How to Choose an Architect for Home Renovations
Not everyone will have to choose an architect for home renovations, but for major jobs this is a distinct possibility. If you love your home you are bound to love it even more after doing some home renovations. You have probably been dreaming of and planning for these renovations for a long time. You might have worked overtime to save up enough to pay for them and you have paged through every single home and garden magazine to pass through your local bookstore searching for ideas. Now that it is finally time to start your renovations, the most important step is going to be choosing an architect. While you have a pretty good idea of what you want, you really aren't a building expert. You don't know what's possible and there could be circumstances or situations you haven't even imagined. Your architect will collaborate with you to achieve the renovations you want while working with contractors to see your project through to completion. Make sure you choose the right guy for the job.
Shop Around
Interview as many architect as possible. Making renovations to your home is a big deal. It can be very expensive, and obviously you are deeply emotionally invested in your house. Do not hesitate to interview dozens of architects to talk about your ideas and get a sense of which ones you like. The architects you speak to should be very understanding about your concerns. If an architect seems to get impatient when you say you are still in the interviewing process, move on. On the other hand, if you are usually the type of person who just buys the first pair of jeans he tries on, you need to exercise more patience when searching for an architect. Interview at least three before you make your decision, even if the first one seems fine.
Discuss Your Ideas
Discuss your ideas with all of the architects. You know what you want from your home renovations. You don't know if your dream is possible, though. Tell the architects what you are imagining and see how they respond. Don't choose an architect who tries to talk you into making much more extensive or costly renovations than you want. Your architect should listen to your desires, offer you his own opinion, then tell you if your plans are possible and about how much they will cost you. Don't work with an architect who does not seem to completely understand your goals, or one who just has very different taste from you. You should also be wary of any architect who makes you promises that seem to be too good to be true, especially if several other architects have already told you that something is not possible or prohibitively expensive.
Make a Budget
Create a budget. Architects are often very creative. Most of them can probably imagine all sorts of really cool renovations you could make that hadn't even occurred to you. Unless you are made of money, though, you should probably stick to your original plans. Don't let someone convince you into taking out a huge line of credit or a second mortgage you weren't planning on.
Background Checks
Check your architect's qualifications. Always choose an architect who has experience with the kind of renovations you are making. Your architect should provide you with the contact details of previous customers. Contact these people and ask them whether they are satisfied with the work, whether the architect was easy to work with and if they ran into any problems with their own renovations. You can also try googling your architect's name to check for potential bad reviews from customers he didn't put you in contact with.
