Exterior Design Decisions (and more demo!)

So, demolition is well on its way. Our back porch is pretty much gone and the garage is about three-quarters gone. If the workers continue until 5, I would imagine it will be pretty much completely gone. Next week, the heavy machinery comes in to pull out our exterior basement stairs and start digging for the foundation. A big week here!

So, even though the project has started, the decision-making has only just begun as well. For a long time (even before we owned this house) we had hoped to install fake slate recycled rubber shingles instead of asphalt. After a lot of soul-searching and budget crunching, it just did not make sense to spend an extra $10,000 on that. So, we have decided on architectural asphalt. Our builder is bringing samples over next week so we can make a decision and he can get it ordered. The shingles go on pretty much right after the framing.

Windows are another thing that needs to be decided short-term. We know that we want Andersen 400 series windows. We have Andersen Renewal windows (installed 2 years ago by The Window Place) in the old part of the house so we want the new windows to match as closely as possible and you cannot beat the great classic look combined with the no-maintenance clad Andersen windows. They really fit our house and our budget. We did remind our builder that we have white interiors and sandtone exterior. This would have been a horrible mistake had we not specified this in advance. It's important to note that Andersen window orders must be placed at least 4 weeks in advance of when you think you may need them. It's okay if they sit in a warehouse before they are installed but you do not want to be waiting for windows.

We are also making decisions on siding. We are going to use Hardie cement board siding but there are many options to consider include width of the boards, trim boards, and pre-painted (or unpainted). Samples of those will be here this week too. We are hoping to find a pre-painted color that we like so that we can avoid the additional cost of painting the exterior as well, and we get a better warranty on the finish.

It's amazing how you start to get used to the sound of hammer drills!

Small Progress But More Waiting

Although we're still waiting for our permits, we are much closer. They plans were refiled today so hopefully it will only be a day or two until we get the permits so long as the plan reviewer is satisfied.

We've also learned the value of great neighbors. There was an issue with the corners of property line according to our plat from when we bought the house. Jim went to the County offices to see if he could get a copy of the original plat but it was in very bad condition since it dates back to the early 20th century! So, we had to ask our neighbors for copies of their plats. We now have 3 out of the 4 plats which is great. The 4th is on its way so we should have them all by the end of the week. Fortunately we have incredibly helpful neighbors and they were happy to help - 2 even found their plats for us late last night (thanks Aaron and Mike)! Once we have those we'll be able to move forward. The main reason that we need a highly accurate survey is that we want to put our garage as far back on our property line as allowed by the County (1 foot from the back and side). We don't want to cross that line nor do we want to put the garage any further into our yard than necessary (it's going to small enough as it is!). This all requires a very accurate survey. So, barring any major issues, that should be done by this weekend as well and we'll be ready to pour the slab for the garage with the floor of the basement hopefully in the next 3 weeks or so.

Of course though, we'll probably get our permit this week but the temperatures are going to dip into the teens (really cold for DC) so work may not be able to start in earnest. Jim Cole's sign went up in the yard today, and he took down our garage door and garage door opener in preparation for tearing down the garage very soon. I'll be sure to post pictures once we get started - any day now...

The General Contractor Bidding Process

So you've interviewed a few contractors, and now you have a few that you would like to bid on the project. We asked 6 contractors to bid on our project and 5 submitted bids (the 6th called after we asked him and told us that he had taken a conflicting project). We gave each contractor a set of our plans and an additional list of specifications and variables that we wanted them to factor into their bids. For example, we gave them the option of including a bid for finishing our basement and we wanted a price for a recycled rubber slate-look roof.

You can either let the contractors submit what they want to submit as part of their bids. Be sure your plans are extremely detailed and you should make choices on tile, cabinets, countertops, windows, etc. in order to get the most accurate bid. Whatever you don't choose, the contractor will give you an allowance which means that they estimate how much it will cost and when you pick the actual product and it costs or more or less, then that affects your price proportionately.

You can also ask you contractors to provide you with their standard mark-up on labor and materials. So, if they pay a sub a certain amount, they may charge you that amount plus 15% percent or more. Mark-ups in Northern Virginia seem to range from 15-25%. Those that charge 15% may do more of their work with their own employees (such as framing, drywall, etc.) and then only subcontract out other trade work (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, etc.). If your contractor works on a mark-up basis, you should ask to receive receipts and invoices for everything you pay a mark-up on.

