The one big question we get here at Landen Design Build, “Are you an Architect”? We have gotten this question so many times that we decided to write a book about it, called Setting the Record straight about Architects vs residential Home Designers which you can download for free from our website.
In this book we do a dive deep into all the pros and cons of each discipline, and once armed with this knowledge you should then be able to make a much more informed decision on whom to engage to plan, design, and draft your new homes building plans.
Example of rending work done by Landen Design
There are two basic differences between an Architect and a residential Home Designer, Architects are required by Alberta Law to be “licenced” and further are required by law to have full liability insurance to cover off any possible design errors or omissions that could cause damage or extra cost to a project.
Whereas residential Home Designers are not required under Alberta Law to be licenced, nor are they required by law to have any liability insurance (However many home designers like Landen Design Build do have liability insurance)
Who Designs What?
The next big difference between Architect vs a residential Home Designer is “what they design”.
Architects can design everything from a house to a high-rise building, and typically do most of their work in commercial buildings like hotel’s, schools, shopping malls etc.
Whereas a residential Home Designer only designs “homes or custom homes”, and in fact is not legally allowed to design commercial buildings without an Architect’s stamped Seal, or alternately a P-Eng. stamped Seal.
So the big question to ask, is do you want to engage a design firm that specializes in custom homes, or a firm that also designs hotels, schools, shopping malls etc. However, it should be noted that there are some Architect’s that do specialize only in custom designed homes.
Who Cost More?
The next big difference between the two disciplines is what it will cost you to engage each party
for your custom home design.
Architects typically tend to be more expensive to engage compared to a typical residential custom home designer. Mostly due to the extra overhead cost that an Architect is legally obligated to have.
Most Architects tend to bill based on a percentage (10%-15%) of projected project cost (meaning the more the project cost, the more an Architect makes as their design fee) whereas most custom home designers charge by the sq. ft. of the livable area of a home floor plan design.
Or, you can engage a designer by the hour, most Architects charge north of $150 per hour to as much as $350 per hour (In the Calgary area), whereas most residential Home Designers tend to charge from $65-$85 per hour. In Landen Design Build’s case we also offer a full credit back of our design fees if you also build with us.
What Do Architects Do?
The best way to know who to hire is to first know what each professional does. Here is an outline of the key tasks and job responsibilities of an Architect (Also see below for residential Home Designers):
- Architects design ALL types of buildings—not just homes. Hospitals, hotels, churches,
LRT stations etc. - After communication with all those involved, the architect(s) will draw up plans for your
design, usually with a computer-aided CAD systems - They then will closely supervise with billable site visits as a construction firm takes over
to build their design, this to ensure that the contractor is properly following the architect
plans (see also architects liability insurance) - Their designs incorporate function, form, safety and needs of the future owners
- Their designs incorporate both beauty and functionality
- Architects usually engage a structural engineering firm at an added cost to the client to make sure that any design calculations are also reviewed by an engineer, (see also
architects liability insurance) Note: the extra engineers fess can add up to many
thousands of dollars, in many cases $10,000 or more.
What Do Residential Designers Do?
- Residential Designers, only design homes and cannot legally design any other types of buildings such as hospitals, hotels, churches, LRT stations etc.
- Similar to architects, after communication with all those involved, a Residential Designers
will draw up plans for your design, where some still do this by hand, but many use
computer-aided CAD systems, some like Landen Design Build use state of the art 3-D
colour rendering CAD systems that can show you in full colour 3-D virtual tours of your
future home before any construction is even started. - A Residential Designer is not required to do site visits to make sure the construction firm
is doing a good job (unless you want them to) which in itself could be a large project
saving assuming you have also engaged a qualified builder. - Similar to architects their designs incorporate function, form, safety and needs of the
future owners, with all design work meeting or exceeding all necessary building code
requirements. - Similar to architects, their designs incorporate both beauty and functionality
- Residential Designers only engage a structural engineering firm at an added cost to the
client, only if the approving authorities request an engineering review and or letter to
verify the designer’s structural design. This engineering fee tends to be no more than
$1,000 to $2,000
Difference in education of Architects vs Home Designers
There is a big difference in education requirements between comparing an Architect to a
residential Home Designer. An Architect must complete several years of university training with
the vast majority of Architects completing a bachelor or master degree in architecture from a university program approved by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB).
Compared to some residential designers, that may not have any real formal home design or
architectural drafting training. However, this does not mean that all residential home designer
have no formal training don’t know what they are doing!.
Many residential designers have a much better grasp on residential drafting, design and market design trends than many Architects, especially when comparing to Architects that specialize in commercial projects.
There is however, other architectural design and drafting credentials and training that many good
residential home designers may have as added qualifications, such as that provided by SAIT or
NAIT where their Architectural Technologies programs are designed to enable graduates to be
able to perform and manage the fundamental duties of an architectural technologist.
In Landen Design’s case, founder of Landen, Greg Genereux gained his SAIT Architectural Technologist diploma way back in 1975, as well as has several certificates in Land Planning & Zoning, including SAIT training in the field of Structural Engineering Technologist also done way back in the late seventies, and further holds credentials as a Journeyman Carpenter and cabinet maker, and is well versed and trained in CAD and 3-D rendering systems. Where Greg and his design team have designed and build well over 1,000 custom homes.
So! Who is better? Architect or residential Home Designer?
The short answer, they are both a good choice, it simply depends on what you want out of your potential home designer. If you want a quality home design both disciplines can probably do the job, however you should note that like other professions there are good and not so good home designers in both categories, it really boils down to two factors, your overall planning and design budget, and the experience and background of each designer you ask for a design proposal.
There are several very qualified Residential Designers that could more than keep up with most full-fledged Architects or firms, and in many cases some Residential Designers can actually have more real world/on-site construction and design experience in designing custom homes than many Architects, especially comparing Architects that try and design “everything” from bridges, high-rises, shopping malls, and the odd custom home.
The other factor to consider and question to ask, is if the design firm you are looking at, is a full “Design Build Firm”? Meaning the same firm is not only the custom home designer but is also the home builder.
In the case of Landen Design Build, where we have 40 years’ experience designing custom homes and 40 years of experience in building custom homes!
Furthermore we at Landen Design will fully credit back all design and planning fees spent with Landen Design if you also build with Landen, and in that case we would then be WAY less money than a full- fledged Architect or Architectural Firm, as it would be very unlikely an architect or their firm would credit back their design fees, even if they happen to offer a project management service!
