ᐅ Appointment with the design office – Preparation

Hello forum community,

we are planning a single-family house, possibly with a granny flat and a double garage.
As non-experts, we have already created a CAD drawing and know how we want the house to look.

The first meeting with the designer is coming up soon. Their role will be to professionally review and optimize our drawings and translate them into a building permit / planning permission-ready plan, including structural calculations and so on. Since we can assign some trades entirely within the family, we are building without a general contractor and will need to find individual contractors for some trades.

Do you have any tips on what we should pay special attention to in terms of planning?
Are there specific points that must or should definitely be included in the planning contract?
Can a layperson even tell if a designer is “reliable” or not?
How can I protect myself against significant budget overruns?
Is a formal contract mandatory, or do designers sometimes start work on a handshake?

It would be great to get some practical advice to prepare for this meeting 🙂

Maraum91 schrieb:

As amateurs, we have

Maraum91 schrieb:

who professionally corrects/optimizes our drawings accordingly

I think that is unwise. It would be better to go to an architect with a room layout, must-haves, priorities, etc., without a drawing. A draftsman simply redraws your amateur planning and only questions and improves structural or similar errors, but not any possible design mistakes.

If you consider yourselves amateurs, how can you be confident that you can create the floor plan on your own? Have you considered all details? For example, raw construction dimensions versus plaster finish measurements? Have you used standardized closet depths? Stair length and tread sizes? Wouldn't you prefer to share the plan here first?

Who is the "planner"? An architect? A draftsman? I still see several potential pitfalls here...

Is there already a purchased plot of land? How large is it?

Is the land flat?

Is your planner an architect? Do they have references?

How large will the house be?

What is the budget for the house? Be sure to inform the planner.

Are you familiar with the local building regulations?

Have you complied with the zoning or development plan (if there is one)?

He is an independent civil engineer who runs his own planning office.
Our amateur work is definitely not intended to go beyond what you mentioned. Although we have considered and incorporated the topics you referred to, this is by no means a professionally accurate plan.

Therefore, it is important to us that the plan is not simply “traced” but that a technically sound and efficient design is created. The drawing should serve as a reference, as you already described, for basic room layout, priorities, and so on.

This could certainly lead to misunderstandings! That is a very good point. I will make this clear during the discussion and probably will not hand over the detailed drawings either.

Maraum91 schrieb:

He is a civil engineer who runs his own design office.

Then he has probably designed other houses before. How do you find his references?

Nemesis schrieb:

I think that’s unwise. It would be better to approach an architect with a room program, must-haves, priorities, etc. without a drawing. A draftsman typically just redraws your amateur(!) plan and only questions or corrects structural or similar errors, but not your possible design mistakes.

How do you, considering yourselves amateurs, believe you can handle the floor plan on your own? Have you considered all details? For example, shell dimensions versus finished plaster dimensions? Used standardized closet depths? Stair length / step dimensions? Wouldn’t you rather share your plan here?

Who is the "planner"? An architect? A draftsman? I still see several potential pitfalls here...

He is a freelance civil engineer who runs his own planning office.
Our amateur work is definitely not meant to be more than what you described. We have indeed considered and incorporated the aspects you mentioned, but by no means is this a professionally correct plan.

Therefore, it is important to us that the planning is not simply "traced," but that a professionally sound and efficient plan is created. The drawing is intended to serve as a guideline, as you described, for the basic room layout, priorities, etc.

This could certainly lead to misunderstandings! That’s a very good point. I will emphasize this clearly in the discussion, and probably will not hand over the detailed drawings either.

gutentag schrieb:

Do you already have a purchased plot of land? How large is it?

Is the plot flat?

Is your planner an architect? Does he have references?

How big will the house be?

Budget for the house? Definitely share that with the planner.

Are you familiar with the local building regulations?

Have you complied with the zoning plan (if there is one)?

The plot is available, 1800m² (approximately 19375 ft²), with a slope of 6% across the width of the house and 9% over its length.
The planning office was recommended by acquaintances who have already worked with him, but in the multi-family or commercial sector. I will ask for single-family home references.
As of now, the plan includes 240m² (approximately 2583 ft²) of living space with a separate apartment. The separate apartment is mandatory. The living space may still be optimized. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we both work permanently from home, so two offices are no longer an option. Two children’s rooms are also necessary.
The budget is 500,000 after buffer and own contributions from us and family. I will create a separate thread about how to realistically calculate this.
I would say that I am now quite familiar with the building code, at least in terms of the different permit processes. I have worked into it well and understand the associated risks concerning liability and responsibility.
There is a zoning plan, and we intend to fully comply with it.