Can’t let your idea for an aquarium center island go, even though your architect’s told you it would take six months and six figures to fabricate? Are your frugal tendencies keeping you in front of your computer sourcing house parts for beyond super-cheap? Oregon Home asked two architects and two designers for a blueprint for better homeowner-design pro relations.

[1. YIELD TO YOUR ARCHITECT'S PROFESSIONAL OPINION WHEN SHE TELLS YOU THAT YOUR OVER-THE-TOP DESIGN IDEA WILL BE THE BIGGEST TIME AND MONEY SUCK OF THE CENTURY.]
Got a fantastic idea for a saltwater aquarium center island to give a shout-out to your Florida roots? Well, you may have been waiting since you were building houses with blocks as a child to build the house of your dreams, but, unfortunately, most of our wallets can’t accommodate everything we want in our houses. “I try to talk with my clients about their budget right away,” says architect Kristina Clark of Kristina Clark AIA in Portland. “I try to give them what I think is a realistic budget, which, for something that doesn’t include super-high-end finishes, is about $200 a square foot. We start out talking in those ranges and, as we go along, my clients can make decisions about design upgrades and what they’d cost. You really should be up front with your architect about your budget. It’s disappointing for everybody to get to the construction documents and have the clients realize that what they want costs too much.”


[2. REMEMBER THAT GETTING TO GOOD DESIGN IS A PROCESS, RATHER THAN A PRODUCT.]
Even before your design drawings are done, in your mind’s eye, you’re probably already standing on the deck of your new home with a stunning view of Mt. Hood. What you’re likely not thinking of is what it’ll take to get to that point. To get along with your design team, you need to understand how you get from empty lot to fantabulous end result. “What I like to see at the beginning of a project is a potential client who is interested in the process or at least understands that there is a process,” says Alex Zimmer, a senior interior designer at LRS Architects in Portland. “People sometimes think a renovation or an addition or a new home is a product, as if they could say, ‘I’ll take that one.’ In fact, the process is lengthy and can be painful. Intelligence, interest in the process and an eagerness to learn are all important qualities for a client to have.”


[3. BE OPEN TO YOUR ARCHITECT'S SUGGESTIONS.]
An architect often will come up with an innovative way you hadn’t even thought of to solve your design problem. “Someone might call me about an over-the-garage master bedroom remodel, but they don’t know what to do about the rooflines,” says Clark. “If the client can step back and allow me to look at the whole project and assess their long-term needs, I may discover that they don’t actually need that room or that over the garage isn’t the best place for it. Maybe what they need to do is rearrange the spaces they have. An architect’s expertise is really looking at the big picture and the master planning of the project, even if it’s just for a single- room addition. It all needs to tie in to the overall plan of the house and how it functions for the family living in it.”


[4. AFTER YOU'VE VERIFIED AN ARCHITECT'S DESIGN AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE AND VERIFIED THAT HE OR SHE HAS THE APPROPRIATE BUSINESS EXPERIENCE, HIRE AN ARCHITECT WHO YOU UNDERSTAND AND WHO UNDERSTANDS YOU.]
Since a construction project can last several months, you need to feel comfortable calling your architect when problems occur or when you decide you want changes made to the project. “The connection is incredibly important because you’re building a relationship and during a period of time, you need to be able to communicate very, very well,” says Sean Cho of Bolighus, an architectural design studio in Portland. “If you don’t have a connection, then it doesn’t matter how talented the design group is.”

Cho believes that one of the most critical skills to pay attention to as you select  a design group is their ability to listen and discern information. “If the design group runs over you to do their own thing, then it’s like a patronage instead of a relationship,” he says. “The biggest thing is the establishment of trust coupled with being able to work through a process together.  Home construction is often one of the biggest projects most people will do, and it’s critically important that you feel like you’re engaged in the process.”


[5. E-MAIL IS A GOOD WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR ARCHITECT FOR DAY-TO-DAY ISSUES, BUT IF YOU HAVE A MISUNDERSTANDING OR YOU NEED TO DISCUSS BIG ISSUES, MEET IN PERSON.]
E-mail can be a great way to keep track of all the information passing through the members of your design team. “It’s not convenient for everybody to have to fax things around,” says Zimmer. “Communicating by e-mail is ideal for scheduling meetings or for doing meeting notes and sending them out to make sure everybody’s on the same page. Proposals can also circulate through e-mail so that you have a record of it.”

But design professionals say to drop your mouse and pick up your phone when something goes wrong such as your flooring contractor lays oak instead of fir. When SNAFUS happen, a meeting is the best way to resolve the issue so you can move on.
“The first thing to do is to get face to face with each other,” says Cho. “That’s old-school thinking, but I still think the best way to communicate when something has happened is face each other  and talk about it. So much of what goes on is nonverbal and meeting that way makes it easier to resolve the problem.”

[6. UNDERSTAND ALL THE COSTS THAT SHOULD BE IN A BUDGET.]
Very often, when you first think of how much you want to spend on a custom home or a remodel, you often forget to budget for all the costs. After all the costs are presented, you may either need to scale down the project or be willing to spend a larger sum of money. “If your total budget is $100,000, you’ve got to realize that you aren’t going to get $100,000 worth of construction,” says Zimmer. “On that amount, a minimum sort of architectural fee for complete drawings would probably be about 15 percent of the cost, so you’re already at $115,000 with the soft costs. And that doesn’t include any engineering that might need to be done. If your total budget is truly $100,000, what you’ll really get is $60,000 to $70,000 worth of construction.”

However, that doesn’t mean you have to abandon your project. “You can do a masterplan and break out the project into parts and phases,” says Zimmer. “You decide what the most important part is, start with that work with an amount of money you can afford, and then shut down the project until you can afford to start again.”