Who Should I see About My Design
Many people make the decision to build a new home and their first thought is
“Who should we go and see about this” Often they choose a builder because “that’s what we are doing right, building a new house” It’s as old as “What came first, the chicken or the egg”. Builders sometimes offer a design service and those that don’t will often direct enquiries to a design professional. You must be careful that whoever designs your new home understands your brief and has your interests at heart without a conflict of interest.
What are the options?
Project Builders are builders who have their own designs to offer to the public. They may have a range of designs pre-drawn and priced ready to go on your land. They have inbuilt cost savings and fixed finishes. They are usually the most cost effective way for people to build a home close to what they are looking for and prove to be a very popular method of building. However they are often have limitations on the finishes and options offered within the set price and the amount of customization for each design. Being a set design their suitability for each individual site can require considerable earthworks or customization of the design along with associated costs which is where they start to lose their competitiveness and the need for a custom designed home becomes viable.
Design professionals such as architects, building designers and drafters will apply their years of knowledge and experience to design a home that answers your brief, fits your site, works with your site regarding issues of topography, privacy and often incorporates sustainability, passive solar design and energy efficiency. They work for you and not the builder or the land developer or the bank. They can also offer various design solutions regarding the choice of building methods, materials and finishes selections. Their fees are transparent and not built into the price of the home.
We will examine each design professional separately to help you decide.
Architects:
An architect must be qualified and registered to practice in Australia. They have usually completed a 3 year full time or 6 year part time university degree or similar and have studied subjects such as architectural design, philosophy of design, communications including reports and specifications, graphics, computer applications including 3D modelling and B.I.M. documentation, architectural history, mathematics, physics, structural systems, building or construction methods, materials and their applications, building law and may offer specialized services such as interior design or landscape architecture as part of their architectural service.
Architects will most likely offer design and documentation services covering various aspects of your brief such as compliance with regulations and structural adequacy and include services such as tendering, contract preparation and administration. Occasionally they will also offer services from specialist disciplines such town planning consultants, structural engineers, land surveyors, quantity surveyors, lighting, energy efficiency or heritage consultants with the architect heading the team.
Some architects specialise in areas such as education and institution buildings, hospitals, hotels and resort accommodation etc. An architect will advise you as to the needs for your project and guide you through the various stages of design, documentation, approvals, construction with contract administration through to completion and post construction.
If you’ve seen a building or residence that you really like for whatever reason then try to find out who designed it and seek them out as you obviously connect with that design professional.
