Ask an Architect - What are your FAQs us?? What do we even do!

[Neil Ginty]

Hi BP Community,

As part of mine and my wife's investment strategy, I gave up my W2 safety net to launch my own architectural firm. I want to provide a resources/FAQs section on my website for what we do and am hoping the BP community can help by firing some questions at me!? 
A few examples: I've been asked a few times already if we do Building Permitting! I thought it was an obvious yes, but maybe its just obvious to me!? Some other starters: Can we do structural design? Yes, if its straightforward but less so if we need to do calcs for the City. Can we do site design? Layouts yes, but for details you will need a Civil Engineer. 

Please, ask me anything! It will be a big help... I also want to do the same for ADUs, so throw those in as well

@Osazee Edebiri, you got any??

[Bruce Woodruff]

As a high-end GC who worked with the best Architects in a swanky little beach town, a great one can make a project go so much easier. A bad/lazy one can ruin a project. The more thorough the Architect can be the better...some of the best even provided me with detail sheets about how they wanted the crown molding built.

But Architect's need to stay in their lane as well. One of my biggest peeves was having the Architect hanging around telling me how to build everything. They don't really know how to build stuff, nor should they. Some have holier than thou attitudes which can create issues. The customer will usually side with the GC when problems arise anyway, IME.

The average cost for an Arch was around $30k for a full remodel or new build.

A good one will also be very available for the GC to get ahold of when things go sideways, like needing a new drawing to define a previously unknown issue. A great Arch will get that done, run it through the City and get it stamped in 1-2 days (and charge the customer for it of course :-)

Some people used Draftspersons and I usually hated working with them....usually poor drawings and understanding of real building codes and techniques.

Good luck with your career!