According to a March 1, 2010 story by Bloomberg reporter Andrew Frye, billionaire Warren Buffet has said in his February 27, 2010 letter about the economy and his company (Berkshire) that the housing market rebound is happening and should be corrected towards the end of this 2010, with 2011 hopefully being a much better year.  “Within a year or so, residential housing problems should largely be behind us,”  said Buffet’s annual letter to his shareholders, in which he recorded his thoughts on the housing market rebound.

Mr. Buffet indicated that he believes one of the reasons for the last couple of years of housing business slump was due to overbuilding.  Berkshire, Mr. Buffet’s company, owns a real estate firm that builds prefab homes and also manufacturers products for house construction.  His firm earned about $187 million pretax dollars in 2009, so he knows something about the home construction industry.  Tom Russo at Gardner Russo & Gardner has Berkshire stock.  Russo said that Buffet has positioned his company for the coming and in-progress housing market rebound.

Those of us watching and evaluating such events can only surmise that if a solid investor like Warren Buffet is using his own company’s capital to ready them for the housing market rebound, that it must be not only coming, but that it is in the process of happening.

Housing market rebound due to existing inventory being consumed.

Mr. Buffet, one of the most successful businessmen and stock investors the world has ever seen, said that the slump during the last couple of years was simply mismatched supply and demand.  He said that the demand for new homes in the U.S. is typically around 1.2 million new homes a year.  But Buffet said that the supply side of this equation was running about 2 million new homes a year being built just a few years ago.  This means that America has been creating about 800,000 more homes a year (66% more) than it needed and we are now working our way through this mass of food heaped onto our plates.  Prices have fallen, but the demand remains, so Buffet feels that during the next several weeks and months, we will see this glut of over stocked homes reconciled with demand.  When this reaches that point, home design and construction will resume and this forms the basis of this housing market rebound.

Mr. Buffet further commented that in areas where overbuilding ran amok, it will take somewhat longer to correct.  His point here is that if a given community has many more homes than the demand called for, then those overstocked homes will need to be purchased prior to more being built.  If you happen to be in an average American community, then hopefully Mr. Buffet’s prediction will be the case in your area.

Another reason for our nation’s economic woes are related to irresponsible loans made by lending institutions.

Logical Things That May Happen During this Housing Market Rebound

If logic has anything to do with learning from our past mistakes, here are some of the things that this architect believes could and should happen to hopefully avoid similar problems in the future and during this housing market rebound:

1.  Lenders should make loans, but to people and businesses that have the ability to pay them back, over time, as the mortgage intends.  Mortgages should be what they were first intended to be: loans to people who want a home, rather than as a Wall Street investment that is marked up and sold for cash to other investment institutions who in turn sell them as “securities” to an unsuspecting public who take it on the chin when bad risk loans default.

2.  Home builders and developers would be advised to have presales of homes they are building before commencing construction.  Homeowners should be encouraged to have homes built for themselves, not as “investments.”  If you get overextended with expensive mortgage loans, and your income drops or is temporarily discontinued, you can lose everything, which starts a cascade effect through our economy.  Better to build homes that people want to live in when the construction begins, rather than viewing these new homes as a way to possibly make a quick buck.

Housing market rebound and your community.

Let’s put this in perspective, shall we?  If you live in a small mountain home community like my family does (Cashiers, NC), and let’s just guess that the annual home buying demand is around 403 homes a year.  Okay, so if we were subject to the same average overbuilding that the rest of America was, then we must have had a construction rate of 66% higher than that demand, meaning that we are presently working our way through 403 x 0.66 = 266 too many homes built that need to sell before a normal construction rate can resume.  Cashiers home sales market data furnished by local Cashiers real estate broker Merry Soellner at www.CashiersNCHomes.com .

Housing market rebound and What You May Wish to Consider Doing During the Present Recovery:

When you are lost in the woods, you may not be able to see the forest for the trees.  In other words, we are IN THE RECOVERY NOW, but we are so consumed with each of our issues we can’t feel it or obviously see it, even though the overbuilt homes are being consumed, one by one, day by day, all around us.  That means the day will soon be coming in your community that home construction will be resuming.

Merry Soellner Mountain Properties, a Keller Williams real estate broker, said that just today their entire staff had a meeting with a SunTrust representative.  This SunTrust loan officer said that the Fed is discontinuing the purchase of mortgage backed securities effective March 31, 2010.  He said that this means that housing mortgage interest rates will soon be rising.

Housing market rebound means we'll be seeing more construction like this. Custom home project of Rand Soellner Architect under construction. (C)Copyright 2004-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

THINGS TO CONSIDER DOING NOW AND THROUGH 2010 TO REDUCE YOUR COSTS ON YOUR NEW HOME DURING THE HOUSING MARKET REBOUND:

A.  Anyone considering building a new home for themselves would be well-advised to obtain their financing as soon as possible, because rates will be rising soon.  It seems that the lowest rates are likely to go is RIGHT NOW.  Understanding this, ACT NOW to obtain your financing for your new home.

B.  If you are considering having home architects design your new home, ENGAGE YOUR HOME ARCHITECTS NOW.  Get them to work immediately.

