Design & Decor
Who's Your Architect?
Here's why you should hire an architect and how you'll get the most for your money plus learn about styles of architecture in the Kansas City area.

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Behind every great house is a great architect. You may walk into a beautifully appointed home and ask who the decorator is. You may notice that the home is structurally sound and flawless and inquire about the builder. But it was the architect who made all that possible, who seamlessly brought the entire concept together in a tidy package with a pretty red bow known as your home. Your dwelling may be the most important structure in your life. It gives you shelter from the weather, walls to personalize and space to create memories in. If you take the time to plan it with a professional, you will get a home that looks, feels and reflects you. It is the road less traveled, starting with a blank page. It can be scary but infinitely more rewarding.

"A client has got to be willing to open their mind to the possibilities, to really get creative," says Reeves Wiedeman, AIA president and a partner at Helix/Architecture + Design. "There's a lot of mediocre housing around here and most people don't know any better because that's all they see."

Americans' mass perception of how a house should look and how it should function often compromises our design landscape. An architect focuses on breaking those patterns to bring you a quality of life you didn't know was possible.

"There's a word we use called 'program,' but I call it 'What's the story?'" Wiedeman continues. "Before anything is drawn, I sit down with clients, get the refreshments out and say, 'Tell me about your lifestyle.' This conversation gets as boring as how they wash their clothes - the more technical sides of life - to their dream of what they want to do in this house." After "downloading" this information, which all decisions will be based on, an architect will still not be ready to design. He or she will have to study your site, not necessarily how wide and deep your lot is, but who's next door, where the sun rises and sets, which way the wind blows, where the tree line is, how the land slopes - the constraints that dictate the floor plan and elevation.

All of this takes time and effort, making it that much easier to fall back on a builder's plans. That's just what many people do: statistics reveal that architects design only five percent of our country's buildings. A ready-made plan may be cheaper and faster, but Wiedeman believes you'd be getting a house designed for someone else.

By working directly with you and assessing your requirements in great depth, architects tailor a design to suit your personality, needs, budget and lifestyle. Conversely, they can inform you of design alternatives and the latest construction materials and technologies. Moreover, their knowledge of site planning and natural energy processes can make your home stronger and more energy-efficient.

However, architects are not just in it for the pretty picture at the end. They are creative problem solvers who balance the functional, aesthetic, economic, environmental and regulatory issues for every design. Additionally, they act as the coordinator of all parties involved from the client and the builder to other specialists and even various government agencies for codes and by-laws, and can perform project management duties, as well.

"Architects can offer a great deal more than plan drawing services and I think a lot of people may not be aware of that," says Bill Preloger, Jr., AIA, of Nearing Staats Preloger & Jones. "Our custom home design clients come to us because they don't have the time nor the inclination to watch over the contractor day to day and they want us to do that for them. And that is a service we offer and one that we take very seriously."

Architecture is a business, of which the design part is only one aspect. An architect's expertise stems from strict guidelines imposed by the state. Licensure assures the public that individuals calling themselves architects have the qualifications necessary to practice. To legally claim the title of "architect," one must fulfill three major components: completing an undergraduate and/or graduate program in architecture, working three years in an intern architect program and passing difficult multipart examinations.

Many home plans are drawn up by home designers or builders who may have the education and the experience necessary to do so, but they haven't tied up the loose ends to get the title. Wiedeman says this is because the city doesn't require a seal, but he questions that viewpoint. "Architecture is a profession. You wouldn't hire a doctor without a license to perform surgery, or an attorney that's not barred or an accountant that's not certified. We all hold the public trust," he says.

Choosing an architect over a home designer is up to you, but both will charge a fee for their work. Expenses for their services may cost you anywhere from 5 to 25 percent of your home's value, but an architect can save you money in other areas, such as preventing costly delays and overages. Preloger notes that one reason is because, as you're preparing your construction documents with an architect, you're making decisions before they're demanded versus when you purchase a plan from a builder and make decisions as the home is being built. When you're in control of the timeframe, you can research your selections more thoroughly, plan for backorders, and prioritize any extra spending. This way, you won't have any surprise costs at the end of construction.

"If your allowances with a builder haven't been determined yet, the situation you may find yourself in is that the builder will call you up on Tuesday and tell you that the trim carpenter is coming out on Thursday and he wants you to come pick out all the trim for the house in one or two days. And maybe you've got something else you need to be doing or you haven't done any research about trim or crown moldings or whether you want paneling in the library," Preloger explains.

With an architect, you can spend three months or three years planning your home. "The good news is that it doesn't cost you anymore. We don't have to stand around waiting for someone to give us an answer, there's no one there waiting with a hammer in his hand," he adds. When all the nails and walls are finally in place, Wiedeman can't imagine that an architect's contribution to the home would not increase its value. "It's about care, just like with plants. If you give them the right attention they flourish. It's not about how fast and cheap you can get the job done. It's how well the solution responds to your program," he says.

Here, we bring you four varied styles of architecture, an elemental and historical look at our regional architecture. They are Arts & Crafts; Contemporary; Formal/Eclectic and Shingle. Our intention is to educate you so that you may better articulate your desires to an architect. For higher comprehension of stylistic elements and architectural history, our featured architects recommend reading "A Field Guide to American Houses" by Virginia and Lee McAlester, available at bookstores.

How to select an architect

You have to find someone, first, who you feel comfortable sharing your lifestyle with, and second, who understands your lifestyle and vision. The best way to find the right architect is by interviewing several candidates. Weideman suggests starting at AIA's website, www.aiakc.org, for a list of local residential architects. There you can browse through photos to get a sense of what type of work each firm does. Drive out to their completed projects and knock on the door to talk with their past clients. That much will demonstrate if their design philosophy and communication skills are appropriate for your project.

Next, he urges you to simply pick up the phone and ask for a conversational interview. Find out if you are comfortable with each other, that you've got chemistry. He or she should be responsive to your questions and clearly interested in your needs.

Here are some questions to mull over yourselves:

1. What do you like/dislike about the house you live in now?

2. Why do you want to build a new house or renovate your current home?

3. Is your lifestyle changing? Kids moving out, parents moving in?

4. What is your lifestyle? Do you stay at home, work at home, entertain often?

5. How much time do you spend in each room? How could the rooms you spend the most time in be improved?

6. How much time and energy are you willing to invest to maintain your home?

7. How much disruption can you tolerate to add on or to renovate your home?

8. How soon would you like to be settled into your new home or addition?

9. What do you envision in this home that you don't have now?

10. Do you have strong ideas about design styles?

11. How much time do you have to be involved in the design and construction process?

12. How much can you realistically afford?

13. Here are some questions to ask your architect

14. What do you see as important issues or considerations in our project? What are the challenges?

15. How will you approach our project? What is the process along the way?

16. How will you establish priorities and make decisions?

17. Who from the architecture firm will we be dealing with directly? Is that the same person who will be designing the project?

18. How busy are you? Can ours comfortably fit into the timetable of your other projects?

19. What do you expect us to provide?

20. What is your design philosophy?

21. How do you establish fees?

22. What is your track record with cost estimating?

23. If the scope of the project changes, will there be additional fees?

24. What services do you provide during construction?

25. How long will it take to complete our project?

26. Do you have a list of past clients I could contact?