Residential Architecture Consulting (Single Family)
Whether or not you need a building science consultant is a much harder question to answer when it comes to residential architecture. Many architects and builders are extraordinarily competent and are more than capable of delivering a lovely, efficiently designed, comfortable, and durable house that you will love, no consultant required. But the more complicated your house and the more demanding your expectations, the more likely it is that you’ll exceed your architect and/or builder’s ability to competently and confidently meet your needs.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOUR ARCHITECT IS SOMEHOW DEFICIENT!
It means that this stuff is complicated and that architecture is both art and science. Just because you’ve found someone to design the kitchen of your dreams doesn’t necessarily mean that the same person is an expert on keeping your basement dry on a sloped site next to a lake. (And, by the way, this is exactly how your contractor does things: No one is surprised that roofers don’t also install your bathroom tiles. Let generalists be generalists and let specialists be specialists.)
Remember that building a house isn’t about hiring one perfect person, it’s about assembling the right team, and this very well might include one or more consultants.
For residential projects, I recommend that the architect, not the owner, hire the enclosure consultant. It’s fine if the owner takes a special interest in this and really wants to take charge of this part of the design, but, in my experience, this has the unintended consequence of pitting the architect and the consultant against each other—it’s hard enough for an architect to not perceive review comments as implicitly judgmental, never mind when the perceived criticism is delivered in front of the client. When the architect holds the contract, however, the two tend to work better as a team and can hash out ideas as professionals before presenting the most realistic options to the client. This arrangement also tends to be a lot less overwhelming to the homeowner, who will have no shortage of difficult decisions to make throughout the process without attempting to police professional conversations about technical issues in which he doesn’t have any expertise.
How does this usually work? At a minimum, an enclosure consultant will discuss the project requirements with the architect and/or owner, and then review the architectural drawings and make recommendations.
I like to present these recommendations in the form of a letter, which is usually about three pages, that outlines my big-picture recommendations on each enclosure system: wall assembly design, roof assembly design, foundation systems, and balconies or terrace systems. Sometimes the approach that will best meet the design intent and owner’s expectations is simple and obvious (I might have only one recommended foundation system, for example), and other times I’ll present a baseline recommendation with one or two alternatives for the architect and owner to consider (for wall and roof systems, for example). The letter includes the technical justification for the recommendations and outlines why someone might want to consider the alternates.
The general recommendations included in the letter are accompanied by specific recommendations, marked-up on the drawings. These specific recommendations relate primarily to building durability (including rain and ground water management, water vapor management (including condensation risk from air leakage and vapor diffusion), moisture accumulation potential, and drying capacity) and secondarily to comfort and energy performance (effective thermal resistance, thermal bridging concerns, air tightness, and window solar heat gain).
Remember that building a house isn’t about hiring one perfect person, it’s about assembling the right team, and this very well might include one or more consultants.
For residential projects, I recommend that the architect, not the owner, hire the enclosure consultant. It’s fine if the owner takes a special interest in this and really wants to take charge of this part of the design, but, in my experience, this has the unintended consequence of pitting the architect and the consultant against each other—it’s hard enough for an architect to not perceive review comments as implicitly judgmental, never mind when the perceived criticism is delivered in front of the client. When the architect holds the contract, however, the two tend to work better as a team and can hash out ideas as professionals before presenting the most realistic options to the client. This arrangement also tends to be a lot less overwhelming to the homeowner, who will have no shortage of difficult decisions to make throughout the process without attempting to police professional conversations about technical issues in which he doesn’t have any expertise.
How does this usually work? At a minimum, an enclosure consultant will discuss the project requirements with the architect and/or owner, and then review the architectural drawings and make recommendations.
I like to present these recommendations in the form of a letter, which is usually about three pages, that outlines my big-picture recommendations on each enclosure system: wall assembly design, roof assembly design, foundation systems, and balconies or terrace systems. Sometimes the approach that will best meet the design intent and owner’s expectations is simple and obvious (I might have only one recommended foundation system, for example), and other times I’ll present a baseline recommendation with one or two alternatives for the architect and owner to consider (for wall and roof systems, for example). The letter includes the technical justification for the recommendations and outlines why someone might want to consider the alternates.
The general recommendations included in the letter are accompanied by specific recommendations, marked-up on the drawings. These specific recommendations relate primarily to building durability (including rain and ground water management, water vapor management (including condensation risk from air leakage and vapor diffusion), moisture accumulation potential, and drying capacity) and secondarily to comfort and energy performance (effective thermal resistance, thermal bridging concerns, air tightness, and window solar heat gain).
What does something like that cost?
It depends on how complicated the house is and what the performance requirements are. Most firms will charge at least $4,000 to review a basic house. My last firm had a $5,000 minimum for residential design reviews at the time. This type of review is a good choice if your project is relatively simple, and your architect is prepared to take the review comments and apply them with minimal additional assistance to the design moving forward, making adjustments as necessary to accommodate any changes that occur after the consultant’s review. In other words, this is a basic review that occurs once, and your consultant does not remain involved in the project.
If your project is more complicated and your project requirements are more specific, you may wish to engage a consultant not just to review the drawings, but to truly assist the architect as an integral part of the design team, who will typically also remain involved in the project through construction. Every consultant obviously prices this out differently, but I can tell you that most of the time we’re just guessing.
For these types of arrangements, it’s not uncommon for the design-assistance part of the scope to be $20,000 to $30,000 and for the construction part of the scope to be about the same. This is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, but if you’re building a 12,000-square-foot house, your project has a lot more in common with the commercial construction projects that I describe above than with a 1,200-square-foot bungalow.
If your project is more complicated and your project requirements are more specific, you may wish to engage a consultant not just to review the drawings, but to truly assist the architect as an integral part of the design team, who will typically also remain involved in the project through construction. Every consultant obviously prices this out differently, but I can tell you that most of the time we’re just guessing.
For these types of arrangements, it’s not uncommon for the design-assistance part of the scope to be $20,000 to $30,000 and for the construction part of the scope to be about the same. This is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, but if you’re building a 12,000-square-foot house, your project has a lot more in common with the commercial construction projects that I describe above than with a 1,200-square-foot bungalow.