Renovate for Less: Hire an Architect

Resources 

A list of links to help you learn more.

Getting Started with an Architect

The best way to begin a new project is for you--the owner--to reflect on what you bring to it: knowledge, experience, needs, desires, aspirations, and personal opinions. You also provide the resources to realize your expectations.

Naturally, every owner starts from a different outlook. Some have had vast experience with design and construction and know what they want and how to go about getting it. Many owners have much less experience.

Whatever your situation, it makes sense to begin with some self-examination to assess what you already know about your project and what you will establish with your architect's help. The questions outlined at this link can serve as a guide.

Selecting Your Architect

Whether you are building your own home or designing a commercial complex, choosing the right architect is vital to a successful project.

Identifying the Services You Need

The experiences of others may be instructive up to a point, but every project is unique. Your architect is prepared to advise and assist you in tailoring the array of professional services available to meet your needs and expectations.

Negotiating the Agreement

Owner-architect agreements spell out what you and your architect bring to the professional relationship and what you can expect from it.

The formal agreement between you and your architect is an opportunity to assure that you both envision the same project, requirements, and expectations. Before committing these requirements and expectations to paper, use the five steps presented at this link to identify any items that may have been missed.

Compensating Your Architect

Experienced clients recognize that adequate compensation for the architect is in their best interest, as it ensures the type and level of services needed to fulfill their expectations. You may have questions about how to arrive at the appropriate compensation for your project. Some of the more frequently asked questions are addressed here.

Keeping the Project on Track

Design and construction are team activities. Many individuals and firms come together to do a project. Often they will not have worked together before, and they may not work together again. They collaborate to produce a complex and often unique result on a specific site. As the project unfolds, hundreds of individual design decisions and commitments are made. Needs and conditions change, and work is modified. A strong and healthy relationship between owner and architect is essential to keep the project on track.

About the AIA

Since 1857, the AIA has represented the professional interests of America's architects. As AIA members, over 77,000 licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners express their commitment to excellence in design and livability in our nation's buildings and communities. Members adhere to a code of ethics and professional conduct that assures the client, the public, and colleagues of an AIA-member architect's dedication to the highest standards in professional practice.

AIA Architect Finder

The AIA Architect Finder is a search tool that will allow you to set your preferences for "distance" and "building type".

Find an AIA Chapter Near You

The American Institute of Architects comprises some 300 component organizations (chapters) across the country and around the world. These components may be of assistance to individuals seeking information about architects in specific areas.

History of the AIA

On February 23, 1857, 13 architects met in Richard Upjohn's office to form what would become The American Institute of Architects. The group included H. W. Cleaveland, Henry Dudley, Leopold Eidlitz, Edward Gardiner, Richard Morris Hunt, J. Wrey Mould, Fred A. Peterson, J. M. Priest, John Welch, and Joseph C. Wells, as well as Upjohn's son Richard and son-in-law Charles Babcock. The group sought to create an architecture organization that would "promote the scientific and practical perfection of its members" and "elevate the standing of the profession."