Each contractor should sign a standard bid form which includes their bid as well as any allowances. They should be instructed to attach additional pages if necessary.

You should give your potential general contractors 2-3 weeks to return bids.

The bids you'll receive will likely vary widely. Some will be extremely detailed and some will not include a substantial amount of information but will include a complete price with certain allowances. From there you need to assess the bid price and the allowances to see how the prices compare.

Don't be surprised by how far the bids range. Once you look at the allowances, you'll see where some of the differences are but some contractors are just more expensive although they may not necessarily be better than another less expensive contractor. Things such as office expenses and other factors I've mentioned in previous posts impact price. But, some reasons for the prices are unexplained and you should definitely ask if that contractor is under serious consideration.

You'll probably throw out the lowest and the highest, and then pick from there. We narrowed it down to 2 possible contractors after the bidding process based primarily on price (neither the lowest or highest) and personality. We then interviewed both with our architect for an hour each. I also visited the job site of one of the finalists who we were leaning towards. After that, it was very clear who we should pick.

Again, this process takes a lot of time (about 8 weeks for us), but it's worth it if you can spare the time. Meeting with the contractors multiple times was well worth every minute, and will hopefully lead to a well-informed choice and fantastic final product.

Renovation: Where to put the Christmas tree?

For many people where to put the Christmas tree isn't a plaguing decision but for those of us who live in apartments or close-in suburban homes often have this issue because there is not an obvious place - fireplaces, stairs, doorways, etc. Today we are going to cut down a Christmas tree in Maryland. Hopefully this will be the last year we'll have this problem. The new space should provide ample opportunities for Christmas tree placement.

This is probably as good a point as any to give you a little description on what exactly we are adding to our house. First, we are tearing down our existing brick garage and rebuilding a new garage in the rear right corner of our 7000+ square foot lot. We're building an 1800 square foot 3 story addition on the back of our 1800 square foot (on 3 stories) house. The basement will be unfinished but will have rough-in for a bathroom. There will be room for a bedroom and recreation room. Our current basement will be converted entirely to a wood shop for my husband, Jim.

On the first floor, we are adding a kitchen and family room. Our existing kitchen will become a half-bath, coat closet, and butler's pantry. Our dining room will also be expanded by 2 feet. As I explained in my last post, our current stairs are being removed and new stairs will be built in the addition.

On the second floor, our existing 3 bedrooms are basically remaining the same except for new closets being built. Our current hall bathroom is going to be untouched (I still love the black and white tile!). In the addition, we're adding a master bedroom, bathroom, and huge walk-in closet. We're also building a laundry room which I am really excited about!

The new attic will not include storage space other than for a heat pump and a tankless hot water heater (more on this later).

So, that's the plan!

Major Design Decisions!

If you have chosen to hire an architect, then you probably have some design dilemmas that you need help with solving. It may be a structural problem such as how to open or move a structural wall, or how to fix a previous design mistake (either your own or a previous owner's). In our case, our major issue was our stairs which affected everything about our overall design because of their current central location. As you can see in the picture, our stairs go up the back of our living room. Our addition was planned to go off the back of our house because of the configuration of our lot. I have always loved our stairs and how they look from our living room.

Our hope was to cut the stairs back about 4 or 5 steps where there would be a landing and then the steps would turn towards the back of the house into the new addition. After several drafts of the plans, our architect (Kaye), Jim, and I all realized that it would be impossible to make the steps work that way and that we would either have to leave them as they are and just have a step up and down into the addition, or move them entirely.

Although it took me a week to get used to the idea (I am a very visual person so I had to think abou it a lot), I eventually realized that it would be the best thing for our house because the stairs would not be a dividing line between the old and new house. We wanted a seemless transition between the old and new so this certainly would help that goal.

Our stairs are now going to be completely within the addition, starting from the basement and going all the way up the attic (no more pull-down stairs!), including a landing on the driveway which will be the main daily entrance for our family. This also solved the issue of having a direct basement entrance from the outside which was important because Jim has a wood shop down there (his new one will be MUCH bigger!) and a 5th bedroom some day.

