All Forum Posts by: David Edwards

@Ric Mittleider Just saw this post on the forums and thought I'd reach out, I'm a local architect and owners rep with experience in housing off all shapes sizes and budgets multifamily included. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to have a discussion about how I can help you move your project forward.

Best,

Architect here @Monish Lillaney, generally speaking you will be hard pressed to find an architect that will stamp someone else's work if they didn't have a hand in producing it. That said, check your state codes to see if you will actually need a professional stamp for the work you are doing. If its not structural you may not even need to go through the effort of finding someones stamp.

Hey @Ed Long I run a company that provides owners rep, architecture, and consulting services. I'd be happy to take a look at your project to see if there's some way I can help you out nail down construction costs. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss further. 

Best,

@Victor Morales What did you tell the city you were planning on building? Speaking in broad generalizations here but if you are planning on building a house in a residential zoned area and your site meets the water, sewer, garbage, electricity requirements you shouldn't have a ton of trouble with the jurisdiction in building something to code. Shoot me a DM if you'd like to discuss the process further or if you'd like some help putting together planning documentation, design, etc.

Welcome @Kyle Donath

Fellow architect here pursuing development as well. I think your goals are admirable and similar to what we're trying to do in the NW. 

@Billy Sarno just my entirely biased 2 cents here but if you want to get top dollar for your rental you will likely benefit from having a local architect take a look at your site and project. 

With construction costs the way they are the design fees aren't the largest cost to manage on any development and having someone who knows what they are doing and is able to be thorough enough to reduce change orders as well as being able to think on their feet when questions occur. 

As @Nik Moushon pointed out, someone having a detailed understanding of the zoning code may even be able to point out unknown potentials for the site. 

Hope that helps, feel free to PM if you want any second opinions or anything.

@Nick Sehy, I've worked with my property manager in the past as well as just called realtors in the area. I've had a few deals come across my desk through wholesalers but they were outside of the scope I was looking to approach from out here. IMO its been slowing down a bit over there and the deals have become a bit more difficult to identify but I may just be getting lazy and focusing on other things. 

@Todd Ashley Something else to keep in mind if planning on doing a retrofit is that your city may provide standard details for this type of work. These details are available for DIY homeowners in Seattle and Portland may have something similar that you could work with. Aside from that I'd agree with @Nik Moushon and say you could call out a local structural engineer to take a look and give you an idea of what it would cost to stiffen things up a bit. 

@Iliya Muzychuk Check out https://www.citybldr.com/ they have built a tool that sounds similar to what you have been working on. they work with homeowners to put together assemblages as well as developers to find suitable sites for projects. 

People on this site seem to be pretty optimistic about cold calling and mailers as well so if you have capacity to do something with a site if you can secure it that might be another way to go about things. 

Hope that helps!

@Rich Hupper, I have seen a number of the types of building you are describing used for smaller subs in the Midwest. the type of construction they have utilized is a steel pole barn style of building, which have come a long way aesthetically and can look pretty contemporary if that's the desired appearance. From my interaction with the developers of these spaces they are relatively affordable to build and are fulfilling the needs of their tenants. 

A couple things to keep in mind:
-How are the leases to be structured? 
-What are the needs of the specific tenants you are chasing? Different trades have unique needs for their equipment, lifts, power, fire protection, hoods, ventilation, etc.
- Permitting in your jurisdiction, most jurisdictions I have worked in require an architects stamp for commercial work, in general its the unknown unknowns that can come up with people trying to do these types of projects on their own (and the associated liability should something avoidable occur in a building) that the cities are trying to avoid. 
-Cost of sorting things out on paper vs. in the field, Having a complete design (since you are new to the GC side of things) will save you a lot of headache during the entitlements phase of the project, and change orders once the build starts. Its a heck of a lot cheaper to relocate a wall in a drawing than it is in the field.
-Marketing, part of your architects services can typically include renderings for marketing. 

TLDR - Architect provides more than just drawings (though they are the primary deliverable) and are likely required for commercial work in your state, having the design sorted out before starting construction is almost always the cheapest way to build, tenants have specific needs - build out the space to work with them while being flexible enough for the next tenant.

In my experience, the single most effective way to mitigate cost during the construction process is to have as much figured out as possible by the time you break ground. There are a lot of ways to scrimp and scrape off a couple bucks from the front end of projects but this generally leads to making that up on the back end when unaccounted for items come back into play.

Good Luck!