The decision with the greatest impact on your final home will be the people you choose to include in your design and build team. There are only a few that are legally required, but there are many more that can have an impact on whether you actually enjoy living in the completed house. Today I want to explore the pantheon of design professionals that you might choose to include and what each of them bring to the table. In very rare circumstances would I recommend to a client that they hire all of the professionals below, but in almost every case do I recommend going beyond the minimum legal requirements. Naturally, each consultant you hire comes with their own design fee, so if your budget is limited it can be more difficult to choose between them to make sure you have selected the team members that will have the greatest impact on what you consider to be important to reaching your stated design goals. If you choose to work with Oxford Architect, I will guide you through the process and set up meetings between you and each of the members of the team you might be interested in working with, but let’s explore each specialty as an introduction to the full breadth of specialties that you might consider hiring: Structural First and foremost, a Structural engineer will be required on any project. Their job is to design the system that keeps the home standing up, and keep it from falling over in an earthquake. There are many ways to create a structural system for a home. A good Engineer will offer creative solutions to problems to help reduce cost and find efficiencies in the design to eliminate the most expensive elements of a design. If you want to learn more about what a Structural Engineer does watch this video: Part 1 and Part 2. MEP The next professional I recommend are the Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineers. This includes two people, MP and E. Each bring value to the home; let’s consider each briefly. The Mechanical and Plumbing Engineer will design the mechanical and plumbing systems that bring modern life’s amenities right into your kitchen and bathroom, and balance comfort in every room in your home. They work closely with both the Architect and the Structural engineer to ensure that every duct run has been considered so that there are no surprise ceiling drops in the final build. All routing is carefully controlled to make sure each room has the balanced air and humidity level that they need for your maximum comfort. They are well versed in modern technologies that installers may be less familiar with and so can help navigate the very technical world of mechanical systems. The Electrical engineer will add up all of the electrical needs of the home, plan out the circuits, outlet & switch locations, specify the panel size, and design circuit loading to make sure that you never suffer from breakers flipping while you are trying to use devices simultaneously. They think through all of the places where power might be needed and make sure it gets there. If you want to learn more about what these Engineers do watch these videos: Mechanical and Pluming Engineer Interiors The next consultant to hire is the Interior Designer. Often a no-brainer for clients, the Interior Designer is up to date on all of the trends, materials, and products that are available in the marketplace. The best ones will walk you through the selection process in a way that makes you comfortable without ever feeling overwhelmed. In addition, a bad Interior designer can blow your budget wide open with selections that are out of alignment with the level of home you are trying to build. Make sure and choose a designer that is comfortable working at your budget level. If you want to learn more about what an Interior Designer does watch this video: Interior Designer Lighting The Lighting Designer can make or break a design. I have often spoken about how the unseen elements of Architecture (light, thermal comfort, and acoustics) are what takes a home design from good to great. Therefore, I recommend considering adding a lighting designer as a high priority. Soft, layered light, circadian rhythms, and the right amount of accent light without being too much, all of this and more are what a proper Lighting Designer will focus on to bring your home’s best features forward. Acoustics As mentioned above, sound can be a major issue and the Acoustician can help you solve it. One of my biggest passions, molding your sound scape is where the acoustician shines. They deal with both airborne and structure borne sound to make sure that sound does not transmit between spaces you do not want it to, and also that the sound within a room has been shaped to elicit the emotion you desire. They work closely with the Architect on wall systems and with the Interior designer on materials selections to ensure your goals are met. If they do their job right, you will never notice. If done wrong however, you will certainly notice through troubled sleep, irritability with loved ones, or avoidance of certain parts of the home. If you want to learn more about what an Acoustician does watch this video: Acoustician Envelope A consultant I have worked with in the past who has brought great value to a project is the Envelope Consultant. I wrote an entire newsletter some months ago about what an envelope is and why an owner should care, but to be brief: the envelope are the walls, floors, and roof that are in contact with the outside. It is the barrier between you and the bitter cold or sweltering heat. Perhaps most critical of all, they will help the Architect detail systems to ensure that mold never grows inside your walls or roof. We build homes tighter than ever before, and without careful consideration for how water vapor and bulk water move through the building, major issues can develop, and quickly. Client Agent At this point the team is getting fairly large. While it is part of the role of the Architect to facilitate communication between all parties, it can be helpful to have someone dedicated to this role so that the Architect can more closely focus on the design. This is where the Client Agent comes in. They will streamline communications, enforce standards and timelines, and give the owner the ability to step back if so desired. It is a great investment if you do not want to be as deeply involved in the full decision-making process as a building project requires. They provide relief between you and the rest of the team so that you are able to mostly communicate with one person instead of an entire team of people. That completes the set of professionals that have the greatest impact on the home itself. Next to be considered is the team of people that will help tie the new home into the landscape, transportation networks, and utilities that bring that home to life. If you want to learn more about what a Client Agent does watch this video: Owners Representation Geotechnical This Engineer tests the land before the build takes place to give you an idea of what kind of soil you have. A surprise to most outside of the industry, but we often find soils that are unsuitable for building, or that require alternative foundation types to mitigate. The Structural Engineer takes this report very seriously. Generally we only utilize Geotech on sites that have not been built on before, or if the Structural Engineer recommends it. Civil It is critical to ensure that water drains away from your home to protect your foundations, and therefore your whole home. This is the Civil engineer’s job. They create the plan for how the land will slope across your entire site. They also configure any roadways and all underground utilities to connect your new home to the wider community. Landscape Now that the land is stable, and shaped we need to both beautify it and protect it from fire in forest fire prone areas. That’s where the Landscape Architect comes in. They are well versed in native plantings that will adapt well to your local climate, and provide shade and beauty throughout the year. They may design in various points of interest such as water features, accent boulders, footpaths, fencing, statues, or monumental signage. The best Landscape Architects have your long-term maintenance schedule well in mind and will help ensure that your property is beautiful the day construction is finished, and 30 years into the future. Beyond beauty is fire-safety. While we want our yards to be lush and verdant, Landscape will help keep your home safe by adhering to WUI standards. This includes keeping planting away from the perimeter of the home and creating a defensible barrier by picking planting that will not grow beyond the designed expectations so that it is both pleasing to look at and easy to maintain. If you want to learn more about what a Landscape Architect does watch this video: Landscape Architect When Should I Stop Hiring People? We could keep going indefinitely by diving deep into various specialty consultants that may need to be coordinated with: kitchen designers, wine room designers, pool designers, the list goes on. Instead, let’s talk about where to draw the line. Each consultant you hire will add time to the design process. Each needs to be coordinated with (either by yourself, the Architect, or the Contractor), their recommendations taken and incorporated into the design, and their set of plans add to an ever growing pile of papers that describe how your final home will look and function. They each add value, but there comes a time where the administrative burden can get overwhelming. Too many experts can be as bad as too few without the systems in place to synthesize their expertise and keep everyone rowing together in the same direction. If you need help choosing which experts to hire for your next home build, reach out to the Oxford Architect. We will sit down and go over all of your design goals and recommend which experts will benefit your build the most so that you can build an agile and effective design team. |
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