Usually, I try to stay away from such langauge.  But a recent experience has sort of caused some angst.

Recently, we moved our offices from my “home” office, to a new office in an old junior high school.  We didn’t fit anymore.  Employees cramed together in a space never really intended to have employees.  After four years, the amount of stuff had grown, the client list had grown.  It was time to move.  So we did.  Sort of, mostly, at least we started the process.

The space we picked out is a 22′x87′ space with 13 large 5′x8′ double hung windows.  This section of the school was built in 1932.  The original windows were long gone, replaced with single pane single hung aluminum windows.  Orange blinds.  Faux wood paneling on 2 of the 4 walls.  The floor was institutional carpet of an institutional grey-blue color.  1960’s era florourescent lighting.  But it was a large empty space without any walls and ready to go.

After about 20 iterations, most variations on the the same theme, we came up with a plan.  Only 4 walls.  3 of the walls wouldn’t touch other walls or the ceiling.  The 4th would go to the ceilng and connect to an exterior wall.

Here’s what needed to happen:

• Remove existing carpet and faux wood paneling.
• Patch and repair the walls where the paneling was removed.
• Frame the four new walls
• Wire up the place
• Hang the sheetrock.
• Paint
• Install the new floor
• Finish trim the electrical
• Finish trim the woodwork, including baseboards

It was about 11 weeks before things were mostly ready.  And we’re still missing our baseboards.  Building officials, contractor schedules, material availability, whatever.  It all conspired against us.

Our furniture, ordered the end of June still hasn’t been delivered.  Only the first page of seven was received by the factory and when we went to accept delivery 3 pieces were delivered, and they were the least important of the bunch.

It shouldn’t have taken as long as it did.  It shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was.  What a royal pain to build four #@$%! walls.

You should hire an architect.

I recently attended an energy design conference to collect some continuing education requirements that are required for licensure.  A lot of what was presented wasn’t new to me…it’s stuff I’ve been doing for the past 5 years already. But it did reinforce what I’ve been doing and reinforced the need for an architect.

The thing that did it were all the pictures the building consultants kept showing of things built wrong. Very wrong. So wrong that the guy giving the class was hired to come in and tell them how to fix it…usually for tens of thousands of dollars. And even if the contractor ended up paying for it (which they don’t always do because they may not still be around), the homeowner is very unhappy about being put out while their house is fixed.

Most “designers” and contractors don’t pay attention to how a house is designed at the detail level. They’ll do the bare minimum to get by. They’ll draw what looks pretty and has “curb appeal.” But they won’t think about the things that make a house last a long time and won’t rot. Most architects do think about these things as they design. They put standard details on the drawings, that if followed, will keep the house dry. I’ve yet to see a “builder” set of drawings (that is drawings done by a builder for themselves) that had any of these key details. And if the drawings don’t have the details it’s unlikely they’ll build it right.

So, hire an architect. Design is about more than just what it looks like…it’s about how long it lasts, too.