Comments from Warren Buffet for those who prefer to “wait and see” and make sure times are fully recovered before acting:

“Those who invest only when commentators are upbeat end up paying a heavy price for meaningless reassurance…We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years.  It’s been an ideal period for investors: A climate of fear is their best friend.”

In other words, if you wait until you are absolutely, positively 100% in the middle of the completely corrected housing market, you will get to suffer higher prices for construction, because builders and architects will once again be busy meeting renewed normal demand, once the overstock is gone.  You will also pay higher interest rates for your home construction loan, as rates are starting to go up in the next couple of weeks.  Usually once rates begin to rise like this, they continue to rise through the correction period.  To give you an understanding of what a 3% rate increase in a mortgage note could do to a home whose loan value is $750,000 over 30 years: that could add somewhere in the vicinity of an Additional $553,730 in payments!  You could end up paying another half-million dollars over the life of your loan because you waited for what Mr. Buffet calls: “meaningless reassurance.”  This is based on a present mortgage rate of 6% 30 years fixed rate versus 9%.  Each of your monthly payments would be increased by $1,538.40 because you decided to wait for the “Meaningless Reassurance.”

So what should you do?  ACT NOW.  You have one of the smartest, most conservative successful investors in the world taking advantage of this housing market rebound, why can’t you?  Especially if you have already decided to have a new home designed and built and you were just waiting for the “right time?”  NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME.

Contact for housing market rebound architects:

Rand Soellner Architect  www.HomeArchitects.com 1. 828. 269. 9046

Resources and links for this press release:
Bloomberg.com Buffet article on housing market rebound

10 factors to consider when selecting your house architect:

You are very excited about your property.  It is by a beautiful lake, or on top of a mountain, or overlooking a canyon, or in a nice subdivision.  Now you want a top-notch house architect to design your home.  What do you look for?  Here’s a handy list of 10 things to consider when seeking your house architect:

1.  House Architect factor 1: Do you like the designs this architect has produced to date?  Have you seen his projects on his website and perhaps in person?  Do they stir something positive inside you.  Do they inspire you to want something that sort of looks like that?  Most architects develop a characteristic style of their own over time and they become quite good at that.

2.  House Architect factor 2: Have you had a few phone conversations with this designer?  Have you met him or her in person?  Do you like them?  Sure, they need to tell you about what they do, so that you have the proper information to hire them, but do they also Listen to you?  They need to understand your needs and wishes.  Do you get the feeling that they are getting your message?

3.  House Architect factor 3: Is your prospective architect interested in your site?  Do they have the means to investigate your property, either remotely or personally?  Have they displayed to you an understanding of the possible best views, topography considerations for your foundations and relationships to neighboring properties?

4.  House Architect factor 4: is this person actually a licensed, registered architect somewhere?  Some so-called home-designers do not go out of their way to explain to you that they are not the real McCoy.  Ask.  There is a difference in the level of service you receive, quality of documents and professionalism.

5.  House Architect factor 5: If you have not yet purchased your property, can your prospective architect provide some counsel on the land and location you are considering?  You will probably have to pay for this advice, which is fine.  The question is whether they can give you useful counsel on what might be the best land for you to but, along with reasons that make sense.  For instance, you might appreciate a particular cliff site.  While your architect might also admire the view, he would likely explain that your foundation costs might be significant in that spot.

6.  House Architect factor 6: Does your architect have some background with home value engineering?  In other words, does your possible home designer have a working knowledge of how to get the most bang for your buck?  You may want an all-stone home exterior, but your architect also should know that such a choice on your part will cost significantly more than perhaps a few dedicated areas of stone, and wood siding elsewhere.  That is, unless price of construction is no object.  Is it?  Only you can answer that for your home.  Most people say, Yes, it is important.

7.  House Architect factor 7: does your architect understand how to make your home more healthy than most homes these days?  Do they have any programs that they work under, or have they perhaps invented some initiatives regarding healthy homes to insure that your home will have cleaner air, little to no off-gasing of noxious fumes from building materials, and special considerations to result in an easier to clean home?  Do they have an understanding of indoor air quality as it relates to home design and construction?

8.  House Architect factor 8: Does your architect have an understanding of energy conservation principles for home design and construction?  Do they know Energy Star considerations?  Do they have a green home design section on their websites in which they display this understanding?  Do they understand the relative costs of various home insulation products and their relationship to other construction factors like roof and wall construction and related ranges of costs?  Do they know how to “Go Green For Less?”

9.  House Architect factor 9: Does your architect understand what “green” is?  Not just the marketing hype that is politically correct, but the real, hardcore issues that allow you to participate in decreasing the environmental footprint of your house on this planet?  Can your architect explain to you how this can put money into your pocket over the life cycle of the various systems in your home?  Can he or she explain how this allows you to be a good steward of your community, in addition to have a more durable, better performing house?

10.  House Architect factor 10: Is your architect willing to hold your hand and help you through any phase of the project in which you want their assistance?

Well, that’s ten good things to know about your house architect.  Ask questions, look at their projects and in the end, feel comfortable that you are making a good decision.  Your best choice may not necessarily be the cheapest, but may be the best value.  Value means best services for the money.  Little service for little money is not a good value.  Having your home designed and built is a very detailed, expensive and important event in your life.  Do it properly.  Hire a good architect that will wrap a home around your lifestyle and site like your best walking shoes fit your feet.  Make sure you get a good fit.