Another advantage is that our current third bedroom (former office, now a nursery), is very small because the stairs go "through" that room now. Ironically, that room has the best closets in the house (yes, 2 closets in a tiny room). But, now that the stairs will be moved, that room will become a good-sized bedroom which would be able to accomodate a full-size bed which is not possible now.

Now, I love the plans for our stairs and see that it will become a memorable feature in our house. The moral of the story is listen to your architect, I think I'll like them even more because I won't be carrying large loads of laundry up and down any more either!

How long will the planning take?

My husband and I are surprised about how much time it has taken for us to get to the point where we are now - 1-2 months from breaking ground. As with many things, this takes longer than anyone would expect, but it's well worth taking the time to put the time in before the project because you may be able to avoid some delays during the project. Not all delays of course!

Although this has been a busy year for both Jim and I work-wise, we have made a special effort to push through certain phases of the project, but at other times we have not pushed as hard as we could have. We were focused the entire time on the January/February start date so it was not important to move very quickly. Unless you have already chosen your architect, I would estimate a minimum of four-six months from architect interviews until ready to break ground.

Here is the timeline that we have worked on to give you an idea. We slowed down considerably in the summer until mid-August when we started interviewing contractors.

January-February: Choosing and interviewing prospective architects
March: Initial meetings with our architect
April - July: Weekly or biweekly design meetings with the architect
Late August: Meeting with prospective general contractors
Early September: Finalize bid set of plans
Mid-September: Putting the plans out for bid with contractors
October: Break
Early November: Meetings with two finalist contractors and our architect
Mid-November: Select general contractor; talk to lenders re: financing
December: Finalize plans for permit; secure financing for project

This is just a brief picture of our timeline. The process was never overwhelming for us because we were not under tremendous time pressure. As a result, we did not feel rushed into any decisions and continued to feel like we had time to rethink design decisions that were already made.

Your First "Real" Meeting with Your Architect

So, you chose your architect, now it's time to get down to business. Our architect for this project is Kaye Orr (let me know if you want her contact information). I highly recommend that you set up weekly meetings at your house to keep the project moving forward. We often traded emails with Kaye between meetings, but we found we made the most progress with in-person meetings. Your architect may do things in a different order, but generally these are the next steps.

1) Without a doubt, the very first step will be signing a contract or engagement letter with your architect. Read it carefully (I am a lawyer after all) and be sure that nothing looks fishy. This is probably not a lengthy agreement (a few pages) but should include the terms of how he/she will charge you for your time, how often you receive bills (this should be at least monthly), and any additional expenses that you may be charged for (photocopying, printing, engineering consults etc.). Most reputable architects work off of the American Institute of Architects form agreements so the language will be fairly standard. You can ask if this is they use the AIA form.

2) Measuring every inch (literally) of your existing house. Your architect will be able to tell which walls our not plumb and which floors are not level when he/she is all done. I highly recommend giving your architect a key to your house and just let him/her do the measuring when you aren't home. We told her to move anything or go into any closet she needed to go into to measure. Later she had to come back and rip up floor boards in the attic to understand the structure of our house. Probably not something yours will need to do at the outset, but something to prepare yourself for so you can avoid surprises when you start construction.

3) Meet with you to get more specifics on your ideas. At this meeting, you'll have to give her as much detail as you can about what you want from your space and how you envision the finished product. It's equally important to give her information on what you do NOT want because then she won't waste time drawing things that you are dead set against. At the same time, you don't want to close off options which could open up lots of other ideas. We started a wish list which included absolute must-haves (e.g., walk-in closet, laundry upstairs, spacious kitchen, 5 bedrooms, 1st floor powder room), nice-to-haves (e.g., permanent stairs to the attic, new basement bathroom), and don't-wants (e.g., master bathroom jacuzzi tub, fully finished basement). We also gave her our idea notebook to look through to get an idea for our/my style.

4) Give you initial rough plans for discussion purposes. Some architects may provide very rough sketches at your initial meeting just to get a feel for what you like and don't like. This is probably more likely to happen at the first meeting if your project is relatively small and the measurements of the existing house are not as critical to the addition plans.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to tell your architect everything you are thinking about the project at any point. Even if you aren't at the relevant point in the process, the thought has been relayed and your architect can keep the idea for later as well as better understand your style. As you move towards getting bids from contractors, everything down to choice of tile, kitchen countertops, and shingles should be included so you can have very detailed plans and get more accurate bids (more on that later of course).

