Does he do a lot of talking or a lot of listening? You want the latter.

Tell him what your needs and concerns are. Let him ask questions he believes important. See what his thoughts are on the new vs remodel and why. See what his attitude is like..Is he arrogant? Does he seem like someone you can get along with ? You will spend alot of time together potentially. What is his design process? How many design studies does he normally do etc. Look at samples of his work and see if you like the general overall feel of his work and level of detail. Can he design something that fits your budget? Are his designs varied? If they all feel too similar he may design to fit his style and preferences more than to fit the clients desires. Look at a set of drawings and ask what you can expect to see in your set. Whats included in his service and whats not? Good Luck

You want to learn as much as possible about the architect in the initial interview so don't dwell on your project unnecessarily; describe the basic program and let the architect tell you how he/she can help you. If you don't sense enthusiasm and empathy, go on to the next on the list.

You should have already seen a resume and a reference list and called some former clients so you should already know that this person is a good prospect.

Photos of previous work can be helpful but seeing the projects is better. If they all look the same it's not a good sign. You want someone who will be responsive to the site, your budget, and your family lifestyle. It's not just about design skills but understanding the needs of others and finding solutions they would not have thought of by themselves.

You're not hiring just a drafting service or just a designer but someone who can guide you through a complicated process while keeping you focused on the important issues and protecting you from pitfalls.

You should ask yourself some questions to clarify what it is you really want:

Here is a link that might be useful: 20 Questions

don't make a decision on the spot. see five more people, sleep on it for ten days and then decide. well, that's what i did.

I find that homeowners often spend too much time talking about the specifics of their project in the initial interview and fail to learn enough about the architect to make an informed decision.

I recommend giving the architect a quick tour of the house or building site and telling him/her just enough about your program needs and life style to get a general rather than a specific response; it doesn't have to be a complete description or even very accurate. Don't expect him/her to propose a design solution and don't try to "pick their brain". If you get off on that tangent too long redirect the discussion by asking about other projects, what the design problems were and how they were solved. Get the names and phone numbers of former clients and call all of them and visit their house if that is offered. If the architect is any good, they should be enthusiastic and want to show off their houses. You're looking for an architect who surprises his/her clients with results beyond their expectations.

I'd like to echo what bigkahuna said regarding budget. When we were interviewing architects, there was one that we liked the best and really wanted to use. We talked generally about the budget, and he said he was comfortable designing a house in our range. We had nagging doubts about that, though, because when we asked to see something he had done in our range he didn't have a single house to show us -- all of them were at least 2X-3X our budget. It's not that we thought he couldn't do it, just that it would likely be a struggle the whole way with us saying, "Yes, we love it, but we can't afford it" a lot.

We ended up going with another architect and are very glad we did. Some friends of ours used the architect we really liked to design their major kitchen/living room remodel. They loved working with him, but when they sent the design out to be estimated, it came in at 3X their budget. After several months of wrangling with the architect to bring the design more in line with their budget, they finally walked away from the project. This isn't to say that the architect was solely to blame, but he just wasn't a good match for their budget. They shouldn't have had to argue with him, for example, to downgrade the $10,000 mantle for the outdoor fireplace!