Contact for house architect :

Rand Soellner Architect  www.HomeArchitects.com   1. 828. 269. 9046

Today (3/6/2010) we saw the good news that our Green Home Architecture portion of our Home Architects website was ranked #1 in the world.  We are delighted to receive this recognition.  We have labored long and with love creating such green home architecture features as our Green Home Design University.  Our #1 position today was out of about 59 million on the Internet, so this is quite an honor.  Part of this ranking is due to many of you out there whom have chosen to participate in green home architecture programs of ours like the Green Home Design University, Green Home Analysis, our invention: the Green Gauge and other green design features.  This ranking can change daily and quite often goes up and down, depending on the public’s interest in the various subjects on the Internet.

Green home architecture and our planet.

Rand Soellner Architect is concerned about global warming, the carbon footprint caused by construction activity and about energy conservation in home design, construction and operation.  This is why we have gone to the lengths we have on this website to create a Green Home Architects index and the various pages to which this refers.  This index allows the public to come to our website and go to a series of green home architecture webpages.  On each page, you read and learn about green subjects, then answer a few questions to help you know if you have understood what you have read.  Then, you go to the next green home architecture module, and the next and continue until you have reviewed them all and answered all of the questions.  In return for your diligence in finding out about green home architecture, we then provide the means for you to download a Certificate of Green Home Design Understanding.  We also provide a badge for your website that you can download, that tells the world that you have taken the Green Home Design University course of study.  This is just one of the Rand Soellner Architect website’s green home architecture features.

Different portions of the Rand Soellner Architect website vary in their ranking from day to day.  The Soellner firm = home architects and the company has several sub-specialties.

Green Home Architecture is #1 today.

Google and other search engines have a host of factors that they use to analyze the worthiness of the millions of websites on millions of subjects.  The Soellner website traffic has been steadily increasing and we thank you for that.  Please keep coming back to see what new features we have installed, as we are always adding something, especially under the subject of green home architecture.   Today, green home architecture is #1, and actually so are several other of our website aspects.

Timber frame architects is also #1 today.

We were also delighted to see that our website was ranked #1 today under the term: timber frame architects.  This is related to green home architecture, as timber frame components are about the “greenest” you can get on the planet.  They are made of trees, which are the ultimate in recycled construction components.  Why?  Because there is low embodied energy to make a timber post and beam.  Mother Nature does most of the work, then in a few seconds, a large harvesting machine cuts it down and another tree seedling is planted.  Then there is a short trip to a sawmill and some cutting occurs that takes a few seconds.  The final steps take place in the timber framer’s shop where a German machine called a Hundegger routs into the timbers for mortises and also sculpts the other surfaces of related timber members to make the tenons.  Please see our timber frame architects or post and beam architects webpages for more information on this.

Rand Soellner Architect has a specialty in green home architecture.

As you can see by the above examples, our firm specializes in green home design.  We recommend recycled materials, low embodied energy products, energy conservation procedures and healthy home design features.  Rand Soellner Architect founded the Healthy Home Design program.

We hope to be of service to you, the planet and other green organizations over the decades.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or have a project in which you might wish to consider our participation.  We also welcome affiliations with major Green Organizations to co-promote green educational programs.

resources and links for green home architecture :

green home architects
Forest Stewardship Council: http://www.fscus.org/
Green Home Design University

Architects residential or residential architects. They all design homes for you.

We created this post to help people find architects residential or the same thing: residential architects. The meaning is the same. You are looking for architects who design residences.

Architects residential may just be one way that people type into their browsers first a main professional term: architects, then a specialty: residential.  Either way, we are here to help you find what you need: house design.  Our company is all about designing homes.

Some people may ask is there any difference between the terms: “home” and “residence?”  No.  There is no difference.  The word “residence” might sound a little fancier, but in architectural terms, there is nothing to differentiate them.

So why are we bothering to talk about this?  Because, according to Google statistics, about 19,000 of you actually type “architects residential” into your browsers each month, globally.  Sounds kind of awkward to us and we can’t imagine anyone using those words in a normal conversation.  But you are going to type in what you wish, regardless of how it sounds.  We are here to help you find what you are looking for and we know that you mean: home architects and that is what we are and what we do.  So let’s take a brief look at who some of these designers are, whatever you chose to call them, shall we?

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this article with a link from anchor text on your website (architects residential) to this post.

So you are seeking architects residential.  Here are a few:

Architects residential. One of Rand Soellner Architect's rustic homes in the Blue Ridge Mountains. (C)Copyright 2005-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Architects residential 1.: Rand Soellner Architect.  This firm specializes in designing custom homes.  Rand Soellner Architect is synonymous with rustic elegance.  Soellner designs timber frame homes, post and beam homes, mountain homes, log homes, castles, mansions, cottages, lakefront homes, Arts and Crafts homes and also designs family village estates for extended family compounds.

Architects residential 2.: Gwathmey Siegel & Associates.  This company designs elegant, ultra-modern white, mainly rectangular, flat-roofed commercial and residential projects.  They were the architects for the large addition to the New York Guggenheim Museum.  They enjoy creating very contemporary homes as well.