A few notes on interviewing architects

Here are a few pointers that we learned in the process of meeting with architects which may help you with your process. As I said before, I think we met with 6 architects, 1 of which was a design/build firm (although we didn't know that when we first contacted him) and 1 also did some of his own design work although he was not an architect. Although time consuming, meeting with each of the architects was fairly enlightening because we learned a lot about how they work and their general thoughts and ideas for the project. We had all of the interviews at our house so that we could give them a tour of our house, tell them our ideas, and they could get a feel for space.

Here are some questions that we asked the architects:

1) How many projects do you work on at one time?
2) When would you be able to start working on our project?
3) Have you done other projects like this?
4) How many years have you been doing residential design?
5) Do you generally work on new or old houses?
6) Do you have experience with Arlington County?
7) How often do you like to meet with clients?
8) How involved are in the building phase? Do you regularly visit the build site?
9) Do you have builders who you work with regularly? (Side note: You may want to get builders' references for your architect as well. We did not, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.)
10) What types of projects do you like working on the most?
11) Do you charge a flat fee or by the hour?
12) Do you have other employees who may work on this project?
13) Do you work with an engineer to confirm structural details?

Feel free to post additional questions which may be helpful to ask architects. Since we found all of these architects by referral, we found that we did not know quite a bit about how they worked, so we were really just assessing personality and compatability.

Preparing for your first meeting with your architect

Once you have made the leap and chosen your architect, the real work begins. At the outset, I would say that the process of researching, interviewing, and choosing an architect took us 6-8 weeks. This was in the winter at the beginning of a relatively slow construction season so most of the architects were able to meet with us within one week of our initial contact. Also,

How to Find an Architect?

I think the only way to get a good architect is referrals. You can get referrals in a lot of ways though. First ask neighbors and friends who live in your area who you know have done projects. Write down names of architects on yard signs in front of on-going projects in your area. Also, post requests for recommendations on listservs or blogs that you subscribe to. I received a lot of recommendations through my local mom's club, Mothers of North Arlington (MONA). There are also several larger firms which are well-known in our area which I also added to the list although these were generally design/build firms.


These recommendations yielded a list of about 10 architects to consider. We called and emailed about 8 of these and then set up in-person interviews with about 6 architects and design/build firms. We were able to narrow from 8 to 6 based on the telephone conversations or lack of return communication (not the way to do business!). We then interviewed each of these candidates which included one design/build firm which came highly recommended. We liked certain things about all of them, but ultimately we went with the person who we thought would give us a lot of attention, had some creative ideas, and who would also listen to our ideas. She also doesn't work for a large firm so her hourly rate is very competitive. She gave us 8 or so references (with addresses and phone numbers). We spent a Saturday morning driving by several of the houses that she worked on and all of the additions were beautiful. She also worked on a neighbor's project which was very similar in size and scope so we were able to see that project as it was going up last winter and get a lot of feedback from our friends. This gave us additional comfort because she had to be very current on the constantly changing Arlington County codes.

Please feel free to comment on how you found your architect.

What you should know before you call an architect

Before you start calling architects, it's a good idea to have some ideas on what you want. You should be collecting ideas from magazines, the web, and by taking pictures of additions on other people's houses that you like. You should also have a good idea of your budget which I'll post separately on later.

But, for choosing an architect, it's probably most important to have an idea of what you want to get out of using the architect. Her are some considerations for choosing the right architect:

1) Creativity. In general, an architect's creativity is a must for major home additions. This is how you avoid adding an uninteresting box onto your existing home. You should be looking for someone who can creatively solve design issues in your house without blowing your budget on a single feature.

2) Budget Mindfulness. Although your budget may not be set in stone when you first interview architects, you should choose a number pretty soon after. Your architect should know what that number is and should be aware that certain design choices may dramatically affect the budget. Although I'll dedicate a separate post to budget, your architect should be aware of your budget and help you stick to it, no matter how large or small.

