In my opinion, the beginning to me is when you decide to take your residential home construction ideas and make more of them. The point at which you start to engage professionals whether it be an architect, a builder and even a realtor. I am a realtor and my brother is a developer. We do not live close to each other but we talk often about our professions and the relationship between the two. Often times he would prefer to work with a client right from the get go of purchasing a piece of property. Depending on the style of the home, the property can play into a variety of things. He has constructed homes on the side of a mountain with a plan (including location) that was not very conducive to a mountainside property. Moving the house a few feet in one direction or another (if applicable) and possibly moving the garage to a drive under verse a main level, could have saved quite a bit of money and meant the difference between a comfortable and aesthetically appealing finished product or not and might not have been achieved without his input and experience. He always likes to work with the architect and realtor in finding and purchasing a property that will best suit the function of the home to be built. He's very passionate about what he does and sincerely takes a vested interest in every project he takes on. His goal in home building is to develop a 'palace' of sorts that the homeowner will enjoy for years to come. These are the same qualities I shopped for with my own builder. I think of it like those who buy a car. If you are being price conscious, do you shop the car, the insurance, consider fuel prices and registration/maintenance all at the same time or do you just buy the car and hope for the best later on? I know when I am shopping, and I know not everyone does this...I think it is what makes me a savvy shopper....I like to have all things considered so I am making the best informed choice and everything runs smoothly. My brother has told me horror stories of architectural designs that do not even meet particular local codes or were so overwhelmingly complicated that the he just had to include an extra cushion just for trying to decipher them. Rather than working through it step by step as a team. I, as a realtor, believe that building really requires a team approach. Like in surgery too, if I had to have open heart surgery, do I want the cardiologist, anesthesiologist, nurses, respiratory therapist, my primary care physician, etc. all involved so I get the best possible care? You've seen that move AWAKE, right? Haha Each has a job to do and one cannot really do it well without the other, although they are all working towards the same result. You are at the stage of setting the house and your architect is going to figure in design to this state, but your builder may have input/ideas on specifics of location that your designer did not think of and vice versa. I would want the best of both worlds to combine expertise and come up with a valued product that I will be exceptionally pleased with. Its money your are spending, make every dollar count. Don't forget, your architect is not in control...you are! You don't want to bring a builder in later who says I wish this and what about that....and you like his input and it's too late to go back. This is the same advice I tell all of my clients who buy raw land from me and want to build. Don't get me wrong, its not all just about the builder...if you posted saying you had your builder chosen and were not sure if using an architect/designer was appropriate, I would argue it the other way around as well. I do not believe one has a place without the other. As I said earlier, I am a large advocate of the team approach and would use a designer and builder on any of my own projects. I suppose it comes down to a little bit of efficient cost management and a lot of personal preference as well...but an entire team would be my choice!