Architects residential 3.: Phillip Johnson.  Mr. Johnson was a contemporary of Mies Van der Rohe, who championed the rectangular glass box approach for modern architecture in the United States in the middle of the 20th century, along with a clarity of design detailing.  Mr. Johnson’s own glass house in Connecticut set the stage for a new type of glass house designs in the 20th century.  Rand Soellner happens to appreciate Johnson’s house, even though Soellner doesn’t design homes that look like this.  Frank Lloyd Wright once visited Mr. Johnson there and said something like: “Okay Phillip, here I am standing in your house, but am I really inside or outside?”  This is paraphrasing.  Mr. Wright’s point had to do with the nearly total plate glass enclosure surrounding the house.  Wright was all about establishing a warmth hearth area in his homes and struggled to understand Johnson’s interesting solution.  Mr. Johnson’s work is primarily commercial, with such projects as the AT&T Building in New York City.  He enjoys designing homes as well.

Architects residential 4.: Mario Botta.  This modern architect’s work is primarily commercial, and was strongly

CC Belinzona Fernmeldedirektion, designed by Mario Botta.

influenced by the French architect LeCorbusier in the early to mid-2oth century.  A home of his was featured in a nice coffe table book about scenic homes along with several of Rand Soellner’s recently.  His home project was contemporary in design, in Switzerland.

Architects residential 5.: Steven Clack AIA/NCARB.  Steve Clack was an employee and professional associate of Rand Soellner’s who worked on about half of Jurassic Park (Florida) with Mr. Soellner several years ago.  Steve happens to be a respected associate and friend of Soellner’s.  They collaborate on architectural projects from time to time.  Mr. Clack is in the Orlando area and designs homes, renovations, hotels and other multi-family structures.

Contact for architects residential:

Rand Soellner Architect:  www.HomeArchitects.com 828. 269. 9046    randsoellner@earthlink.net

tags: architects residential, residential architects, cashiers, timber frame architects, post and beam architect, log home, mountain home, luxury residential, arts and crafts, mansion, cottage, highlands, lake toxaway, atlanta, asheville, hendersonville, brevard, burbank, san jose, la jolla, puget sound, new hampshire, maggie valley, rustin home design, teton, bozeman, bainbridge island.

links and resources:
The American Institute of Architects

In February of 2010, the Rand Soellner Architect firm launched the ground-breaking Green Home Design University online on their company’s website: http://www.HomeArchitects.com .  The purpose of this “green design university” is to make available to the public “green” information about home design energy conservation, recycling, construction practices for a cleaner environment, and selection of home features that reduce the carbon footprint on our planet.  This green design university focuses on home design. 

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this post with your anchor text: Green Home Design University.

The term “university” in this context refers to an online course of study; it is not a bricks and mortar physical place.  It is a virtual educational center, online.   There are about 20 modules or webpages, each on a different subject having to do with energy conservation or governmental programs like Energy Star, or natural materials home architecture, and related subjects.  This green design university has a series of simple questions at the bottom of each webpage of information, typically about 3 questions, so the demands are not great on one’s time.  The answers are below the questions, so everyone attending this green design university are on the honor system.  It’s all about gaining knowledge and green understanding.  This is not an accredited university or course of study.  The purposes are informational and for entertainment and social and environmental responsibility.

Where to go to find the Green Design University

Click here to be taken to the Green Home Design University starting page: Green Home Design University .

Green Design University Certificate of Green Understanding

When you have read all of the modules and successfully answered all of the questions, you can printout a handsome Certificate of Green Understanding suitable for framing and hanging on your wall, as testimony to taking this course of environmental & architectural studies at the green design university.  This is the “gold star” that website visitors can earn and proudly display.

Simple and easy online course of study at the green design university

Each study module and questionnaire takes about 10 to 15 minutes.  The entire course of study might take 2-1/2 to 4 hours or so.  The beauty of it is that you can stop wherever you want to and return later as you wish.

Cost of taking the course at the green design university

Environmental responsibility, energy conservation and the Green Design University.

Zero.  Zip.  Nada.  Nothing.  Why?  The Rand Soellner Architect company wants to help provide useful information for clients, contractors, other architects and designers and the public in general.  Why? As part of their self-imposed obligation as architects,  members of the American Institute of Architects, and members of the design community to help improve the situation in which our country and world finds itself.

Contact for green design university :

Rand Soellner Architect   www.HomeArchitects.com   828. 269. 9046

tags: green design university, green home design university, home architects, green home architects, timber frame architect, post and beam architect, cashiers, energy efficient, energy star, atlanta, asheville, hendersonville, brevard, franklin, waynesville, charlotte, chicago, new york, denver, whistler, boulder, tacoma, portland, seattle, mobile.

Links and resources:  
green home architects
timber frame architects
post and beam architects
log home architects
custom home architects
mountain home architects

Sure, it’s nice to be paid for what you do, but another payoff is the delight you see in your clients’ eyes and voices when they begin to understand what you have designed for and with them: their timber frame home.  And a timber frame home is a wonderfully warm and substantial place to have as a house.  The sense of permanence and the openess of the structural system in a timber frame home provides qualities that you don’t see in many other residential projects.

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this press release with your anchor text on your website of: Timber Frame Home.

