Welcome to another round of Saturday Morning Home Repair Blogging, where experts and amateurs gather to share advice, war stories, and encouragement. Every so often, there's a little mockery, but only of homeowners long past as we fix up their stupid messes.
Follow me after the fold for some advice on choosing and working with a design professional.
I'm a licensed engineer by day, so I like to think that I bring some value to the process. However, we all have horror stories of design professionals (architects, engineers, etc.) who turn out shoddy work that's impossible to build, not in compliance with codes, or otherwise fatally flawed. I've occasionally done it myself. So what to do?
First of all, ask yourself if you need a professional. Claude doesn't need an engineer to design adobe walls, and you might not need one either if you have expertise in the project. Find out if you're required to use an architect or engineer for your project, or if you can be your own for a few days. Tools like Sketchup (see last week's comments for some good examples) make it fairly easy to make your own drawings if city or county code allows. Always keeping in mind that your safety depends on you knowing what you're doing.
So now you've determined that you need professional help. How to find a good one? First of all, go with word of mouth. If you know a contractor, ask them who they've used to get good plan sets. Believe me, they'll know. Same with anyone who's used an architect for their own remodel. If all else fails, go to Angie's List or another ratings site.
Once you're in the office, give the architect or engineer a good job interview. Ask them for references for both contractors and projects, and follow up. Does the building look like a dog puked on a train wreck? Did the contractor really use the plans or just kinda wing it off of what he thought the architect meant? Did the architect actually show up on site and see what happened to the paper he produced? Professionals who do not get out of the office will likely not give you a product you'll be happy with. Nothing focuses the mind like a guy in coveralls asking how the hell you think he's supposed to build this piece of crap you designed. Ask me how I know.
Finally, once you select an architect or engineer, be sure you communicate what you want out of the project. You should get some concepts early on, since people rarely know what they like until they see what they don't like. Look them over carefully and write down everything you want changed. Re-working plans because you forgot to mention something early on is frustrating and time-consuming for both sides.
I'll be around in a little while. In the meantime, what are you working on this weekend? If you have a good (or bad--those are usually funnier) story about an architect or engineer, tell it to us. I'll start off with an old engineer joke:
How do you tell an extroverted engineer?
When he's talking to you, he looks at your shoes instead of his.