CA for future home builder/owner

[lbuttery]

However, that is very different from sending a set of plans to an engineer for their review/red-line, making the red-line corrections and then having the engineer stamp the plans

Ben:

again, the key is direct supervision

too little and there could be a violation....

Lew

[tlmarcott]

Absolutely! In 2007 I started the designing. In 2008, I built. My final plans were developed by a lumber yard who would provide drawings for free if you bought lumber from them. I'm an engineer by trade so I felt my drawings made sense. They were invaluable for iterations and space optimization with my wife. If you look at the detail that some provide on these forums the lumber yard fell short so watch it. Example - wall details. I made up for a lot of was not on drawings with a 16 page spec. The loan was on me but I paid my trim guy/GC to run the project for 8% of total cost. 5466 sf 2 story with 1900 sf of the basement finished.

[tlmarcott]

Another thing or two to watch. Bad roof lines - I have a bad "cricket" or two. Areas that require special flashing or other solutions. Surprise no one caught it before build. You can see one on the right side of the house. The other was the bay window. I had decent drawings aside from the official drawings but they still screwed up the pitch and copper roof. I also needed extreme details for the dryvit/succo on the bay.

[Rickt1962]

Another thing or two to watch. Bad roof lines - I have a bad "cricket" or two. Areas that require special flashing or other solutions. Surprise no one caught it before build. You can see one on the right side of the house. The other was the bay window. I had decent drawings aside from the official drawings but they still screwed up the pitch and copper roof. I also needed extreme details for the dryvit/succo on the bay.

Don't feel bad ! Ive had many professional plans come to me and when building the homes, ive come across wrong window sizes in dormers that list the correct size for fire egress in the plan but the roof pitch ends up a foot higher in the window ! or Bay roofs drawn wrong on the plan with missing ridges etc etc etc LOL I love the plans they give me with great style and never any thought of the cost of Framing which the burden is put on the home owners wallet which they can't afford. But i do like the challenges and curve balls when building someone else's plan. Just don't like pissed off home owners when its not my fault when those glitches show up !

[Architex]

Don't feel bad ! Ive had many professional plans come to me and when building the homes, ive come across wrong window sizes in dormers that list the correct size for fire egress in the plan but the roof pitch ends up a foot higher in the window ! or Bay roofs drawn wrong on the plan with missing ridges etc etc etc LOL I love the plans they give me with great style and never any thought of the cost of Framing which the burden is put on the home owners wallet which they can't afford. But i do like the challenges and curve balls when building someone else's plan. Just don't like pissed off home owners when its not my fault when those glitches show up !

I saw this just the other day. A builder friend of mine brought by a set of plans that someone else had drawn so I could print them out for him. I glanced at them and noticed they had a room over the garage that was contained within the roof. I told him the exterior wall would only be 42" high even though they labeled the wall at 96". The homeowner though he was lying to them and fired him (I am sure other issues arose other than just this) Fast forward, while they were framing the house I noticed they did not change the plans (it is being built in my neighborhood so I can see what they are doing). They had to rip off part of the roof and re-frame it since surprise surprise the wall was only 42" tall. the homeowner did mention they got the plans drawn for only $800. It just shows you get what you pay for. Save a couple of bucks now to spend thousands later.

[Rickt1962]

WOW LOL yea start the digging process in the wallet ! If i have a customer that is a little tight on the budget, I talk them into allowing me to draw the plans so NO SURPRISES show up !

[keithhe]

already Yes,

I know this is a month old thread, but I'm one too that believes that anyone can do their own design if they so choose. Let's face it, most people simply don't have the apptitude, but some do. Recognize what you can do, have professionals do what you can't, either legally or otherwise.

I'm a GC and have been drawing in one program or another for 15 + years, but relatively new to Chief and drafting on my own behalf. Where I'm at, wet seals are required for all structual portions of the project, regardless of what that part is. I draw up preliminary plans, have the EOR I work with draw all the structural details then I coordinate what I have with what they specify. He reviews my stuff and vice versa and when we both are happy, they provide the structual sets, I provide the rest. Frankly, I've been doing this for a long time, so I already know what they will require, so we are never that far off to begin with. I have not seen any issues with this method, and don't believe it is in any way illegal or unethical.

Prior to my current life of residential remodeling and renovations, I was managing very large commercial aviation projects around the country. Primarily building hangars and FBO's. During that time, we had architects we worked with and engineers. As neither of those, I typically did much of the preliminary design work, and the architects made it legal and pretty. The reason for this was that early on it was apparent that the architect, talented as he was, had no idea of our business or what really mattered to us, and our business. How could he.

One example was a West Coast project where we had several wings planned as addition to our facilty that was also a LEED target project (LEED CI). The architect gave numerous plans that everyone hated. The flow and space use was simply not what we needed. I spent a Christmas vacation drawing it up and everyone loved it. Architect drew it up my way and our target LEED Silver for FBO and 2 hangars made LEED Gold. First at that time in the country. All the while I was, and still am not, an architect or an engineer. I found that by working closely with both, I could direct traffic and get what we wanted.