One of Rand Soellner home architects specialities is the design of a timber frame home for each and every client that wants one.  Some clients end up requesting a hybrid solution, as a real, pure timber frame home costs more to fabricate and build than a conventionally constructed home.  Rand Soellner Architect produces what clients request, after they understand the implications of their choices. 

What is a timber frame home?

Timber frame home structural members.

Timber frame home designed by Rand Soellner, (C) Copyright 2005-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Timber frame photo, fabrication and assembly by Jeff Johnson Timber Frame, Inc.

A timber frame home is a structural system of posts and beams that form the primary support of a house.  Posts are vertical, sometimes called columns.  Beams are horizontal, and there are also joists and girders which are horizontal.  Joists are the smallest of wooden horizontal spanning members.  In a home, these might range from 6×8s to 12×12s.  Girders are the largest of horizontal solid spanning members, bigger than beams.  Girder support beams.  Beams in a timber frame home might range from 6×12s to 12×14s.  Timber girders in a timber frame home are rare, as finding a straight, solid tree that large is hard.  For instance, wanting a girder of say 18′x 36″ would be just about impossible to find, as that would be an absolutely huge tree, that would likely be hundreds of years old to get that large, and not yet have been harvested.  It would also be expensive.  Expensive to buy the tree, if you could find it, expensive to haul it to the sawmill, because it would weigh tons, and expensive to transport on a flat bed truck on the highway to the project site.  Perhaps something like this might still be available out of Douglas fir in Wyoming, Washington State or Wyoming. 

Timber frame home girders and trusses.

A more efficient and less costly way to support loads that a timber frame girder might hold would be to use a timber frame truss, custom designed for the span, loads and beams and joists framing into or onto it.  This would weight much less too, because it is not entirely solid.  A truss, timber or otherwise, works by efficiently separating the top chord of the truss (the top horizontal member) from the bottom chord of the truss (the lower horizontal member) by several inches or feet.  This places the top chord in compression and the bottom chord in tension.  Wood is fairly effective at dealing with both of these forces, if properly braced.  And this intermittant bracing is provided in the form of struts.  These struts are shorter pieces of wood (in a timber frame truss) that connect the top chord to the bottom chord.  These struts can be vertical and diagonal and are normally a combination of the two geometries, whether or not the top chords are flat (horizontal) or sloped (as in the case of a roof plane).  Metal, typically higher strength steel plates and bolts can be used to secure the struts to the chords, or in a pure timber frame truss, most timber plants perfer to use the time-honored wooden peg connections, glued and hammered through bore holes made through mortise and tenon connections where each strut meets each chord.

Timber frame home mortise and tenon connections.

Timber frame home hammer trusses spanning long distances. Castle home designed by Rand Soellner Architects, (C)Copyright 2005-2010, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Timber frame photo, fabrication & erection by Jeff Johnson Timber Frame inc.

It so happens that the above described mortise and tenon with pegs connection is also the primary method of connecting posts to beams in a timber frame home.  Also, in a timber frame home, there are often diagonal braces of smaller timbers, usually at a 45 degree vertical angle, strengthening the post-to-beam joint.  These smaller timber braces are generally provided at key locations to brace the frame of timbers (hence the term “timber frame”) against wind and other structural forces, such as possible earthquake lateral movement.  The fact that this type of timber frame bracing was used on ocean-going sailing ships made of wood is testimony to the types of lateral and racking forces that this diagonal bracing joint was capable of handling.  If a very heavy tall sailing ship with scores of passengers and heavy gear could resist hurricane force gales out on the high seas, tossing and turning this way and that, this sort of bracing certainly would be effective at dealing with mere high winds and an occasional tremor for a stationary structure.

Some of the history behind timber frame home connections.

With trans-Atlantic ocean trips taking 2 to 3 months, and with little else to occupy carpenter’s time, other than looking at the details of the vessels on which they sailed, is it any wonder that these craftsmen incoporated details like these into their homes once they arrived in America in the 15th through early 20th centuries?  It is this author’s belief that shipwrights from Europe often became timber frame home builders in America in this era.  In fact, in the Biltmore mansion (circa 1896) in Asheville, many European craftsmen were brougth to America to work on this home and they possessed these skills.  Once the grand castle was complete, they continued to ply their trade in other structures and timber frame homes in the area and across the country.

Today’s timber frame home and home architects.

In today’s world, a timber frame home should be designed by home architects having the skills and experience to create them.  Rand Soellner Architect happend to be one of these rare home architects.  He can design a timber frame home for you.  First, he listens to your wishes for your new home.  Then he creates plans based on your requests, then he examines structural spacings that work with the lifestyle and plans developed around how you want to live.  Historically, it was not done this way.  Typically, most timber frame and post and beam homes are created with a heavily regimented exactly equal bay spacing of posts, in a precise grid configuration.  This appeals to the sense of order most structural engineers possess. 

Timber frame home architects and timber frame engineers: different approaches.

This is why God made engineers and God made architects.  A timber frame home architect like Rand Soellner first considers your lifestyle and how you want to live, then adapts the bay spacings of the timber frame to work with that, wrapping the structural system around how you want to live.  Do you see what a different approach this is?  Soellner begins with your desired lifestyle, then establishes post spacings, not before.  That way, your special large canopy bed fits in your master suite.  That huge oven can be accommodated in your kitchen.  Your home gym equipment fits.  Your dining table fits, and no posts in the wrong place to run into while walking around in your timber frame home.  This  really is a unique way to approach the design of a timber frame home.  A home architect’s method that starts with a focus on how you want to live.

