10 Things Your Architect Won't Tell You

Updated and adapted from the book "1,001 Things They Won't Tell You: An Insider's Guide to Spending, Saving, and Living Wisely," by Jonathan Dahl and the editors of SmartMoney.

After slumping for several years, homeowner-improvement spending appears to be at a cyclical bottom and is likely to rise steadily through 2010, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity released in March by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing. Spending may not come back to pre-boom levels, but homeowners are once again planning improvement projects. Bringing in the right architect can mean the difference between dream home and disaster area. To ensure the former, first make sure your architect is licensed — and not just someone with an education or background in architecture.

And be on the lookout for fakes. Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation charged a 48-year-old man with falsely representing himself as an architect and practicing architecture without a license last month. The Hagerstown, Md., man faces up to 12 years in prison. And in October, a Prince George’s County grand jury indicted another man of practicing architecture without a license, among other offenses.

Consumers should verify whether someone is licensed to perform a particular service. To locate licensed architects, start with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Also look for membership in the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which has its own code of ethics. Check with your state’s licensing department to make sure the person you want to hire has the appropriate credentials for the job. Finally, ask for referrals to get a sense of how well an architect works with clients.

Hiring an architect can add thousands to the cost of a home-improvement project, which is a lot of money when your project is relatively small — converting a garage to a game room, say, or expanding your kitchen.

Architects will argue that they offer expertise that will make any addition, however small, flow better with your house. But many experts say it’s often overkill. “If the project is entirely interior to the house, as long as you’re not moving windows or adding to the footprint of the house, you may not need an architect at all,” says Chris Sullivan, founder of C. C. Sullivan Strategic Communications, a communications-consulting firm for the architecture and construction fields.

The ultimate authority, however, is your local municipality’s housing department; some may require architect-stamped drawings in order to get a building permit, while others might let you give your drawings directly to a contractor. For small projects, you may be able to use an interior designer or, if you’re doing just one specific room, a kitchen-, bath-, or even basement-design specialist. To find a qualified designer near you, check out the web sites of the International Interior Design Association at www.iida.org, the American Society of Interior Designers at www.asid.org, or the National Association of the Remodeling Industry at www.nari.org.

While you can get a good idea about an architect’s sensibilities by looking at his past projects, it’s up to you to make sure what parts of his style you do and don’t want to surface in your home.

To help avoid unpleasant surprises, talk in as much detail as you can early on about what you envision. Before you even select an architect, do your own research. Clip photos from magazines or the Internet so that when you do meet with a prospective architect, you can show the kind of thing you like. You should also understand why you like the images, says Jay Brotman, partner at Svigals + Partners, an architecture firm in New Haven, Conn. “If you show your architect a big kitchen, he’ll understand you like to live in your kitchen. You may not get the exact detail – it’s the feeling of the space we feel is more important,” he says.

Finally, if you’re part of a couple, make sure that you and your partner agree on aesthetics beforehand so you can present a united front.

All architects must follow the International Building Code, a system of building regulations established by the International Code Council. They also have to comply with state-level codes – which are modifications of the ICC’s – as well as local jurisdictions’ regulations. Say your remodel includes an extension that would move your house five feet closer to the property line than your local municipality allows before requiring a zoning ordinance. Your architect might not be familiar with the local jurisdiction’s property-setback requirements.

Not having knowledge of local zoning ordinance requirements could result in the redesign of a project, which might cause delays, says Thomas FitzSimmons, an architect in Great Neck, N.Y. Every locality has its own rules and your architect should know about them.