Go with the architect that you feel the best connection with, the one that "clicks" with you and your partner. You only need the floor plans and elevations to build a house.

Depends on how good you are able to understand a 2d floor plan and a 2d elevation. For example, I can look at a floor plan and elevation and get a pretty good understanding of how the house will look when finished. My better half on the other hand, looks at a floor plan and just sees lines on a page.

Hi Callen9419 - congratulations on your future home !

Many design professionals don't work in 3-D. Many interior designers, architects, and design build firms will hire somebody to help with 3-d renderings if they don't have someone in their office that can produce them.

You could also hire someone yourself to produce 3-D drawings from your 2-D floorplans and elevations. There are plenty of companies that offer these services, ranging from simple black and white perspective views to full color, photo realistic renderings.

That depends on how well you can visualize things. You could always hire someone to take the plan and create renderings, but its simpler if your designer can do them.

The software I'm using has a viewer available, allowing anyone to move around the model, inside and out, in 3D, so there is no need for static renderings.

Being a sole proprietor myself and having worked in a large firm I can say that my projects benefit from 30 years experience all the way through. Larger firms must hand off their projects to junior architects or draftspersons.

While I personally think 3D CAD is an indispensable tool for me and my clients, communication with your architect is paramount. As others have said work with who you feel most comfortable with.

3D renderings are a basic requirement. No serious arch would come with top only.

3D CAD is a must for viewing for sure. We were able to walk thru the entire house and allows you to catch issues you may have not.

We didn’t have a 3D option with our architect. I definitely wouldn’t have turned it down, and I’m sure it would have reassured me during the design process- however, in spite of the lack of 3D our house turned out amazing. I think the most important thing is the connection and trust with your architect. The rest is just the cherry on top.

Perspectives may be important for a client to visualize a design, they may not be important for the architect to come up with a design.

I work for a company that produces CAD software that is used by multiple industries, not just the architectural industry. Our software is fully capable of doing 3D, and it takes very little extra effort to turn a 2D floor plan into a 3D house. But lots of our customers just don't use it. They only work in 2D. I don't understand it...

Sounds like a great help if you're not used to working with drawings and 2 D elevations. (In a poll, more than 33% of male Japanese anime fans said they preferred their women in 2d to 3d, so I'd venture that same preference might apply to housing too.) FWIW, I admit to liking my women with three ample dimensions.

If you can visualize in three dimensions, who needs 3-D renderings to illustrate what a design looks like.

On the other hand, if you are not able to visualize in three dimensions, and you have any care and concern what your proposed design will look like, you may want a preview. Most consumers fall into this category.

FWIW, most designs needs revision and adjustment both in site planning, floor planning, elevations and perspective, as the design progresses and matures. No design is perfect on the first, or even second iteration. Or more!

If the architect (or whomever is doing the work) is working in 3-D CAD, then producing a perspective is only a matter of pushing a couple of buttons.

If the architect does not use CAD, they should be able to provide perspective drawings or sketches sufficient so that you can see and evaluate the design as it progresses.

If the person cannot provide hand drawn perspective sketches or 3D CAD perspective drawings, find another professional! Really!

I did not find them that important, but I can visualize. My spouse liked them. He can't visualize at all. So I think it depends.

I would not entirely trust an architect or designer who could not completely understand what his or her own design looked like from plans and elevations for a typical residence. Maybe if the house was in the manner of Frank Gehry.

I think the ability of a "designer" or layperson to string together a labyrinth of rooms and have a computer figure out how to stick a roof on it and what it's going to actually look like has led to the monstrosities getting built today.

We designed our own home, and found that 3d renderings were excellent for visualizing sightlines etc. We first designed the house in 2D, but seeing it in 3D allowed us to tweak things to really optimize views.

I've been using SketchUp on all of my projects since the first version from @Last Software in 2000. I can't imagine how I would design a building without it; its essential to my design process plus I really get a kick out of seeing a design come together. It doesn't take the place of a rendering; it takes the place of a model.

Welcome back JDS.

My architect hand draws everything so it was essential that I learn sketchup so that I could visualize the interior and see any issues. It was not very difficult to learn...a few youtube videos and practice! It is super fun as well!