Some of the advantages of a timber frame home.

Timber frame home designed by Rand Soellner Architect, with Rand's trademarked "Grand Canyon-Dor." (C)Copyright 2007-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

The advantages of a timber frame home start with the aesthetics.  They are beautiful.  Most of the timber frame posts and beams are usually inside the timber frame home, although front and rear porches can have some expression there, as there are no walls typically there  to conceal the posts and beams.  Another advantage of a timber frame home is that there can be glass, doors, walls or windows between the structural posts.  So, if you want to have lots of glass, a timber frame home lets this happen.  Structural support is focused at the posts, so you can have really big views (tall and wide).  Rand Soellner uses his trademarked “Grand Canyon-Dor” with his timber frame homes.  The doors have mutiple sliding glass panels and makeup a 12′ tall x 22′ wide area that can be opened for views.  Now that’s a VIEW!  The timber frame systems Soellner uses at locations like these allow for this to happen.

Contact information for timber frame home:

Rand Soellner Architect:  www.HomeArchitects.com   828. 269. 9026

resources and links:
timber frame architects
post and beam architects
home architects
log home architects
mountain home architects
custom home architect

tags:  timber frame home, timber frame architects, home architects, post and beam architect, castle architect, log home, mountain home, aspen, mansions, cottage, rustic home design, mansion, vacation house, whistler, vancouver, cashiers, atlanta, asheville, charlotte, chicago, jackson hole, nashville, reno, las vegas, lake tahoe, lake lure.

And, what’s the difference between home designers and home architects?

Rand Soellner Architect = home designers.  Home designers, however, do Not = home architects.  The reason?  The term “architect” is licensed by various states in the United States of America.  The term ” home designers ” has no licensing or educational requirements whatsoever and has no regulation.  Also, most architects these days have advanced degrees in architecture from major universities.  For instance, Rand Soellner Architect has both Bachelors and Masters degrees in architecture from the University of Florida and U of F Graduate School of Design.  He has chosen to specialise as a home architect.  This also means the term: home designers falls under his firm’s skillset.
 

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this press release with your anchor text on your website of: Home Designers.

Home Architects can be home designers and they design small, medium and large houses.

Because the AIA (American Institute of Architects) has analyzed all types of projects and knows what project types are complex and detailed and what projects are simpler, it may be interesting for you to know that the AIA ranks home architecture as one of the most detailed and demanding types of projects possible.  Why?  There is usually a lot happening per sf (square foot) and per cf (cubic foot) in a house.  Also, the clients (you, as the homeowner) are justifiably demanding in what they want to have happen in their house.  Not as simple as a large warehouse or office building for thousands of people on one floor.  Most homes have 1, 2 or 3 main floor levels and mutiple interior and exterior stairs and steps.  Many homes have detailed aesthetics with beam projections, intersecting roofs, many windows and doors to allow you to enjoy your views, large kitchens with detailed cabinetry and appliance requirements, sumptuous master suites with posh bathrooms, mutiple fireplaces, multi-vehicular garages, porte-cocheres, outdoor living/ cooking/ dining and even outdoor sleeping porches.  There can also be complex screening and weather protection requirements, boat docks, driveways, neighborhood regulations, utility connections and other requirements that combine to result in a demanding series of duties for your home designers / home architects. 

This is pointed out so that you are urged to hire a real architect to be your home architects to handle the challenge of designing your residence.  Would you hire a person without a medical degree, decades of experience and a proper medical license to perform surgery on your body?  No?  Theh why would you hire someone with no society-recognized qualifications to design your home?  The very thing in which you and your family huddle when feet of snow dump on its roof and hurricane winds howl outside.  Don’t you want a properly qualified Professional designing your house?  You are the one that needs to decide this.  What do you and your family deserve?

Rand Soellner AIA/NCARB is both a member of the AIA and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.  He also is an Energy Star Partner with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  You don’t see skills and qualifications like this from mere “home designers” who are Not also architects.  Why?  Because it is hard and takes a lot of skill, intelligence and dedication to become a real architect.  The pass-fail rate when Rand Soellner passed his architectural exam in 1982 was only about 20% passing at that time (he passed on his first attempt).  He became certified by NCARB in 1990 (that usually takes about a decade of successful, spotless professional practice).  Do not be fooled by any other organizations. 
Look for these 4 things in your home architects / home designers qualifications: 
1.  State license that says they are an architect, at least in one state (Soellner is licensed in multiple states and his NCARB certification allows him to become licensed in just about any state in the USA through reciprocity). 
2.  preferrably a University degree, preferably with a Master of Arts in Architecture.  Soellner has this.
3.  AIA membership.  Soellner has this.
4.  NCARB  certification.  Soellner has this.

