Spaces for Life: Call In The Experts – who will you need for your home project? – Retouch Design-Build

Spaces for Life

The ReTouch Home Improvement blog

POST CATEGORIES

PROJECT TYPES

Spaces for Life: Call In The Experts – who will you need for your home project?

By Lance McCarthy

As you start planning for a project on your home, you might be wondering who you need to talk to? A modern home is actually a fairly complicated system with thousands of parts and pieces. The team you put together can help make sure the work lasts for decades to come.

Architect: If you are building new or changing the shape or size of your house, bring in the architect. Look for one that has experience in similar work, and who you have real chemistry with. This will be one of the closer relationships of the project. For projects greater than $50,000, allow between 6 and 10% of the project budget.

Designer: If you are moving walls or cabinets, a designer will help. A true licensed interior designer has a very important role in helping the new space feel right. Chemistry is really important here as well. Allow for $75-125 per hour for the good ones, or 1-5% of a larger project depending on how involved they are.

Engineer: This expert evaluates the existing structure and plans for the new structure. If load bearing walls or foundations are involved, the engineer should be too. They will work closely with the architect to coordinate planning. Allow $300 for a foundation inspection, or $500-3000 to run the structural calculations for a larger project.

Lead Inspector: If the house was built before 1978, and you are disturbing a possible lead surface (basically any surface that has a finish coat–paint, hardwood sealer, or tile), then you need to check for lead. Allow for $300-500 depending on how much they test. The other alternative is to do all the demolition work as if everything has lead.

Energy Consultant: For new houses or larger remodels, it is helpful to have them review the plan and make suggestions, and then to walk through the project before the drywall goes up. There are also energy audits you can do to existing houses to help you understand the most profitable action to take to help cut down on energy costs. Plan on $100 per hour for consultation, and $500-1000 for a full blown audit.

Banker: Unless you have a bigger sock drawer than me, a banker is a really important member of the team. Don’t just automatically use the bank you have your checking account at. Every bank has a different sweet spot–some like new construction, some like commercial business, etc. There are a few banks in town that we have found who love working with projects in the existing neighborhoods of PV. One of those should be the one you talk to.

Insurance agent: A lot of people forget about this, but before you build or remodel, you should let your agent know. They will have suggestions about how to best cover the project as it is happening as well as when it is done. Otherwise it is a little like going into major surgery without the right health insurance.

Contractor: You knew this was coming, right? If you have the right contractor, they should have relationships with a team of experts that can help. Look for someone who has does a lot of similar work to what you are wanting, and of course chemistry matters here as well.

If you are looking for one of the experts above, drop me a line. I can give you some great contacts.

You can also view this column with our partner PVPost.com

Ready to Take the Next Step?