Good CDs is the Most Important Thing is about this custom house Architect’s philosophy for providing the best design services possible. CDs= CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS.
Do not be swayed by other entities’ fancy words and imagery and other shenanigans.
Why: It all comes down to: did the Architect create excellent documents that are well-coordinated. And do those documents answer the Contractor’s questions?
Can HOME ARCHITECTS ® provide fancy 3D movies of its projects before they are built? Yes. But they don’t talk much about them, because while this is fun and helps their client visualize their designs, the most important thing is QUALITY CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS.
Why: because those are what the General Contractor and his/her Subcontractors rely on to build the project. And building the project correctly and with the right components are what the owners of the house have to live with for the duration of their lives, or at least for the duration of their time in the house.
It takes a great deal of focus and concentration for the Architect to produce quality, well-coordinated Construction Documents. For a recent 10,000 GSF house in the Lake Toxaway area, Home Architects produced approximately 75 sheets of drawings. Each sheet = 24″ x 36″. That’s an amazing amount of highly detailed information.
So when others only provide you about 10 or even 20 sheets of drawings for a cheap sum, remember this: that minimal amount that you paid them for their mediocre level of documents. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
And you’re going to be paying the General Contractor in the high hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to build your house. Does it make sense to skimp on the set of documents he’s going to use to construct it? No. Not at all. Pay your Architect well, to prepare very detailed and comprehensive Construction Documents. Then your builder will have the necessary instructions to construct your house properly.
What’s that? You think Building Code will protect you? No it won’t.
Case in point:
Home Architects built their home in 2018, with detailed proper documents.
During the construction both the Building Official and the framing subcontractor didn’t know what the Architect meant by TERMITE FLASHING. It’s right there in the NC Residential Building Code. They just didn’t notice it or care and typically didn’t include it. Well, the HOME ARCHITECTS drawings DID show termite flashing and the Architect insisted they install it. After all, he was paying for it. So they were installed.
Think about that: there are many things that ARE in the building code, and yet the building official and the Contractors ignore some of these things. For example: what can happen if there’s no termite flashing?
TERMITES AND CARPENTER ANTS AND OTHER BUGS CAN WALK RIGHT UP THROUGH CRACKS AND CREVICES AND GET INTO YOUR HOUSE AND EAT IT DOWN TO THE GROUND. And your insurance company will laugh at you when you make a claim. Why? Because it was required by building code. If your Architect missed it, you don’t get it.
Now then, are you starting to think about how important a detailed set of Construction Documents is? For you information, Terminix conducts quarterly spraying and inspection of this HOME ARCHITECTS house. They never find live bugs in the crawlspace or inside the house. Wouldn’t you like a bug-free house? Well, make sure you hire an Architect that does a thorough job, not short changing you with a meager set of documents. Your investment in your Architect is pennies on the dollar compared to what you pay your General Contractor and it those Architect’s documents that insure that your builder does a proper job with your millions of dollars.
Make sure your Architect does a comprehensive job.