https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 20 May 2026 10:12:23 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/house-renovation-planning#post-2915426 Fri, 15 May 2020 10:40:54 +0000 lindseykaye 2915426@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Awesome! Thanks to both of you - this is great to hear I'm not off-base and that this is something architects actually do routinely. I have a good friend who just started a private architecture firm and I think I'll reach out to her about this to see if its something she may be able to do, or if I should look for someone locally (same state, a few hours away). </p> <p>This is definitely all dreaming for now, but I want to dream in the right direction rather than just a vague 'wouldn't it be nice' sort of way. Plus an actual plan might motivate us to buckle down on getting the savings moving to make it happen! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/house-renovation-planning#post-2915417 Thu, 14 May 2020 21:52:29 +0000 Mommy Finger 2915417@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Absolutely meet with an architect! We did this when we redid our basement to make sure everything would be structurally sound. We want to redo our kitchen eventually and will combine our current dining room and kitchen to make one amazing kitchen and will hire another architect to design that too. We didn't really like the first architect we used for our basement but that's a different story. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/house-renovation-planning#post-2915391 Thu, 14 May 2020 16:19:27 +0000 Myicitygirl 2915391@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Regarding kitchen plans changing - that is a given in any remodel!</p> <p>It was also helpful to go this route because we weren't sure how we wanted to lay out the master bath and he gave us options and seeing them drawn out to scale made it easy for us to choose what we wanted, and we were not rushed for time because we were months away from demo. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/house-renovation-planning#post-2915390 Thu, 14 May 2020 15:59:41 +0000 Myicitygirl 2915390@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you want tentative drawn up plans, I think you could find an architect to do that for a reduced fee, because they will know you will likely turn to them for a final set of plans when you are ready to move forward. That is why most contractors and architects will do consultations - as a way to build leads for future work. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/house-renovation-planning#post-2915388 Thu, 14 May 2020 15:58:20 +0000 Myicitygirl 2915388@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So we did this on the recommendation of a contractor because we had a few months before we would be ready to even get bids. His advice was to work out the details of what we wanted to do with the architect, have the architect draw up plans and then we could use the draft plans to get bids while we submitted the plans for permit approval. That way contractors are bidding on the exact same work (the same number of new lights or outlets, the same walls being torn down or moved) and you can compare apples to apples. </p> <p>Many architects will do this type of job, either for an hourly or set fee (based on their estimate of hours required). Get multiple bids from architects as well. </p> <p>it went pretty smoothly for us overall, except the kitchen plans changed pretty drastically when we met with the contractor and kitchen cabinet supplier - some things we wanted didn't make sense to do or would have added unexpected costs or time, so we had to make changes. And I think our contractor would have made suggestions to our master bath plans, based on his experience. But overall this is a time efficient way to proceed. It is important to get a good architect for this - you can ask general contractors for recommendations. My mistake was using an architect who had a full time job with a firm and it turned out that he worked on my plans in his off hours, so I feel like he was a bit rushed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/house-renovation-planning#post-2915384 Thu, 14 May 2020 14:34:54 +0000 lindseykaye 2915384@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We love our modest home but have always dreamed of renovating down the line to add a master bed/bath (currently it's a 3/1). While we're super far away from actually being able to afford that and move forward with hard plans, I thought it might be smart/nice to meet with an architect or some kind of planner way ahead of time. Talking about options, cost, etc. would be beneficial in knowing if it's in fact something we want to do later, or if we'd want to move for more space as the kids grow. Also, things like... where to plant that tree or how far to extend a deck so that we're not undoing work later and wasting money. </p> <p>Has anyone done this? I'm not sure if we should look for an architect or a contractor, or if they even offer this kind of service without any building work for years down the line (if ever).</p> <p>Thanks! </p>