about getting published and winning awards than keeping your project under budget. It’s important to make sure that you and your architect are on the same page in terms of budget. It’s also good to find out whether what you’re asking for is even doable.
Follow these questions and you’ll be well on your way to hiring a great architect for your next project. Contact Scranton Products for all your locker and bathroom partition needs!