Large, medium and small home designs and home designers size definitions:

One of Rand Soellner's compact cottages. (C)Copyright 2008-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Now then, now that we know that home architects can also be home designers, but not vice-versa, let’s talk a little about the SIZE of home designs:  Large, Medium and Small.  What do these mean, exactly?  Well, different people believe different things about what words mean.  In home designers language, this list may serve to explain what home architects / home designers believe them to mean:
Tiny: 390 hsf (heated square feet) to 600 hsf
Small: 1,000 hsf  to 1,300 hsf.
Medium-Small: 1,350 hsf – 1,950 hsf
Medium: 2,000 hsf to 4,000 hsf
Large: 4,500 hsf to 6,500 hsf
Huge: 7,000 hsf to 16,000 hsf +

You may have different interpretations as to what these large, medium and small breakoff points are for you.  It really is just semantics.  The above is according to www.HomeArchitects.com (Rand Soellner Architect’s firm), as licensed professionals and leaders in this industry of home designers. 

Rand Soellner home designers create comfortable lakefront houses, rambling giant mountain castles, and cozy compact cottages in your home town.  The Soellner firm is also green home architects, making a daily “tweet” on Twitter as the “GreenHomeArch” (Green Home Architects), and also as the HomeArchitects.

Home designers creating small, medium and large houses for you.

Rand Soellner home designers created these timber frame trusses for a project just completing construction now. (C)Copyright 2007-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Now for the even more important question: Who will design my house of these various sizes?  Well, for one, Rand Soellner Architect has no particular size requirement for your project in order to become a client.  He delights in creating residences of all sizes, be they: tiny, small, medium-small, large or huge.  It really does not matter to him.  He has experience designing them all.  So do not be sheepish about approaching his company to be the home designers for your residential project.

Contact for home designers / home architects :

Rand Soellner Architect : www.HomeArchitects.com   Phone: 828. 269. 9046

Links & Resources:
mountain home architects
timber frame architects
post and beam architects
green home architects
rustic home design
log home architects

tags:  home designers, home architects, atlanta, houston, whistler, asheville, hendersonville, sylva, waynesville, mountain mitchell, franklin, highlands, cashiers, brevard, etowah, rosman, mills river, greenville, lake lure, lake hiawassee, lake burton, vancouver, las vegas, orlando, jackson hole, chicago, new york, philadelphia, burbank, dallas, bainbridge island, puget sound.

Rand Soellner home architects on Twitter discuss Home Architects and Green Home Architects GREENTIPS every day of the year.  Some entities have even linked to us as a daily feed for Green Home Architects GREENTIPS.  Lots of people have joined Twitter, the social media phenomenon that is sweeping the nation and the world.

What’s the big deal?  It actually sounds like a great way to waste your time.  How would we, as home architects on Twitter see any value at all in such a thing?  Log on, see what others are talking about and add your 2 cents worth from time to time.  As if anyone cares what you think?  Well, sometimes people do.  So be careful what you say.  Be polite and generous in your judgments of others.  Remember: the entire world is watching what you have to say!  And everything you say is out there for the entire world to see.  So try to think of intelligent things to say that add some positive bit of enlightment for the rest of us.  Home architects on Twitter are now part of it.

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this article from your website, from the anchor text on your website of: Home Architects on Twitter.

Tweets on Twitter.

You have only about 3 lines of text +/-, which is 140 characters.  That’s it, buddy.  Your posts are called Updates and these are called “Tweets.”  Each tweet cannot exceed 140 letters, numbers, punctuation and spaces.  So you have to learn how to be brief and to the point.

Twitter and its purpose: for home architects on Twitter and not.

Do not try to use Twitter for spamming the world about stuff you want to sell.  Of course, we all want to market our goods and services.  Just give something interesting for people to read and link to, before you start slamming them with Buy My Stuff tweets.  No one will look at tweets like that anyway and you will likely get the boot from Twitter admin.  This is primarily created as a social networking tool.  And yes, that includes business to business and business to customers.  But do it with some class.  Create something of valuable interest in your tweets if you want to use it for business.  That is the reason people might look more closely at what you have to offer.  Kind of like when we are young (or not) and dating.  Have something interesting and attractive to offer before you try to get down to business.  Be nice.  Be informative.  Home architects on Twitter is trying, by providing links to nice project pages that have useful information about homes in which Twitter users are interested.

Twitter Follows and Retweets.

Others will Follow you and that is a real complement.  When they do, you should either follow them, or at least RT them.  RT stands for “ReTweet,” which is when you rebroadcast their latest tweet, which gets them noticed more and also gives them a little backlink.  Backlinks are the currency of this Google Age and the better your backlinks and the higher Rank, the higher your own website ranks, so it is good to have people like your tweets and then RT you.  You cannot compel anyone to do this.  So you have to have something compelling in your tweets.  Something that impresses someone else so much that they will take the time to RT you.  So: be interesting and be nice and dispense something of value to others every time you post a comment (Update is what that is called in Tweetology).

Green home architects on Twitter.

Home architects on Twitter : here is the link to another page on our website discussing this subject further, if you might be interested: green home architect.  Why do we do this?  Well, for one thing, we really believe in green architecture and in trying to make the world a better place.  The information we post on Twitter often has to do with Home Architects, green home architects, green home architecture, energy conservation, recycled materials for homes, home construction waste management and the like.  We also have fun sharing information about timber frame architects and post and beam homes and other aesthetic issues.  Only you can decide if you might want to create something unique for you on Twitter.  You might try experimenting and see if you think it is worthwhile for you.