3) Experience. You should also look to hire an architect who specializes in residential design and who understands the needs of your household either through personal or professional experience. Architects who focus on commercial design may not have the most relevant experience for your residential home addition. You should be comfortable with the number of years of experience they have. For example, we chose to interview architects with a minimum of 10 years of experience. Also, the architect should have significant, recent experience doing similar projects in your jurisdiction (city/county/town) because the codes vary greatly by municipality and can be costly to change plans later. Some architects also choose to hire building engineers to confirm the structural soundness of plans requiring steel, underpinning, or other serious structural issues. This is normal and the homeowner should welcome this input because it lessens the likelihood that your plans will get bounced during the permit process.

4) Billing. You should understand how the architect bills you for the project and this should be clear in any contract you sign. Some architects charge you based on percentage of building costs, and others charge per hour. We wanted an architect who charged per hour because we felt we had more control over the costs. Also, architects who work for larger firms probably charge more than those who work out of their homes. Our architect works out of her house and her billing rate reflects that.

5) Personality. This may seem realy obvious, but you should really like the person who you choose. You may love the samples of their work, but if you don't really like the person and cannot see yourself spending a lot of time with the person, then don't hire them. You will spend countless hours working with your architect both in-person, and by phone and email over a long period of time (probably 18-20 months for us when all said and done). You should also feel confident that the architect will listen to your ideas and requests and not be unnecessarily dismissive.

There are probably other things that you should think about (feel free to post!), but this is a good starting point for interviews with architects.

Choosing an Architect: Do we need one?

Probably the most critical piece of the planning stage is choosing an architect. You may be asking if you need an architect for your addition project and I would say the default answer should always be yes because your product should be more valuable in the end so your money is never "wasted." If you are doing more simple changes such as building a garage or just tearing down or moving interior walls. As soon as you are adding square footage to your house, an architect is probably necessary so you can get the most asthetically pleasing results - both inside and out. It was never a question for us that we wanted an architect.

There are 2 types of architects. There are independent architects who are not directly affiliated with any builder or design/build firm. Then there are also design/build architects who generally work with a specific builder and you get a package deal when you use them. Some architects do both services, but most do one or the other.

I would recommend interviewing both independent architects and design/build firms to see which style you like. If you choose and independent architect, you'll have to then do a second step of choosing a builder. This has the advantage of conrol by the owner over who works on the project and, in most cases, more control over total costs. The design/build option generally gives you architectural services at a reduced cost or no cost if you proceed to the second phase - building - with the same firm. Fees that you paid for the design phase are often credited to you in the building phase or waived if you sign the build contract. The downside is that you may feel locked in and you may not like the builder as much as you liked the architect. You may also pay more overall for the project because you didn't bid out the build phase (more on that later). This may not always be the case, but it's something that you should be careful of as you enter into this phase of your project.

Edit:  Now 5 years later, we are very happy with the route that we took.  We found that our architect provided an additional check on our builder. In many cases there are several ways of doing things but we wanted the building to be done as noted in the plans.  Our architect was on site at least once per week talking to the builder, answering questions, and requesting changes on our behalf. At times she played "bad cop" for us with our builder to get the changes that we wanted made.  We got incredible value for our  money so it was worth any additional headaches and work on our parts to get to our final product.  

Collecting and Organizing Ideas

Several years ago we decided to time our home addition for 2009 so we could save money for a period of time and also take advantage of the end of the Presidential election cycle (Jim works in politics). By having this time frame in mind for a couple of years, we were able to take our time and work through the planning process without feeling rushed.

Over the past few years, we collected ideas from magazines. My ideas were mostly for designs and Jim's were mostly for systems. I collected our favorite magazine clippings and web printouts in a large loose leaf binder using clear page covers. This makes adding and removing ideas easier. Our favorite magazines for ideas are Renovation Style, This Old House, and BH&G. Better Homes & Gardens has a great website with loads of ideas. Renovation Center is also a great site and is the home to many of the BH&G sister publications. I highly recommend it.

Looking back through my collection of clippings, I now have a clearer idea of what I like and don't like. My style is a slightly contemporary traditional style. For example, I generally prefer painted trim work and cabinets, medium stained wood floors, and warm gold tones for the walls. Although I didn't think that I would want black counter tops, most of the kitchens that I have clipped have white cabinets with black counter tops so I'm clearly attracted to that style!

In addition to the idea book, we have a plastic file folder with 10 or so dividers where we keep brochures, business cards, and other information we have collected throughout this process.

Both sets of ideas came in handy during our initial discussions with our architect...