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FIND MAROONDAH | JUNE 2020
Architect or Builder - What’s the difference? ARCHITECT By Kathy Ismail
When you plan to build your dream home, you may think of employing builders. But you’ve heard about others consulting with an architect. You might not want the trendiest home design so you may consider an architect would be an extra expense that you could do without. Think again. What does an architect do? An architect plans and conceives the building. They are the ones who will capture your vision and put it on paper. They will listen to what you want, advise on the practicalities, bounce ideas with you and design it, keeping your functional requirements in mind. Architects consider things like how many bedrooms you want, what rooms face the sun, is your office space near the kitchen of at the back of the house, open plan or separate rooms. Starting from the outside, architects can help decide on external appearances and work out how high, wide and long the building needs to be. They can work with you to design the floor plan including the sizes of rooms, doors, windows and staircases and and all internal facilities and spaces. Architects would have up-to-date knowledge on any particular design feature you may have in mind, such as passive solar design, passive house or Bushfire Attack Level requirements. They keep your budget in mind, and know and abide by current rules, regulations and by-laws. When they have had these discussions with you, they make conceptual drawings outlining all these proposals. When to engage an architect The most obvious time to employ an architect is when you’re either doing a new build, an extension to your property or into your backyard or converting an existing space, such as a loft. These are big projects, and probably going to be one of the most expensive things you will ever do. A builder cannot draw up your homes. An architect can, usually with the support of a structural engineer. A builder will have insight on costs and be able to build the home but both are needed for it to go smoothly. The work of an architect precedes the work of the engineer and the builder. You could save money by only employing a builder. However, building
contractors don’t need any formal training to build homes, whereas an architect is held to a statutory code of practice and undertakes years of training before entering the field. They have Professional Indemnity Insurance, meaning their clients are protected. All of this means you’re a lot safer with an architect drawing up your plans compared to a contractor. For instance, if you’re thinking of knocking down some walls for an open plan layout, we would recommend getting an architect on board. Chances are they’ll be able to spot opportunities you may have missed, along with being able to consider those big picture practicalities. These will probably include room-toroom views, how the doors are lined up to facilitate air flow and movement around the building, the amount of light coming through the windows and even mundane things like piping and vents. All of these an architect will be able to consider, making sure your home doesn’t suffer any annoying design flaws. Architects can also help to secure your project planning permission. Having an architect handle your planning process will give you the best chance of approval. This could help you save budget in the long run, as reversing planning refusal can be a costly process. Also, during construction, sometimes you need an extra pair of eyes to have a look through
the detail. This stage is called contract administration and it performs the check and balance, to ensure that your dream design gets build exactly as drawn on paper. Architects experience every level of the project. From design to planning, from budgets to contractors, an architect knows it all. That makes them the perfect port of call when starting out. Though architects cost money up front, the value they could add to your home make them a safe investment. Use them now – and reap the rewards when it comes to sell. Contact KiR Architecture at contact@ kirarchitecture.com.au for help with planning your building projects. We are always happy to answer any inquiries.
Kathy Ismail ARCHITECT www.kirarachitecture.com 0422 026 962