Most people wouldn't take a six-week Australian
vacation during a major home renovation. But then
again, most people aren't as confident about the
roles of architects and contractors as Leo Butzel
and Robbie Reaber, a retired Seattle couple who have
updated their 1950s waterfront home four times since
1989.
Ms. Reaber and Mr. Butzel had already redone
their blue-tiled bathroom with modern green slate
surfaces and remodeled their kitchen and dining area
by the time they tackled the master bedroom in 1995.
But while they'd worked directly with contractors on
the bathroom and kitchen projects, they knew that
their ambitious plans to reverse the master bedroom
and bathroom -- flipping the adjoining rooms around
to different sides of the house, and moving walls,
electrical outlets, and plumbing -- would require
hiring an architect.
"The contractor wanted the architect's drawings
because it was a major job," says Ms. Reaber.
Because reversing the two rooms would require
changes to the house's plumbing structure, as well
as new walls and electrical outlets, Ms. Reaber says
the architect and contractor communicated closely
during different phases of the project. After
hearing the couple's idea about switching the rooms,
the architect generated drawings and remained in
contact with contractors.
"The majority of the architect's work was done,
maybe two-thirds done, before the contractors
began," she says. "We had total faith in the
contractor and architect." She and Mr. Butzel were
able to relax abroad while plaster flew back home.
Architect or Contractor?
This year, Americans will spend $175 billion on
face-lifting -- in some cases, fork-lifting -- their
homes, according to the National Association of the
Remodeling Industry (NARI) in Des Plaines, Ill. The
figure represents a 20% growth in remodeling
spending since 1999. Yet, despite that growth,
consumer's confidence about how to work with
architects and contractors hasn't necessarily
increased. Ms. Reaber's and Mr. Butzel's confidence
are the exception rather than the rule.
"People no longer feel they have to live in a
home as it is when they bought it," says Gwen Biasi,
NARI's director of marketing communications. "Homes
have become many people's hobby." But whether that
hobby calls for knocking down walls and
reconfiguring floor plans, or simply updating
lighting fixtures, flooring, and countertops, hiring
outside help to do the work can confuse homeowners.
Architects are necessary whenever a home
remodeling calls for changing a home's "footprint"
(making an addition, or altering room sizes and
shapes) or making major changes to plumbing,
electrical, or heating systems. Architects will
explore a homeowner's lifestyle and use of the
house, assess the house's structure, and draw up
construction plans that address both the owner's
desires and the structure's requirements. Depending
on their city's codes, homeowners may also need to
submit plans with an architect's seal before
beginning work.
On the work side, contractors actually execute
architects' design plans, rolling up their sleeves
and doing the installation and building. Many
remodelers can hire contractors directly without
using an architect. This is especially true when the
project involves replacing appliances, surfaces,
cabinetry, or other built-in furnishings or making
additions within a single room (a loft for children,
an extra closet) but not breaking down existing
walls.
Homeowners who work with an architect ultimately
have to hire contractors (directly, or through the
architect) to do the work, while those who go
straight to contractors often learn that contractors
want the advice of an architect before proceeding
with changes. It's possible to hire a general
contractor to oversee a multistep project that
subcontractors can address -- pulling out all of a
room's cabinetry and appliances, rewiring the room,
then installing new cabinets and appliances, for
instance.
But some homeowners skip the general contracting
and go direct to subcontractors -- a process that
might save some money, but could extend a project's
time frame, according to Mark Brick, president of B
& E General Contractors Inc., Glendale, Wis. "If you
don't know the proper procedures, it's often useful
to hire a general contractor," says Mr. Brick. "He's
your quarterback."
Of course Mr. Brick would think so: He operates a
so-called design-build firm, which employs both
architects and designers under one roof and handles
projects that cost $75,000 and higher. Design-build
firms account for 20% of NARI's 6,000 members, and
their numbers have grown slightly in recent years.
These companies attempt to blend the best of
architecture and general-contracting businesses
under one roof.
Mr. Brick says that going to an architect for
designs and drawings but hiring general contractors
separately can lead to higher costs, since an
architect's design fees may not include the cost of
general contractors' work. An architect alone, he
says, can't control the cost of contractors --
meaning a client could get a dream design that is
ultimately too expensive to execute. Going directly
to a general contractor might be faster, he says,
but could still lead back to an architect if
subcontractors run into trouble.
"Our advantage is we can work within a client's
budget," he says. "Because we do the full realm of
the work, we can make suggestions that make a
project workable." Architectural consulting and
drawings account for only 2% of his firm's typical
project costs, he said, with contracting and
materials representing the rest.
Key Question: Why Are You Remodeling?
