How long did your design process take you?

12 years ago

Just curious to see how much time everyone spent on getting the floor plan done and over 90% satisfied before construction starts.

Also, for those that who went through different versions of changes on floor plans (which I am sure most of you did). What's the average turn-around time for your architect to make a minor or major change? Just trying to see how much time I should give the architect before I ask if there is any update when I do not hear from him.

Thank you.

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Comments (6)

laurensmom21
12 years ago
ugh. This has not been a fun process for us, unfortunately. After looking at every stock plan known to man for 2 years, we finally broke down and hired a local "architectural designer." After giving him our list & tons of photos, it took him 3 weeks to return to us a disastrous plan of boxy rooms that my 8 year old could have laid out. Gave him another shot and another month to get things right, but to no avail.

Then finally talked hubby into hiring a "real" architect last August. Took about 2 or 3 months of waiting to get into his rotation, then another month or so to get a plan back. Loved the plan, but was too big and too much like our current house's layout. Spent another 2 or 3 months tweaking everything with 3 or 4 revisions only to get a plan back that is still too big & not as efficient as what we're wanting (had 3400 sq ft with only 2 bedrooms upstairs & we need 3).

So after all that, we're back to square one and starting over. I think the problem was in the beginning I had my heart set on unique features and this and that. Now I've given up on the dream and am trying to settle for reality. We were hoping to break ground this spring, but I don't think it's going to happen unfortunately...

good luck!
emmachas_gw Shaffer
12 years ago
I think we've set a record. 4 yrs......and almost there!

Wasted a lot of time chasing perfection.

Did anyone else find that a successful plan is a series of compromises? It has been our experience that achieving perfection in one element, often requires compromise in another.

Thank heavens our youngest child was through college when we started this process. Now we are sending our architect's youngest one through!

In our defense, we have an extremely odd lot to build on.

I wish you much luck. I think this journey requires patience.
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mydreamhome
12 years ago
Emmachas is right--a successful plan is a series of compromises. It also requires the future homeowners to plan their home within the real world and not the dream world many of us find ourselves in.

Like the other posters above, it took years.

-6 months to to find the plan.

-8 years working on the changes we wanted to make to it off and on whenever we had some time.

-Another year working with a designer that charged us an arm and a leg to redraw in the computer what I had drawn to scale at home. Did I mention that half of her submissions to us had changes in them that weren't on the drawings I gave her but they were ones that she thought would work nicely and then she'd charge us a second time for the time it took her to delete what she had put in & replace it with what we originally asked for. In the end between her ineptness (the plans were not structurally sound) and the turn in the housing/banking market we had to start over--but not with her again!

-We scoured the online houseplan sites for 6-9 months to no avail.

-We finally lucked out on a referral to another designer that actually builds custom houses on the side. We started over with a set budget in mind and planned the house size accordingly. We were able to salvage our original first floor layout and shrink some of the rooms, reconfigure the master bath & closet, change the living room to a bedroom and add another bath and the layout was done. Maximizing efficiency of space was key. Summerfield on GW came up with the elevations for us and they were awesome! The new designer was FAST. We had plans to review approximately every 3 days. I think it took 6-7 weeks from start to finish.

-We broke ground 2 weeks after the final set of plans was in our hands and the house was 98% finished (enough for a CO & move-in) 4 months later.

I wish you lots of luck, patience--lots and lots of patience--, creativity & the ability to know when the plans are crossing the line into the dream zone vs. the reality zone.
agentslim
12 years ago
We looked at a lot of plans and homes. Once we decided to build, we brought all those ideas and layout to a draftsmen and it has been 7 weeks and about. 11 revisions. We are working on the construction set! So I'd say it took us about 3 months. Good luck
tncraft
12 years ago
What took us long was trying to get on the same page. Not sure if you would include that as part of the design process. I knew what I wanted but H seemed to be saying no to everything. After ~1yr, I finally had to insist for him to go check out homes. I had to demand because I was going crazy trying to figure out what style/layout would work for both of us. Lo and behold, after seeing 2-3 homes, the things/features he was saying no to are the things he really like. I almost killed him! LOL.

After that, it took about 5mos up to the point we were comfortable to break ground. The designer was sooo slow. I ended up focusing on the structural/load bearing walls for the designer to deal with. After that, I took over on revising the plans. I continued to make revisions until we completed framing.
gaonmymind
12 years ago
Honestly I was fortunate. I LOVE MY ARCHITECT!!!!!!!!!!

He had a design ready in 4 days. I am tweaking things now and need my builder to get back to me on stuff, but my architect is fast and good! Almost every comment about his first draft on this board was near perfect. So his speed does not compromise his work.

Once he is done with me which will be in a week...only because of my delays...I will post his info to those who may want it. Laurensmom21 I know you wanted it. His fees are VERY affordable too and he is easy to work with. NO EGO. Honestly he is a hidden gem.

Altogether outside of me tweaking and waiting on my builder it will have taken him 3 weeks from concept to final. He is WONDERFUL!

How long did your design process take you?

Comments (6)

laurensmom21

emmachas_gw Shaffer

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