Do I need an architect or

[barry martin]

Polyphemus:

P > My wife and I have a house in Los Angeles which we purchased about 14 P > months ago. Built out of the crawl space is what I think is called an P > English Basement (nonpermitted). It has a separate entrance and a P > large 3/4 bathroom. After recent rain, we found that is was not P > waterproofed correctly and floods. Although we don't really use the P > room, rather than just fixing it, we thought we would look into making P > it a functional part of our house with a full remodel and redesign. P > We have a bunch of ideas for it but are looking for someone to design P > and execute construction of the room. Our budget would be over $25K P > depending on what we would be able to accomplish. It is about 300 sq P > feet but there is enough space on one side to expand the room out even P > more. P > P > I've never done anything like this before and am unsure if I need an P > architect or if a designer can do this or if I just need a contractor. P > Any input on process is greatly appreciated.\

I would go with a contractor. We had a master bedroom added to the second floor of the house a couple of years ago and he had his architect come over to eyeball the "construction problems": tieing into the existing roof, window and wall placement, etc. They worked together to draw and revise the plans. (The contractor didn't like the original placement of the upper deck supports -- they blocked some of the view from the first floor's Dining Room picture window -- so had had the architect recalculate the loads and revise the plans.)

(Obviously you also need to get rid of the flooding problem too.)

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[Tony Hwang]

Structural matters, you need structural engineer. Your contractor is not qualified for that part. He ought to know one. Architect's service is pretty expensive. Prepared to pay if you want to use one. Over the years I and wife have 6 houses custom built(counting cabin in the woods). We pick building site, then sketch what we want, take it to architectural draft person. Let him make blue print, show it to engineer for structural OK then we give it to contractor. Never used professional architect. In my family, there are lawyer, mechanical, HVAC, electric/electronics engineers which is a good helpful resource. Good luck and have fun. Secure more than enough fund for the project. Always some upexpected pops up. Do things first time right. Tony

[Chet Hayes]

You need a licensed architect to come up with the plans. Plans will be required to obtain the necessary permits. Once you have the plans, you can then get bids from several contractors for the work and you will be able to compare them, since the work is defined.