All Forum Posts by: Colin L.

I'd be happy to help.

I would add my vote for all electric + solar, however I've had issues getting an electric water heater to comply w/ title 24 energy calculations. I could only get a heat pump electric water heater to work which are a more expensive (but really really efficient). You should talk to whoever is doing your title 24 report and have them plug in some electric water heaters and see what they say.

I'll PM you the name of some LA's I work with.

@Eric Bilderback

NYC will fine you a cool $1M per year for not complying:

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/23/716284808/new-york-city-lawmakers-pass-landmark-climate-measure

Of course this only applies to buildings over 25k sq ft.

@Andrew Burkhart

Detached ADU can be up to 1200 SF. Or you could permit the existing home as the "ADU" and then build a much bigger primary residence, if it made financial sense of course.

@James Wang sounds high but Isn’t everything housing related expensive in the Bay Area? If the architect is in high demand then that may be his market price. You can always get additional quotes.

@Andy Eakes craftsman foundation repair

That is a pretty wide range of bids, I'd be wary of the 1200 bid but there are some questions you can ask to help you better determine the value you are getting from each of those bids.  Obviously looking at their past work and getting references is helpful but the real difference in price can depend on what is included in their fixed fee aka basic scope of services:

-Design phase: is it a stock plan they will reuse, or is it a custom design based on site conditions and your input?

-Construction documents: Is structural engineering included? Is Title 24 included? Are interior finishes included?

-Permitting: Are responses to plan check comments included? Who is responsible for submitting and routing plans? 

-Bidding: Will the architect assist in finding contractors or not?  How responsive will they be to contractor questions?

-Construction Administration: Is this included as part of the fixed fee or is it an additional service? CA phase can include things like regular site visits, responses to contractor RFI's, clarifying sketches, etc. 

Considering that it's more than just the ADU for a total of 1200-1500 SF structure, I'd say that it's a reasonable price for a designer. I'd recommend taking a close look at their experience and prior work but I would suggest that even if they were licensed.