As a client, I would be godswfully grateful for a clear statement. When I built, I got a very good professional friend as a consultant who first knocked all my daydreams out of me and hammered fundamental construction principles into me.
I’m happy for you – and for the advisor whose advice you also accepted, even though it came from a good friend. I always comfort myself with the thought that it serves a good purpose – because the work of killing dreams is never easy from the heart (but it is important, since plots and especially building envelopes are not infinite, and according to the geotechnical report, not made of pink clouds either).
How glad I am today that I didn’t build the junk I dreamed up.
What the layman client imagines is usually not really bad, and even a naive focus on the (in terms of their relevance) wrong details is the bigger, but still not really bad problem. Number one is the “fear of missing out” which makes clients try to cram too many wishes into their little house combined with the toxic belief “you build only once.” That you would want to “build junk” would unfortunately be exactly where it applies perfectly what the draftsman must never ever say to you under any circumstances. If you make mistakes planning yourself, the draftsman should rather flatter you by leaving them in, even at painful bottlenecks (“once you are queen, you don’t need to walk much anyway”).
If I were to build a house again, I would actually ask an 11ant or similar exactly for such a statement. Simply because I want to save time, money, and nerves.
With good planning you save a lot of nerves and time, yes. Money only a little, even though every mistake costs twice (once to make it and once to fix it). Honestly, well-advised building is not cheaper, only “less expensive.” Although yes, for some tuition fees you could have already gotten a single garage or a small conservatory.
To the GU- “ ”. Ours somehow fit the GU house to our wishes. Well, somehow. Almost. I think only with the sixth draft were we finally at the point that it fit – but we always pointed out the building code. Draft six went to the municipality and immediately came back. Then the GU-“architect” first got a professional to make the draft compliant with the building code. That then dragged on for quite a while.
To the honor of the GU “architects,” I have to say that quite a few first drafts (that is before the client wanted to squeeze in a children’s bathroom or something similar) were better than the final spoiled version and very often building permits fail and stumble because of overstrained knee walls, dormers, and the like. Not everything the draftsman does is rubbish – he just mustn’t talk the customer out of it. The “black Peter” is better assigned to the evil building authority.
If I were to build again, I would either really take standard houses or an architect. Without quotation marks.
No, please a proven design
and an architect. This is admittedly a mandate case that the fee schedule never foresaw, but still the best combination.
One may doubt that these are actually architects in such cases. Not every person authorized to draw has completed an architecture degree. But I could imagine that they are gladly called architects by the layman at the GU to shortcut discussions. Would it actually be too cheeky to want to see the diploma beforehand?
That wouldn’t be cheeky, but also not necessary. A building permit authorized person who is a master mason or carpenter is often even more valuable to the client than an architect fresh from university (the latter being the CAD generation to which the construction industry owes most of the shoddy workmanship). And I know a very good orthopedist who has his doctorate in natural sciences instead of classical medicine. Calling those who prepare building applications respectfully architects, although they are actually draftsmen, is a habit of clients, not the GU. Most contract architects are architects working part-time as parents (who then are chartered or employed by the GU) or architects nearing retirement for whom running their own office is no longer worthwhile. It is rarely really the quality of education or experience that causes expectations here to be set lower than when one initiates and commissions the architect oneself.
You’re a great advisor!!! After the child has fallen into the well, to point out that the well should be secured so that the child doesn’t fall in.
What nonsense. I always honestly say that water also only boils at one hundred degrees for me. So definitely not great, just thorough, honest, and experienced, but admittedly conservative in the sense of “no fashion maniac” and “when in doubt rather cautious”. I certainly never recommended testing the path of draftsman planning like a kamikaze. I earn my bread with people who are too cheap about their dearly borrowed money for painful learning.