3 Questions to Ask Your Architect When Building Your Dream Home

Architectural Admirations

Building your dream home from the ground up is a thrilling process, that takes tremendous foresight, planning, and effort to accomplish. Since building a luxury custom home – whether it be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Sun Valley, Idaho, or Palm Beach, Florida – is such an all-encompassing process, it’s important that it be done correctly the first time.

Working with the right architect ensures that the building process starts off on the right foot and that every step of the process will be completed according to your specifications. So, how do you choose the right architect for the job? These are three quintessential questions to ask an architect before choosing them to break ground on your dream home.

1) References

Does the architect have qualified references?
To determine whether or not an architect is qualified, or a good fit for your custom home project, it’s important to ask for references. Skilled architects will be eager to show off their previous projects and provide references.

Looking over references is one of the best ways to get an idea of the style of work and types of homes the architect creates. References allow an architects conceptual drawings to come to life and showcase their skill set.

References will also be able to give you insight into their ability to bring a client’s vision to life, their design style and particular preferences, and whether or not they will be the right fit for your custom home project.

2) Design process

What does the architect’s design process entail?
A skilled industry-leading architect will take the time to produce renderings, 3D models, or other visual aids for their clients. Some architects may have several sessions with you before the final drawings are completed, both to share their thought process, design details, and to gather insight.

Be sure to communicate your desired level of involvement with your architect. Don’t hesitate to request more in-depth renderings, revisions, additions, and so on.

This is your dream home so being authoritative will help you seal the deal. If a prospective architect doesn’t intend to share visual aids or their process, they may not be accommodating to your specific needs.

3) Organization & Documentation

What tools and strategies will the architect utilize to plan, design, build and deliver your dream home? It is a good sign if the architect you are considering has a well-thought-out and organized method of collecting client information and a system for implementing those needs into their designs. Not only should your thoughts and ideas be listened to, but they should also be recorded and made evident in the final design.

We know how essential it is to find an architect that fits your style and truly understands your design goals and dream house ambitions. Finding the right architect to align with your home aspirations can be challenging and feel overwhelming. Luckily, with Build Magazine’s critical steps like checking references, seeing the design process unfold, and gathering all pertinent build information it should be a seamless.