Blog 7 - How to get the most from your Architect

Illustration by Tania Glavas ©

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.’’