Eventually, when all the mistakes of ignorance and lack of supervision have been corrected, we will have spent several times the total of the architect’s fee.  So we are out of pocket and, except for relocating the water piping, we are still looking at and repenting most of the results of our false economy.

Thus, an architect is all-important with a house problem whether it involves a minor or major undertaking and it is logical to ask exactly what he does for his fee.  Consider, for instance, his functions and services when a new house is to be built.  As a beginning, owner and architect meet, inspect the site, while the architect, like any good diagnostician, asks questions.  These deal with the type of house the owner thinks he wants, the number of rooms, baths, and so forth and, finally, the amount of money he is prepared to spend.  He offers few opinions of his own at this interview but rather tries to read his client’s mind so that preliminary sketches and plans will approximate that mental picture.

A few days later, tentative sketches of a house designed to suit the location are submitted.  Out of them grow the revised ones.  It is highly improbable that his initial suggestions will suit you in every detail.  It takes time and interchange of ideas before this can be accomplished.  When they reach the stage where they represent the house you want, the architect prepares a complete set of working drawings, including floor plans and side wall elevations.  These are drawn on a scale of one quarter of an inch to the foot.  As soon as the drawings are finished, he drafts the specifications or bill of particulars as to materials to be used in the construction of the house.  These with the plans form the basis on which contractors may submit bids for the work.

First, however, owner and architect should go over this material together.  Making changes after the contracts are let and the work begun is both expensive and foolish.  If you find it difficult to visualize an actual house from the drawings, a model made from wall board or similar material is a wise precaution.  Fashioned on the same scale of one quarter of an inch to the foot, it is your proposed house in the little, and on seeing it no doubts are left.  Windows and doors are all in their proper places.  The exterior is painted to match the color and simulate the material that is to be used.  Finally, the model can be taken apart so that you can study the interior of bedroom and living room floors.  Such models, of course, are not included in the architect’s fee but the cost of one for an average house is under $100.  If you can visualize your proposed home thoroughly by it, the expense is well warranted.