Enjoy and have fun Tweeting!

Social media tags:  home architects on twitter, green home architects, timber frame architect, home architects, denver, burbank, houston, jackson hole, teton, beverly hills, sacramento, canada, japan, chicago, telluride, boston, new york, charlotte, newnan, atlanta, savannah, jacksonville, lake lure.

Contact for home architects on twitter:

Rand Soellner Architect  www.HomeArchitects.com 828. 269. 9046

resources and links:
http://twitter.com/

During the last couple of months, some of our clients may have noticed that we have updated our website theme and company logo, to better reflect what we are: Home Architects.  As part of these improvements, we have installed home architects live chat.  Please take a look in the upper right hand corner of this website.  There, you will see the following choices:

CONTACT US

LIVE CHAT

SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS

Each of these gives you the ability to communicate or otherwise contact Rand Soellner Architect.  Contact Us takes you to a page on our web site with our mailing address, e-mail address and other means of contacting us.  Live Chat will take you to a page that opens a virtual communications device that sort of looks like a cell phone.  If we are online, it will indicate our presence and you can IM (Instant Message) us with whatever you may wish to discuss.  This home architects live chat is a handy way for clients to swiftly ask us a question or talk to us in real time in a text format.  Subscribe Via RSS is our website’s RSS feed and it allows you to link it to your computer so that you won’t miss anything new.

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this article from your website, from the anchor text on your website of: Home Architects Live Chat.

Favorite home architects live chat.

We recommend that you mark our main homepage: www.homearchitects.com as a Favorite on your computer, so that you can conveniently return whenever you wish.  We also suggest that you Favorite several pages on our website that may be of interest to you.  Further, if you Favorite our RSS feed, you will be constantly updated.

To our knowledge, we are the only home architects live chat in the world at the date of this publishing.  This is just one more way that Rand Soellner Architect is working to keep you informed and allow you more means than any other home design firm to contact us.  We welcome your work, so we welcome your contact.  We take our role seriously and appreciate your desire to have access to us, when you need to tell us something or ask something.  We have all dealt with companies whom we have paid to do something for us, only to find them difficult to find when we wanted or needed to talk to them about a concern.  Rand Soellner Architect enjoys home architecture and appreciates you as a client and we do everything possible to give you the responsiveness you desire when working with your home architects.  Hence: home architects live chat.

To contact home architects live chat and other services:
Rand Soellner AIA/NCARB
Rand Soellner Architect
www.HomeArchitects.com
828-269-9046

Social media tags:  home architects live chat, custom home architect, timber frame, post and beam, cashiers nc, highlands nc, asheville nc, atlanta, buckhead, lake lure, denver, las vegas, beverly hills, burbank, houston, dallas, portland, seattle, chicago, indianapolis, castle, cottage.

Your mountain house architect will capture views like this for your mountain home. Photo by Jim Wilson. (C)Copyright 2005-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

How about a mountain house architect to design a mountain home for you and your family?  Does that stir something inside you?  make you feel giddy?  Give you a feeling of resolve that one day you too, will be one of the lucky people in the world with a mountain home?  It can happen.  It begins with two things:
1.  Your decision to make it happen.
2.  A phone call or e-mail to a mountain house architect ——>

5 Tips for Hiring Your Mountain House Architect

Your mountain house architect will design a home for you that captures your lifestyle, views and dreams. (C)Copyright 2005-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Photo by Jim Wilson.

Pretty simple, isn’t it.  Once you have a mountain house architect, he will take care of the details for you and point in the right directions for things that need to happen.  Once that happens, you will have a Project.  Your mountain house architect should be someone who has special skills  and experience in the design of mountain homes. 

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Anyone is hereby licensed to Link to this article from your website, from the anchor text on your website of: Mountain House Architect.

Here’s a list of credentials to verify of your mountain house architect :

1.  Does your mountain house architect have a website that is plentiful with information about mountain homes, their design, their construction, their foundations, roofing, layout, windows and doors, siding, mechanical, lighting and other systems?
2.  Does your mountain house architect have articles that he/she has written or been quoted from and featured in books, magazines and newspapers and social media blogs worldwide?  Like: Twitter, House With A View, Facebook and other magazines and blogs that feature information about mountain homes, green home architects and other related information?
3.  Is your prospective mountain house architect available when you try to call them and/or e-mail them?  Do they respond swiftly?  If not, and you are trying to hire them, imagine what it will be like during the actual project.
4.  Is your mountain house architect interested and eager to undertake your project?  Enthusiasm is important.
5.  Can you visit your mountain house architect in one or more of their mountain homes?  You should see, in person, the results of their designs.

Your mountain house architect will design your home's systems so that soon, you too can be watching your home under construction. (C)Copyright 2004-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

There are more things, but this will get you going.  Rand Soellner Architect satisfies all of the above requirements and more.

Contact for mountain house architect:

Rand Soellner Architect  www.HomeArchitects.com  828. 269. 9046 randsoellner@earthlink.net

Social media tags: mountain house architect, timber frame architects, post and beam, mountain home architect, cashiers nc, highlands nc, asheville, atlanta, hendersonville, greenville, buckhead, lake lure, hollywood, california, iowa, denver, jackson hole, el paso, austin, charlotte, chicago,  jacksonville.