PRO Virgil Carter Fine Art Have you considered buying an existing home in an appealing neighborhood and remodeling to fit your needs? If you read my post I looked for two years. My buying the lot was at least partially driven by the lack of inventory and being afraid of losing the lot. Kirsten Eloise If I read correctly, you are rejecting the idea of a walk out basement, which even you see the value in, because you are a birdwatcher - but you want to design this house with resale in mind because you may end up in a nursing home one day? If that is accurate, then those two things are in conflict and I agree with others who have suggested you step back and prioritize your goals for your house and/or the property. Good luck! Yes I think I said or implied that it is a difficult tight rope to walk. On some things I realize they may impact resale but I need to enjoy living there too. So there will be 3 bedrooms and 2 baths but no stairs (basement, second floor). Maybe its a mistake but I don't want to build a house I can't stand living in. Thanks for the luck wishes! PRO Charles Ross Homes Hi, Marie, You've got a chicken-and-egg problem: to get a reasonably accurate estimate of costs to build a custom home on your lot you'll need to invest in some basic plans on which to base the cost estimate. That investment might be a "throw away" if the project is a non-starter. Another way to get calibrated with respect to construction cost is to tour homes under construction in your area that are similar to what you have in mind. Ask the builder(s) what it would cost to replicate the home on your lot. If you find the cost is well outside your intended budget, then you've avoided the cost of the plans. If you find the cost is within your budget, then the next step would be to produce plans specific to your needs and your lot. In either case, getting the builder involved from the outset is the best way to ensure what gets designed is buildable within your budget. Best wishes for a successful project. Good idea. Have to figure out how to find builds going on? I did try this sort of. I was driving around looking for a house that was for sale and went by a build that had a for sale flyer. So I stopped to pick it up. The builder was in the garage and I asked if I could go through. They were pretty close to being done. It was a walkout but I liked the upstairs plan, a few tweaks and it would be great. I emailed that builder, asked his schedule and if he was willing to sell me the floor plan if they couldnt build. He said they were booked out till 2020? and didn't answer the floor plan question:( Time to call. Holly Stockley I am suddenly inclined to break into the oh-so-familiar, "NOOOOO - body goes hungry at Lake Ann Camp!!" and on into the rest of the shenanigans. Pretty lake. IIRC, lots don't come on the market all that often. I get it. Location IS going to play a role, because you'll likely be paying that unfortunate 10% premium that seems to stick to everything in that area due to the proximity to TC. Hey neighbor! Or at least fellow Michigander. Sad to say it is not on Lake Ann proper but a small lake nearby, Bellows Lake. A muck bottom lake, not good shoreline, no wake. No problem for me at my age and being more interested in wildlife etc. although even I would prefera sandy lake edge:) and not as good for resale. I am thankful that I won't be subjected to jet ski noise. If you'd like to pass along names of architects or builders I'm all ears. Its so weird, I was just retiring and had been looking at the market up there for awhile. Decent number of revolving river and lake houses. I retired and they disappeared! I haven't seen a boardman river property in...a year? (Well I have my search set to 400,00 tops (although I can't afford that) so there may well be properties more than that. Thanks for the wishes.

Keith I LOVE your idea and actually that was what I originally wanted but our neighbour on the right side beat us to it. They are a two story also. And 100% cladded with white stucco with black accents. I absolutely love a white home. But not sure how it would look if we do the exact same

Assuming you felt at ease with all three, I think I'd pick the Designer. My logic to follow.... Works with low-mid to high end projects [...] Likely to respect your budget. Two thumbs up. [...] sole practitioner with no employees/helpers [...] Carries 100% of design responsibility; can't blame someone else for mistakes. [...] but will contract 3D designs out [...] No biggie. PPF and Res (from the forums) do this. ;-) [...] has designed several hill country style houses [...] YES!!! This carries a lot of weight with me; I'd be nervous the entire time if my architect/designer wasn't intimately familiar with my style, because I'd be trying to research all of the design elements (to ensure accuracy) while s/he was designing. And that's just bad juju, right there. [...] and showed me them as well as one very similar to our project with of course some specific differences [...] I think we have a winner. <3 [...] would travel in from a large city 75 miles away for site visits. [...] This also is super important to me; I need someone to back me up if things aren't built according to the drawings, and offer assistance in either compromise or demands for repair. [...] but not sure we want to go just the designer route as there is no construction "supervision." Wait, does he or does he *not* do site visits? :-) Is there another professional who can be brought on board, to offer this service to you? [...] Not an architect, but has an architecture degree. Very detail oriented as well. I recall Mr. Doug/ARG specifically saying that there are architects out there who he wouldn't trust to design a dog house for him, but there was an intern he had one time (who decided not to complete formal architectural education) who had enormous talent. Cost: $4/sq ft. I just realized I forgot to ask which sq. ft this is based on - target or final. I'm not crazy about per-square-foot fee structures (there's no incentive to keep square footage down, and I value smaller houses, lol), but there's no reason you can't exert discipline in this area, yourself. :-D