Residential Architect in the San Diego, CA area

[Bich Pham]

Greetings BiggerPockets Community,

I am looking for a good residential architect in the San Diego, CA area. The house I am looking to build is on a R2 zone lot in Chula Vista. It will be an attached addition to an existing property, so the final result should be something like a halfplex, I believe. This new home construction deal is all new to me so I am still slowly trying to figure things out as I go.

I am at the point where I need a good architect, but I am not sure who is considered good. Does anyone have thoughts on who is a good architect and how to find one? Also is there different tiers of services, such as some will help with the plan submission for acquiring permits and some wont? I have heard of some horror stories of people paying up to $5,000 for a custom plan that they couldn't even use so it was just tossed. They then had to re-contract another architect to redraw the plan. Really trying to avoid such a scenario for myself, so any insight on thoughts for finding a good architect is much appreciated. Thank you!!