A must read if you are thinking to hire any professional other than an Architect to design your house.
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Dear Potential Client,
I was delighted to get your call saying that I was highly recommended by a contact of yours. You said you wanted to build a house.
I arranged to meet you and I showed you my portfolio and we talked about the different stages involved in designing and building a house. You said to be delighted with my work and asked for my fees. I said I would have to look at the complexity of the project and I would then send you a fee proposal.
Site and brief
Your site was very challenging, with a big slope and fantastic views. I was excited with this project. Your requirements were not unusual and your likes/tastes would certainly help to make this a great project – a dream home!
Image: Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Fee proposal and the waiting game
I sent you my fee proposal and I waited. And waited. And waited. I rang you and you didn’t answer the phone. I rang you again and I left a message. And I waited.
Surely, these decisions are not easy and I totally understand that. So, I waited. Eventually you replied saying that you have decided to give the job to someone else.
Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Disappointment
I was disappointed but deep inside me I thought that you had appointed the other architect that you had mentioned to me and I felt that you would be in good hands anyway because he is a good professional.
Shock
Last week I was flickering my notes and came across our meeting. I decided to kill my curiosity and have a look at the County Council website to see what fantastic project my colleague had designed for you (so I thought!).
I was shocked to find out that you end up hiring an engineer to design your dream home. An engineer?! To me it was like seeing a Paediatrician performing a Heart Surgery. What a shock!
I had a look at your house drawings and I was perplexed to find out that your dream home looked like a bunch of terraced houses in a suburban setting. …So disappointing!
I could not identify any of the likes/tastes you shared with me on our meeting, your house looks massive, bulky and out of context. The volumes are boring and lack originality. The house does not sit well on the site and completely disrespects the site topography and landscape.
At this stage, I wanted to know if the planners had approved your project. I kept browsing the file and came across some letters from TDs in support of your application.
I never quite understood why these letters are needed in a planning application but this is not the 1st time that I’ve seen projects with these type of letters being granted (I’m also aware, at least in one case, that this support is paid).
Honestly, I was hoping to see a refusal at the end of the file but that didn’t happen. Your project, surprisingly, got planning permission granted with some minor comments to its scale and bulk.
My social role as an Architect
My first reaction following this ‘discovery’ was to talk to you and tell you that that is not your dream home, it’s a badly designed house and not good architecture.
Image:Scott Liddell / morgueFile.com
You are probably blind to see this and I would look like a pretentious Architect if I was to make you aware of the above.
So I stayed quite and I decided to write this letter hoping to help someone in a similar position.
I thought for a while if there was a quick fix for your problem, but I couldn’t find any… I feel repelled to help you but the only solution I see is to redesign the all house, and I doubt you would do that now.
I’m sure that you will soon realise that saving a few €€€€ was not worth. After all you are building a house for life, it should be right, beautiful, in harmony, functional and fit your requirements, while blending with the landscape (if not improving it). It should be a piece of art, something to be proud of, something special, something UNIQUE! I feel sorry you didn’t get that.
Image: jdurham / morgueFile.com
Check out the 10 reasons why you should hire an Architect.
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