Advice on Hiring an Architect:

As rebuilding efforts ramp up over the next few months, a lot of people are going to be engaging with the building process for the first time. I thought I would offer some advice and resources to consider when hiring an architect:

Define the Scope of Work.

You will need a baseline description of your project to have useful conversations with design and building professionals. It should include basic information about: your property (location, topography, access); the previous structures (footprint, square footage, height, images); your desired project (rebuilding what was destroyed or building new custom home, if you want to use the 110% rule for streamlined permitting, architectural style, including an ADU, etc).

The scope of work does not need to include your budget. You should ask them for a rough estimate based on their experience, usually they’ll use a general $$/sq ft and adjust it up or down based on the info provided.

You should have an understanding of what resources you will have from insurance payouts or financing options, to discuss when necessary. Adjusting the scope of work to match the budget will happen later in the process.

Hire California Licensed Architects.

It’s not that licensed architects are magically better at providing services, but they are held to a different standard, including professional liability for their work.

You should ask for license numbers and verify their status at this website https://search.dca.ca.gov/. Select “Architects Board, California” from the first dropdown menu and then enter their name or license number. There should be a result with their professional information and license status.

Some people are suggesting you hire only architects that are members of the AIA. While this can indicate more capable professionals, I know plenty of very talented and reputable architects that have left the AIA sometime in the past decade.

Hire Local Firms or Individuals.

Local architects will better understand their communities, have contacts for other building professionals that will need to be involved, and have experience with local building and planning departments.

I’m also a firm believer in buying local, so rebuilding should serve as an opportunity to support local businesses and improve the local economy.

You can consider firms located elsewhere if they have local project experience. There is likely to be a “gold rush” of building professionals to Los Angeles, so be suspicious of outside firms without local experience. If they have an exceptional portfolio, you can ask around about their reputation, and they could partner with a local architect.

Review their Portfolio.

Architects should provide you with a portfolio of their past work, with relevant project examples and built projects similar to what you have in mind. Have them talk you through a few projects with some detail and how it would apply to yours.

If their portfolio is mostly renderings with very little built work, make sure they have the experience to see your project through from start to finish. There are plenty of architects who know how to design, but may not have been involved for the entire process and don’t understand issues encountered during construction.

You can also ask for clarification on what work was done personally, versus work that was done previously for another firm. It’s not uncommon for architects to include very impressive work in their portfolio, even if their personal role on the project was minimal. If you have concerns, one thing you can do is a reverse image search to see if the same image comes up on other architect’s websites

Ask for References.

Ask for which projects are more recent, and contact information to speak to those former clients about their experience. You can ask about projects currently underway and speak to those clients, to get an idea of what it’s like to work with the architect today.

You can also ask the architect about their own resources, to have confidence that they can execute your project and aren’t taking on more work than they can handle.

Fees Vary Widely

I was asked by an acquaintance to take a look at an architect’s proposal they thought might be “price gouging”. In this instance, it was a reasonable fee, assuming the architect had the skills and experience to justify that amount.

In my experience, fees for custom homes are somewhere between 8%-12% of the cost of construction. This would be for reputable architects with a good portfolio of work.

This is a very general rule of thumb, and can vary widely depending on the specific project requirements, its location, site difficulty, project scale and quality, etc.

It’s absolutely possible to find services that are outside of this range. If you want to basically replicate what was destroyed, there is less design work and you might expect lower fees, but the same professional liability still exists for the architect, so some of the fee will reflect that risk and it might not be as low as you thought.

You should have proposals from 3 to 4 architects to compare against each other. If there are outliers, you can look to see if they include or exclude services vs. the other proposals. Make sure they all reference the same scope of work, and ask for revised proposals accordingly.

Ask for Help

You can already see the significant resources and information about rebuilding that are being assembled for those affected by the fires. If you have lingering questions, consult more resources and ask for second opinions.

I’m happy to review things for you and provide guidance, feel free to reach out.