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Posted by Pierre Levesque, AIA on May 10, 2006, 3:56 pm
> NOTE: I'm re-posting this, hoping for some comments that are actually
> useful and sincere. I really appreciate any *real* advice from someone
> who actually knows what they're talking about. That said...
>
> I'm having a general contractor build a house that I designed using
> Broderbund's 3D Home Architect software. It's a 2-story colonial, or
> maybe you'd call it a colonial revival. Here is a link to something
> that is similar...
>
> http://www.originalhome.com/gallery/gallery_baseplan1.html
>
> Our builder is very competent, but he's not very savvy when it comes to
> traditional architecture. Most of his houses are basic ranches. He's
> done some colonials and cape codes, and the workmanship is excellent,
> but I've noticed some annoying shortcomings when it comes to design,
> like the windows are not spaced uniformly, or he'll just leave out the
> center window on the second story, or he won't allow the proper amount
> of space between windows for shutters. I've mentioned some of these
> things, and his comments have included, "We'll I'm not a big fan of
> shutters, anyway." ...but this is a colonial!!! (Again, see the link
> above for the traditional look I'm trying to accomplish.) Other
> concerns include roof pitch, window trim, the front portico, door and
> baseboard trim, etc.
>
> So here's my question... Is there a book or online resource that I can
> refer to for information about standards for colonial architecture,
> like dimensions, proportions, window spacing, etc? I really want this
> guy to build our house, but he just needs a little help to make sure he
> doesn't overlook some important details that could make the house look
> really silly.
>
> Please help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
John,
With all due respect, you brought this issue on yourself. Broderbund's 3D
Home Architect software is a toy used to make pretty images of shapes. You
"thought" you'd save a few bucks by "designing" the house yourself and by
hoping the your GC would be able to come up with all the colonial detailing
required to make a Colonial house. Now, you are finding out (well after the
construction has begun) that the GC isn't specialized at all in colonial
detailing and while this construction is going on, you are scrambling to get
some detailing together to build out your house.
This, in turn, is surely causing delays and will undoubtebly cost more.
Your "savings" will soon or already have vanished.
Now you find yourself in a mess as the detailing won't fit the given
existing dimensions that were built, your proportions are surely a mess and
you'll end up with some expensive "cobbled" together design and house that
cost many more times than if you'd have hired a professional designer to
begin with where your details would have been worked out beforehand, where
your specification would have determined how much detailing would be
involved, where a bid set would have given you exact pricing for that
detailing, and where your construction contract with that GC would have been
based on all the construction including all that proportional Colonial
detailing.
It would have been done right. I hope you learn from this exercise.
As for Colonial detailing, go to a library, get a book on Colonial homes and
study the detailing and proportions, decide how on earth you will fit it
all in and take out a pencil and some paper and start sketching some details
that may or may not salvage some of your house. There are thousands of
them.
Then, when it's all said and done a few months and a several extra thousand
dollars from now, ask yourself these questions:
1. "I just spent several hundred thousand dollars on a new house and what
have I got for it?"
2. "Was all the effort, grief, and additional dollars worth saving a few
thousand dollars by not hiring an architect to properly design the house in
the first place?"
Good luck... oh and by the way, you should still go out and hire a
professional to salvage this design....
Pierre Levesque, AIA
"wanna be Architect since 1995"
www.connarch.com
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