You find someone who will give you what you want. You might check your state's organization for landscape design and installation professionals. In Colorado, for example, it's the ALCC, Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado. The organization has a list of members that may be posted online. That would be a starting point for you. You could also check ASLA, the Assocation of Landscape Architects. A landscape architect will likely be more expensive than a landscape designer. But if your project is relatively simple with no major drainage issues or tall retaining walls, a landscape design and build company could probably handle your project.

If your contractors are like the ones I've hired, they're not going to follow the plans anyway. It'll be generally the right size and shape, but unless you're there verifying each measurement it's not going to match the plans. If you've got guys like that doing your work there's not much point to paying for an architect. The only exception seems to be electricians, who will put things exactly where you want, if you give them measurements. Another issue you're going to face is that you can't know exactly how the addition will structurally fit into the existing building until you start removing parts of the building. At that point the contractor will probably start modifying the plans to fit what's already there, rather than rebuilding things. The later option is a lot more expensive and time consuming.

Third vote for the home designer software. We had an architect give us a bid and it was outrageous--apparently architects usually bid in terms of a percentage of the total budget, but our $25k-$30k budget was too small for his usual approach (!) so he quoted us a flat fee of (COUGH COUGH COUGH) $10 to $15k. Um! No!! We ended up buying a new iMac and the Home Designer software, and we could've bought another four or five iMacs for what this architect wanted. And he wasn't a big firm, just a well-respected, established local architect who specializes in remodeling old homes in a way that looks appropriate to their original style. He personally would not bid for just drawing up plans and letting us take it from there--he liked to be more involved, help choose contractors etc.--but my understanding is that the architects who would just give us plans would still want at least $3000 or more for that, which, again, is a lot more than our iMac + Home Design software. I ended up doing a ton of different plans with the software, posting them and getting feedback here, and now we have a plan we like a lot. No architect OR kitchen designer required. That being said, you will need to hire an electrician to get your wiring designed and implemented properly--even if you are very handy and capable of doing it yourself, that would probably void your homeowner's insurance, so if there were ever an electrical fire you would be totally screwed. (I say "probably"--check with your insurance company to be sure.) It also can mess with resale value. The only way I can think of to get the electrical system designed properly without hiring an electrician to do the design, assuming you can do this without voiding your insurance, is to get the version of the Chief Architect Home Design software that lets you (1) design the electrical system in detail AND (2) check your design against national codes. As you can see from this matrix (in the link), that means you have to get the "Pro" version. By the way, be sure you read what the Chief Architect website says about the computer requirements to run the software. Very few laptops have fast enough processors to do the 3D rendering, and ours certainly didn't, so since our only desktop was literally like ten years old we ended up having to get a new computer to use this software. But still, I'd rather spend $2200 on a fantastic 27" iMac and this software, and be able to create infinite kitchen plans and tweak them as much as I need to, and have this great computer for years, than spend $3000-$5000-$10,000-whatever to get an architect to give me one or two kitchen plans. And if you use PCs rather than Macs, your computer expense will probably be smaller than ours was anyway. Here is a link that might be useful: Chief Architect Home Designer product comparison

A two storey house is more complicated to design than a single storey house. For example, the plumbing pipes from upstairs have to go pretty well straight down. Your master bathroom sinks have no place for the pipes to drain down because they are over the open area of the great room. Pipes do not need to go straight down in a two story home. The required fall on a 4" drain pipe is 1/8" per foot. With standard fittings you can typically move drains at least 20' in a floor joist. The biggest problem with designing two story homes is doing so in a cost effective manner. Load bearing walls don't need to stack, plumbing doesn't need to stack, your bathroom can be above the living room but making those things happen can add to the cost such that they make no sense in a typical build. The stairs need to be fixed, proportions adjusted appropriately, and the rest is probably buildable if you don't care how much it costs. ---- To the OP... Houses are not a zero sum game. Value considers both what you pay and what you get. Good design is not an expense, it is an investment. If a good design can keep you happy in a home and defer or remove transaction costs associated with selling and moving then it easily pays for itself. Furthermore, if your home lives well for you then it will lead to lifestyle and possibly financial benefits for yourself. I understand that an architect may not fit into your budget, in that case try to find a talented draftsman/designer to help you. I would suggest interviewing a lot of people to find someone who talks to you about your goals and helps refine your vision rather than someone who simply produces plans, as it will help add value to your plan.