The Nigerian Abroad: An Architect’s Role in Your Dream Home.
You may have a contractor on your building site and you clearly do not understand why you still need the Architect there. It looks like it’s costing you more. Here is the deal.
Some Architects simply render architectural services within the scope of building designs and supervising the construction. Others take up the role of Contractor on your site. Either way, an Architect is expected to declare any interest they have when rendering service to you.
Basic architectural services include the designing and supervisory role. Other services are based on the interest and capacity of the Architect. Even if an Architect chooses a Contractor role on your site, it is still a professional requirement for you to employ a Supervisory Architect. This is an hourly paid role.
In building your dream home without tears, the supervisory role is very important for standardization. Here is an Architect’s Role in your dream home.
1. Construction Documentation.
The first stage of a building project is the designing, then the construction drawing is prepared which includes dimensions, schedules, and specifications. The drawing represents the scope of your vision on paper. When this is completed, the drawing serves as part of a Contractual document between you and the Contractors, suppliers, and all other related fields. The Architect is responsible for preparing this document.
2. Building Codes and Regulations.
You may not be familiar with the codes and regulations, but an Architect will guide you on the necessary permits, planning registrations, zoning requirements, and the legal aspects that affect your building project.
3. Selection and Coordination of Contractors and Suppliers.
An Architect can help you select a reliable contractor for your building construction. They have built a business relationship with these people and can tell who will deliver and who will not. With these, the Architect can comfortably fulfill the Supervisory role, ensuring construction progress according to design, budget, and schedule.
4. Selection of Building Materials.
Materials selected for your building could be the difference between a regular shelter and a classic and sustainable building. Architects have good knowledge of building materials’ quality, characteristics, durability, and environmental impact, so, they can adequately give you a guide on locally sourced materials that align with your design goals and vision.
5. What was designed is built according to Standards.
You communicated your vision to your Architect, which was turned into a design. He/she considers your lifestyle, site conditions, climate, building regulations, and cultural trends. The Architect ensures that vision is birthed in construction through adequate space planning, aesthetics, and sustainability.
I started with this point as the first point because of my experiences. A close relative was not willing to pay for such services because he felt it was expensive. The labourers took instruction from anyone on site including the relative’s father. In the kitchen, the Client wanted a concrete worktop at a height of 900 mm (3 feet).
Even without understanding measurements, you know the comfortable height your hand rests on when cutting something or mixing things on a work table.
The father came in while the labourers were working and told them that the height was not good. They listened to him and raised it to the average chest height of 1450mm (about 5 feet). When the Client came around to see the work progress, he was devastated. He couldn’t beat the father for giving such instructions. This is just one incident that occurred during the building construction.
6. Quality Control.
Material quality control is required to ensure the stability of your building. From rod sizes, to cement type, to the quality of work done by the labourers. During concreting, labourers are mostly paid by the number of cement bags they are able to mix within working hours.
The concrete mix ratio between sand, cement, stone, and water varies for the type of concrete done. The mix for the column is different from the mix for the ground floor or first floor. How can you check for quality if you don’t know what is required? That’s what a Supervising Architect does on your site through regular visits.
These labourers play smart in the quantity of sand and stones they add to the mix if no one is watching them. This affects the volume of your concrete and makes it either too strong (making you buy more cement because it finishes too quickly) or too weak and collapsible.
7. Design Adaptations and Future Expansion.
The Architect has the foresight of knowing and anticipating the desire for future modifications and expansions due to the ever-changing design needs and trends. This makes your dream home readily receptive and can accommodate changes and evolving requirements over time.
8. Aesthetics and Interiors.
Architects provide guidance on interior design elements based on your lifestyle. From colour schemes to lighting design and functionality of your creates spaces.
Engaging the services of an Architect during construction is the best approach to building without tears. Their expertise will save you a lot of stress, from design conceptualization to construction.
Read previous posts on this series on “Building Your Dream Home Without Tears“
Want to design your home? Go here.
In my next series concerning building your dream home without tears, I will be sharing “How to Select a Reliable Contractor for Your Nigerian Dream Home“.
Stay tuned.