Understanding Your Design Team: Who to Hire to Build a House
Understanding Your Design Team: Who to Hire to Build a House
Our Austin Architects Review the Professionals You Need to Hire to Build Your Dream Home
Building your dream home without the right team of professionals can quickly become a nightmare! So before you start selecting finishes and paint colors, you need to assemble your design dream team. (There are way more people involved than just your contractor!) Our Austin architects review the professionals you need to hire to build a house so that you can lay a foundation for design success.
Understanding Your Design Team and Hiring the Right People
The key to hiring the right people to build your home is understanding the roles you need to fill on your design team. A residential home design team comprises many industry professionals, each with specialized skills requiring education, training, licensing, and years of practice. When interviewing design professionals, you must assess both their skill sets and work styles. Why? Because the lead member of the design team is you! Building a home takes anywhere from 10 to 16 months, so you need to surround yourself with professionals that match your work (and design) style for a good experience!
Finding the Professionals You Need to Hire to Build a House
Here are the roles you need to fill on your design dream team.
Architect
The vision for your dream home starts with your architect. Your architect is responsible for assessing preferences and making a plan to accommodate design and lifestyle needs. Your architecture team will walk you through every stage of the design process, from initial floor plan designs to final construction documents your contractor will use to bring the idea to life. Your architect will basically create the roadmap to your dream home, which is a very detailed and involved process. In many cases, homeowners prefer working with a small architecture firm, like DK Studio, to get the personalized attention they need from this crucial design team member.
Kitchen Cabinet Elevation/Design by DK Studio
Geotech Engineer
While you may initially think the construction of a home begins with the foundation, it actually starts below the surface of the soil. Therefore, early in the home design process, you will need to hire a geotechnical engineer to assess the soil type of the land. The geotech engineer typically takes a 25-foot deep soil sample of about 2 inches in diameter to analyze the soil. They determine the soil type, rock, and subsurface water present on the property. These factors will affect foundation requirements.
Structural Engineer
While architects create the floor plan design of your home, structural engineers provide the framing and foundation design. Your structural engineer will work alongside your architect to ensure your design team can carry out the plans. Structural engineers design beams, support columns, roof framing, and foundations. For example, an architect may design a long span of windows, and the structural engineer will determine what the beam needs to be made with and the size required to carry the load.
Builder
Like your architect, your builder is someone you will have a close relationship with throughout the home building process because construction is one of the longest aspects of the project. Your builder will carry out the construction of your home according to your architect’s construction documents and local building codes. At DK Studio, our Austin architects offer construction administration services to help with the build phase, overseeing construction and ensuring your contractor carries out the build to plan. Your builder is also responsible for hiring subcontractors who are instrumental in completing a quality home build.
Interior Designer
While your architect is responsible for designing a floor plan and making exterior material selections, your interior designer will focus on all things interior. Your interior designer will choose items like flooring materials, paint colors, wallpapers, furniture pieces, light fixtures, and accessories. While you might not think you need an interior designer until the home is well on its way to completion, it is actually better to call in an interior designer early on. Your interior designer will work alongside your architecture team to coordinate your architectural style into the design. Additionally, interior designers need to plan out interior features well in advance. For example, locations for wall sconces or automated window shades must be added before drywall, paint, and trim work go up. There are thousands of design decisions to make!
The High Road kitchen/By DK Studio
Landscape Architect
The last member of your home design team is your landscape architect. Be sure to set money aside to create enjoyable outdoor spaces. Establishing indoor-outdoor flow is key to designing a functional and relaxing home. Our Austin architects work with landscape architects to ensure the hardscape matches the architectural style and that spaces like pools, patios, and outdoor kitchens work together with interior spaces.
Indoor-outdoor space/By DK Studio
Assemble a Home Design Team to Bring Your Vision to Life
As you can see, it takes a team to bring your design vision to life! You have a lot of people to hire to build your house. Each role in your design team, from your architect to builder to interior designer, takes years of education, training, and experience to master. Hire professionals you can trust and allow them to guide you through the process. They will make the road to your dream home that much easier.