Some of the confusion about whom to hire, says
NARI's Ms. Biasi, may stem from the different
reasons homeowners remodel. Ms. Biasi attributes the
remodeling boom to the country's aging housing
stock, much of which was built during construction
booms in the 1950s and 1970s. Homeowners often
remodel old homes out of structural necessity -- a
maneuver that often requires an architect's help.
Many also choose to make additions rather than buy a
new home. Ms. Biasi says that in 1999, the most
recent year data are available, 5.1 million out of
44.4 million remodeling projects involved additions
to a home's original footprint.
Of course, many remodels simply address aesthetic
changes to a home -- replacing appliances, flooring
and cabinetry or counter materials -- that can be
handled by contractors alone. Kitchens and bathrooms
are the most frequently updated rooms, she says,
because they're the most used rooms in a house and
the most likely to look worn or outdated. The color
and material of appliances also changes from year to
year. Right now, built-in wine racks or wine cellars
attached to kitchens are in vogue, as are
solid-surface (versus Formica) countertops. "The
rage for the last three or four years has been
stainless-steel appliances. People have made their
kitchens look commercial," Ms. Biasi says. "But in
10 years they'll want to change that."
Prior to their bedroom remodeling, Ms. Reaber and
Mr. Butzel enjoyed researching their own home
designs and hiring contractors through word-of-mouth
-- a process aided by Ms. Reaber's prior job as an
accountant at an architecture firm. At one point,
the couple even fired a kitchen designer and
replaced her ideas with computer-aided-design
software renderings.
For some projects, architects and contractors
say, acting as your own general contractor can be a
manageable process. Elaine Chen, a 34-year-old
advertising executive in New York, took this
approach. Ms. Chen, who budgeted $25,000 to renovate
the 900-square-foot Manhattan condo she bought last
year, took blueprints from her 1970s space and made
her own decisions about what she calls a
top-to-bottom remodel of its kitchen and dining
area.
"I want to replace the linoleum floors, all the
appliances -- including my brown 1970s refrigerator
-- and add a dishwasher. I also want to put in all
new cabinets, and create a breakfast bar that cuts
through the wall dividing the kitchen from the
living room," she says. "Since I'm the kind of
person who really enjoys researching home design...I
don't think I need an architect," says Ms. Chen, who
hasn't completed the project. "Architects can also
help you source materials, but since my budget will
only allow for mass-market cabinets from Home Depot
or Ikea or the like, there's not much they could do
there to help."
She already has located contractors through
friends. Among them: the doorman who outbid rivals
for a job sanding her floors. Ms. Chen says she
wasn't sure if he's licensed as a contractor, but
her condo association includes him on an approved
list of repair and remodeling vendors. So given the
board approval and his bid, she felt confident.
Architects Speak Up
Ms. Chen's approach irks architects like Bryan
Welty, of Welty & Associates, Dallas, who believes
architects can help with more than just major home
remodels. Mr. Welty is so concerned by the
perceptions that architects produce only artsy and
expensive designs for big-ticket remodels that he's
launched a Web business called virtualarchitect.com
to market architects' services for a broad array of
remodeling projects.
"The perception is that rich people bring in an
architect for any job and that most other people
don't need one," he says. "A well-trained homeowner
who knows what he or she wants can get by" without
an architect, he acknowledges. "If you're building a
couple of closets in a bedroom, maybe you don't need
one."
However, he says, consulting an architect isn't
always expensive. For instance, his firm worked with
a family that wanted to build a wall replacing an
entry between a kitchen and dining room. They got a
$200 estimate from a contractor willing to build a
plain wall between the rooms. Then they approached
Mr. Welty, whose firm designed a dividing wall with
built-in benches on either side, a plan that made
creative use of space and cost $400 -- a price that
included the $200 contractor fee. The family used
the architect's plan.
David Grellier, a British architect based in
Bremerton, Wash., who spent several years working in
contract and design roles while applying for his
American architecture credentials, frequently gets
calls from people who just want to hire him for
consultation or for design alone -- for which he
charges $2,500. Typically, he works on home remodels
that cost $25,000 and more. "You hit problems when a
builder thinks he or she knows more than they really
do," he said. "A good builder knows when they've
gotten in over their head."
That was the case with Mr. Butzel and Ms.
Reaber's builders, who wanted advice on their 1995
bedroom remodeling. These days, Ms. Reaber says, she
and her husband are "done" with making changes to
their 1950s home. She likes to show guests the
effects of the remodeling they've completed over the
years, including the way the master bathroom and its
whirlpool tub offer a view of the water and access
to a deck that was once steps from the bed.
"We bought it for the view," Ms. Reaber says.
"We've really changed everything."
-- Ms. Doherty is a free-lance writer in Seattle
From:
Real Estate Journal: Home Improvement website
