You just got home from a getaway with the family. Eagerly you head off to your recently built home office suite - and own private haven. Shoes left at the door, you sink your feet into the fitted shaggy and take in the last of the paint fumes. Looking around you suddenly freeze in front of a scary thing just above the sliding door. ‘’Please let that be a rain spider, I’ll never complain again.’’  It’s a crack!

Going back into the house is not an option. Rather, you go sit with kitty in back garden where there are no ‘’I told you so’s’’.  The thing is, you decided to manage the builder yourself in order to save money. Your wife’s friend, the architect and know-it-all, was going to charge extra to supervise. The assured you the engineer overdesigned the foundations as the addition next door did not require steel reinforcing.

‘’Baby! I was looking for you in the man cave! Did you see the massive crack? And what’s that smell in there?’’  ‘’No, what crack!’’ You sniff your feet.

Next day, you are sitting at your desk. ‘’Hey there! I was asked to come check in here!’’.   It’s Know-it-all at your door.  She walks in and peers around. ‘’Phew you can slip your credit card in that crack. But wait, you gonna need it!’’ She walks around inspecting top and bottom of the walls.   ‘’What’s that mouldy smell?’’ She finally stops, leaning over the back of your chair.  ‘’Black mould! No waterproofing to retaining wall as per my plans.’’

You thinking ‘’My haven is crumbling and I’m going to die from black fungal lung infection….but not before I kill the builder!’’

Later, you find out the architect refuses to issue her completion certificate for the purpose of occupation, as required by insurance. You only have a COC from the electrician. She asks for: plumber’s certificate, engineer’s certificate, waterproofing guarantee, roof agrement certificate and all the items for the regulatory energy efficiency certification: low e glazing, roof insulation, hot water pipe insulation, max allowed lights’wattage and eco geyser installation.

You call your builder to fix everything at his cost. He responds that those items were never included in his bill of quantities. Also, he can’t guarantee the zen garden held by the new retaining wall; the fitted carpet; the shower tiles and the copper pipes will survive the corrective works.

You move your office to the guest bedroom, next to the playstation room, for 2 whole months! Groundworks, wall chopping, angle grinding, dust, new tiles, new gas geyser, damaged rug, pipes corrected, roof strengthened, plumbing altered, and all works repainted.  The engineer requires underpinning foundations with reinforced ones, otherwise he said you can add expansion joints top of sliding doors to hide the ever-moving cracks – but no certificate for that option. Geyser and sliding doors are also replaced with correct ones. You give away the old ones.

All corrections are finally completed. Bare feet in shaggy again. The only smell is the new paint. You have all your certificates including the occupation from the council.  Life is great, until your wife walks in and places a piece of paper on your desk. The final cost analysis.

Over and above your architect’s minimum qualifications, which is their renewed SACAP registration and the supply of energy efficiency documentation, you should expect the following added values: accounting, legal, interior design and psychological. You may have to pay 30-80% more for the experienced architect but their fee is negligible in relation to the values gained.

Accounting:

• Unnecessary areas add unnecessary costs: A well thought out design yields maximum usable area for the least amount of circulation space. Save thousands on an optimised plan by using a professional who is skilled at making spaces flow effortlessly into each other.
• Value for money finishes: Pick your architect with a flair for combining value for money finishes that yield stylish and timeless results. They will know where to acquire competitive prices and should pass their supplier discount to you.
• Payment certificates: If your architect manages your building contract, they must protect your finances by approving the correct amounts due/withheld until final completion.
• Resulting market value: The more experienced your professional the more successful your design and quality of built work. A better building naturally holds a higher market value.

Legal:

A thorough understanding of the national building regulations is essential. The structure, its sizing, finishes and fittings require minimum specification by law. Insurance companies take regulatory approvals, certification and finishes into account when determining a claim for damages/injuries. Understanding contract law is essential for the strict management of a building contract. Please read my blog: The Principle Agent.

Interior Design:

Comprehensive design sketches must take furnishing into account. The size, function, position and approach to your furniture is fundamental to the design. Should you appoint an interior designer they will have ease working with such plans.

Psychological:

Have you ever noticed how a space influences your feelings and behaviour? The built environment impacts one’s lifestyle, movement and mental /physical state. A top architect knows exactly what questions to ask their client, analyse their household’s lifestyle, then complement and improve on those. Successful is the building project where the owner remains, year after year.

I conclude with a quote from Alain de Botton’s ‘’The Architecture of Happiness”: "We need a home in the psychological sense as much as we need one in the physical: to compensate for a vulnerability. We need a refuge to shore up our states of mind, because so much of the world is opposed to our allegiances. We need our rooms to align us to desirable versions of ourselves and to keep alive the important, evanescent sides of us.’’

Based at my own home office and having designed plenty such spaces, I have pleasure in sharing my experience. For obvious reasons, the need for this is reaching a tipping point with our latest global situation.