Later, we redesigned our core buildings (FBO's) in three typical size ranges depending on target. Through this same approach (my design layout), those in some configuration are still being built today.

Again, I think it comes down to apptitude. Not genetic by the way. My sister tried to design a new home for my folks some years ago and it was laughable. The garage was so out of proportion it was like the size of a basketball court. I redesigned it in CAD, we handed off to an architect in Panama, who made minor changes (mostly cosmetic) and we had it built about 5 years ago. That is worthy or another post all together as building anything abroad is a nightmare.

To the OP, if you are still around here, go for it. Sounds like you have plenty of time and the apptitude. (my caution to you though, required or not, have an engineer review the structual parts)

Now, if only I could get more apptitude with CA...............

[johnnyprc]

The notion that you can save money by drawing the home yourself is something of a fools gold. Simply, you don't know what you don't know. Some designers out there can reasonably design homes, but if you think the difference between an architect and you is mostly the ability to use CAD - then you may want to study and read up on some books before you set off on your project so you can appriciate this is not the case. The architect can pay for himself 10x over in many situations. A good designer can save you some money, but I would be very picky on who you choose, and good designers end up charging close to what an architect would ultimately charge. If you are using a "designer" who is cheap and has all the time in the world for your project - there is probably a reason for that. You want to use the architect/designer who you need to schedule for, since it shows he does something other people like. If you do go the architect route, make sure you choose an architect that at least "specializes" in residential and has a good portfolio in the type and style of home you want to end up with - some architects are "locked" into a certain style, and you may find yourself being bullied (i hate to use that word, but many clients feel this way with some architects).

In general, it is hard for me to see someone buying CA to design 1 home. I'd buy one of their less expensive design products to help you start to envision what you want, but leave the real drawings to a professional. If you insist to not hire an architect, I would look through plan books, buy the rights to a plan closest to meeting your needs, and then make the "changes" you want to personalize the design. At least this way you are starting with a professional framework. If you end up doing something too funky, you can destroy your investment in that resale value of your home may greatly hurt.

[RMorrison]

The notion that you can save money by drawing the home yourself is something of a fools gold. Simply, you don't know what you don't know. Some designers out there can reasonably design homes, but if you think the difference between an architect and you is the mostly the ability to use CAD - then you may want to study and read up on some books before you set off on your project so you can appriciate this is not the case. The architect can pay for himself 10x over in many situations.

Johnnyprc, I have now given up getting sucked into these discussions. What seems so obvious to you or me or anyone who has some level of formal design training is never going to be understood by someone who hasn't. (This is like trying to tell someone who is walking out of the house with a plaid shirt and striped pants that maybe they should reconsider. If they don't see the issue in the first place, they just think you're being an arrogant aesthete.) There is virtually no way to convince someone who is pleased as punch about their mediocre design that it could have been much, much better, and often they resent the comment. (Especially when this forum gives so much enthusiastic support to beginners.) Granted, many of the folks here do about as good work as a first or second-year architecture student, but that is not necessarily something to be inordinately proud of, nor something I personally would want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to immortalize, but there you go. Also, everyone has an incompetent architect story to justify their position. So probably better to save your breath. For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, no explanation is possible.

[perryh]

Richard, your statement in itself is arrogant. There are people around that are better than yourself and always will be. Learn to live with it, You'll be happier. It's really about pleasing the client not each other.

[RMorrison]

It's really about pleasing the client not each other.

Feel free to read the client testimonials on my website.

[marty]

I thought I would wade in here and add my 2c worth.

I beleive the core to design is an ability to visualise something that does not exist and translate it into something that can be built. The ability to visualise can be refined but if it is not there in the first place it cannot be taught.
On the other hand construction detailing and building are technical skills which can be taught.

Someone who has good visulisation skills may be able to produce a good design without training but they are most unlikely to be able to produce an acceptable set of construction documents.

[RMorrison]

Marty,
Interestingly, my attitude is just the reverse. I think the ability to design well CAN be taught, even if it's not there in the first place. However, I don't think self-teaching is generally realistic for this. I see this as a separate talent from the ability to visualize, which Chief can overcome. Shouldn't confuse the two abilities.

[lbuttery]

Feel free to read the client testimonials on my website

Richard:

we can all say that

Lew

[perryh]

Richard, I'm sure your testimonials are good. That's not what it about. I'm sure everyone here want to think they can do whatever it takes to get a good design to work even as good as you can. No one here likes to be put down and ,you never know, they might have more experience and talent than you or me. From what I can see here, there are a lot of very talented people here and I applaud it. No one is inventing a new architecture, except for the real freaky stuff, There isn't much anyone can do that others can't, except how to get that design down on paper using Chief, with all the workarounds. Now that's talent.