Your architect can fill you in on the costs and benefits for your area.Good luck!

It was now time to hire a architect to get building code approval.

3 bed 2 bath duplex in a solid "B" area about 5 min away from an Air Force Base 1400 sq ft on each side. seller also installed a new architect shingle roof after purchase for us,  mortgage  675 average rent for the neighborhood is 850 to 900It needed some work and truth be told I never really worked with tools before.

@Jim Adrian I totally agree with the architect and design consistency.

The reason is that I re-sided and changed the entire color palette, and the light brown shingles that were there looked dated and were the entirely wrong color.I considered both painting them, and replacing with either standing-seam metal or new architectural shingles, but the architect actually suggested that we wanted to minimize the roof, visually.I've been very happy with the results.  

You'll also want to factor in architect fees, engineering costs, permit fees, planning/zoning issues, etc.To determine if you should just rehab or should tear-down and rebuild, you should run the numbers for both scenarios and see which one results in the desirable outcome.If you spend some time searching the site, there are many of great articles and posts related to this topic...

I currently live and work in San Francisco as a software architect, and it's getting a little insane up here.

Architect/engineer;4.  

Rezoning, architects, gut job, etc. 

Wondering if most people work with a local architect to design a house plan, or order from the many online home plan retailers?