Question:

WHO DO I HIRE FIRST: THE ARCHITECT OR THE CONTRACTOR?

Answer:

Design comes before construction. In most cases, you should hire the architect first.

A contractor can only price what’s been designed. If you’re asking for a number based on verbal descriptions, rough ideas, or “word pictures and hand-waving,” you’re not getting a real bid—you’re getting what we call a WAG: a Wild-Ass Guess.

And if you say, “Okay, let’s go,” based on that number, don’t be surprised when the drawings are eventually completed and the change orders start piling up. The contractor couldn’t have included work in the original price that wasn’t defined when he bid the project.

Once you have architectural and structural drawings, along with specifications, the contractor can get accurate pricing from his subcontractors and suppliers. That gives you a much more reliable picture of what the project will actually cost.

That said, I like to bring contractors into the process toward the end of design.

On our projects, we’ll create what I call a “ballpark bid set.” We then walk two or three contractors through the project, get their preliminary pricing, and use that exercise to help determine who we want to work with.

Once we’ve selected a contractor, we collaborate with them during the final stages of the working drawings. That allows us to make smart decisions about how the project is built—not just how it looks—and how to build it as cost-effectively as possible.

The takeaway: Hire the architect first, but bring the right contractor into the conversation before the design is completely finished. That’s where you get the best of both worlds: a well-designed project and a buildable, cost-conscious plan.