Provision has already been made in our building regulations for ‘’Home Enterprises’’. The Consolidated Johannesburg Town Planning Scheme 2018, which incorporates 17 other municipalities, provides, amongst other items, that:

• The floor area of the home enterprise may not exceed 25% of the total area of the house or 50m2, whichever is the lowest.
• The principle of the business must reside on the property
• 2 additional staff members, who do not reside on the property, may work on the premises
• The home business may not affect the neighbourhood negatively with regards, for example, noise, air pollution, considerable increased traffic etc.

Some advantages of working from home are:

• Added work time as traffic is avoided
• Reduced transport costs
• Reduced office property/operational costs
• Tax benefits for home-based offices
• Access to office at any convenient hour
• Practical access to household

Working from home does come with its challenges, but these are easily eliminated:

Motivation to go to work: A comfortable, well designed office with correctly placed functions, a desirable colour palette and the inclusion of personal favourite items can make one look forward to sneaking away to their own private think space.

Disturbance by household: Although its practical to have an internal link to home, it’s also too practical for the rest of the household. I advise the provision of an external door - not only to eliminate disturbance, but to connect to outside/public spaces. The office is ideally situated on roadside of house, especially if client visits are necessary.

Amenities:  It may be desirable to visit your home for coffee breaks.  These, however, may invite your household to disturb your work time. A small beverage/snack station, for yourself and clients, works well.  A guest loo close to office is ideal. Having said that, I found a timed lunchtime break at home is a healthy break away in one’s workday.

Privacy from customers: Clients may enjoy peeking into your private space. A short walk past your home interior may seem harmless but will eventually violate your privacy. Having to neaten one’s home for a meeting can also be an imposition. An entrance lobby that opens directly to the office but screens off the home naturally leads the client to the office.

Parking: For visiting clientele, parking should be off road, easily accessible and out the way of household cars.
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Professional space: Separating your office and home is already a step towards professionalism. Provide comfortable well positioned seating.  Keep coffee tables and desks clear of clutter.  Consider where clients will place their personal items.  Display your qualifications, work and inspiration on the walls. Colours should balance warmth and cold.  You want visitors to feel comfortable, connected with a desire to return. Even in the absence of clientele, you need to feel professional, comfortable and inspired in your own space.

So far, and as far as you know, all is running super smoothly. Your contractor phones to tell you that an inspector just visited and has handed him a notice. This is not the building inspector - your plans were approved and your builder keeps a copy on site. It is a health and safety officer. Your contractor is shocked. What is this new regulation?
 
Health and safety regulations have been around for years but amended for construction a couple of years ago. Under the general specifications in your drawings, your architectural professional would have given a brief note regarding health and safety regulations as per the Occupational Health and Safety ACT or OHS. This involves registration of all workers with the labour department, reports listing safety measures by owner and contractor, hard hats, site shoes, goggles, regulatory type scaffolding and the list goes on. A good option is to appoint a health and safety professional to implement all the necessary requirements on your behalf.
 
What are the risks should you not follow OHS regulations. One is law enforcement by an official- leading to delays. The other is if serious injuries are sustained on site and your public liability insurance asks for proof you followed OHS regulation. In a later blog I will list what documents you need in place so you are covered by your various insurances.
 
How did a local authority know about you building and why are you being targeted anyway? How is your relationship with your neighbour? Did you kindly inform them of the building works and apologise upfront for the noise, mess and dust to follow? It isn’t often that an official would visit a site unless a complaint is received. You are following regulation if, over and above the approved plans and OHS requirements, you have:  a permit for material storage on your pavement, rubbish is stored in skips and construction noise, as per regulation, is limited to between 6h00 and 18h00 on weekdays and 6h00 and 17h00 on Saturdays – no noise on Sundays and public holidays. 

​You are finally ready to build your dream nest. Flipping through hundreds of pintrest images of vintage brick and raw concrete, your wildest expectations are met by your architect's renderings. You are on a high. Just a little delay at the council and your plans are approved. Meanwhile, your builder, sharing your enthusiasm, has already dug some trenches and the engineer is on his way to test the soil. And now? Is this your sudden descent to the land of building issues?
 
Let's hope your ground is firm - standard foundations would then suffice. If not, your engineer will probably specify over 2m deep trenches refilled with reconstituted soil before foundations are cast.
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This is soil mixed with cement compacted back into ground in thin strips - like some layered chocolate cake.  You may even need a raft foundation- a structural grid whereupon the house is built, kind of floating on the ground.
 
Where do you stand economically? In your bill of quantities, foundations are a provisional item, subject to final specification by your engineer. Unlike brickwork, windows, ceilings, doors etc. these items would not have been detailed by your architect. Contractors, more than often, only provide for standard foundations. Other provisional items include tiles, kitchen, door handles etc. where cost is subject to final selection.
 
If you are working on a tight budget, appoint your structural engineer to test the soil and specify foundations prior to going out to tender. Perhaps ask for details on the lesser surprising structures too like suspended slabs, steelwork , beams and columns. Meet your architect at the building showrooms to get advice and idea of costs. The more detail you provide your builder with, the closer the bill will be to the truth.