Lily Liu

going to be fun when questions come up during construction. Hope you have a really good GC

If you have a good GC an architect can be duplicative. I have found that the potential scope of work bt architect, designer, GC can overlap substantially (or supplement). Need to config right depending on the skills, cost, availability of who you’re working with.

Im master electrician & own a electrical contracting company. We do multi-million dollar custom homes all the time with very little input from the architect besides providing the plans to bid. The GC handles most field issues or a structural engineer

Homes happen in 3D space, not on paper!

Architects design in 3D space. The only reason it goes to paper is so that a builder knows what to do... You will lose on quality control, and your builder will take advantage of your naïveté and there being no one to advocate for design over your cost and his profit.

Interesting assumption that homeowners are irreparably naive and helpless. Without a licensed professional at every step along the way, they will be rudderless, gouged, unsafe, and live in a hideous home. Or...

As an architect (biased), you should probably just spend that $25 an hour on a better contractor. A $25 architect will probably cost you more money in the long run, but hey, maybe you found a hidden gem and this will all work out great.

The principle here is “buy cheap, buy twice”, but it doesn’t apply to everything. Your job to figure out when you’re in that market and when you’re not. $1 wrench from the Dollar Store has lasted me 20 years. But don’t buy cheap non-stick pans (they’ll poison you).

Sure, and in Lily’s case, she may be buying the $25 architect’s work twice, but I’d say it’s more likely that she ends up having to buy the $150 electrician’s work twice. Or doing both.

Started with a great architect - worth every $175/h penny and then more! Got the permit but then you just dont need $175/hr skills anymore. Do you need a $1000/hr partner at a law firm to copy edit?

This tweet needs to be moved up in the original thread. Completely reframes the story

Architects mainly work their design into something legal that passes regulation. Every architect I have spoken to tell me how most of their job is to make something legal first, pretty after. Unfortunately paying bottom dollar for regulation type work is always a disaster.

Had an architect early on for that purpose - he was great! But after a certain point the paralegal better value than the lawyer, so to speak.

Is your 25$/hr “architect” licensed to work in the state of California? Are the drawings stamped? You won’t be able to get a building permit, otherwise.