Latest / On The Lake with James Pitropov / Architect, Designer, or Builder: Who Should You Hire for Your Lakeside Project?

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Architect, Designer, or Builder: Who Should You Hire for Your Lakeside Project? · On The Lake with James Pitropov

0:00
mistakes are expensive.
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When I say a mistake in construction, I mean like from 50 to 150 grand, that's the range.
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you pick your project and if you're not working with people that are skilled, you're g- probably gonna have five of these.
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So you can do the math, the blessing working out in, in Lake Country there is that, the projects that I've worked on, they're always site-driven.
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There's the discipline of the site.
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It helps you.
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It is your friend.
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It will help you with design.
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It will help you with your budget.
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It will help you with avoiding decisions that, that you'll have regrets.
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Well, hi there everyone, and welcome back to the Lakeside Podcast with your host, James Pitropov Thanks for joining us again this week, everyone.
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I try to bring you new and exciting information, real practical information, so that you can start to design your dream and, and build your vision.
1:01
So today's topic is who should you hire for your cottage design project?
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Uh, as you all may know, uh, I am a, uh, registered architect.
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It's Lakeside Architecture Inc.
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Uh, I'm also a construction manager.
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We, we can get your projects built as well.
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I focus on cottage country and very unique projects.
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They're probably as unique as clients themselves, and I, I encourage clients with a vision to benefit themselves by learning as much as they can and coming into, uh, design conversation with expectations of a fruitful, uh, design and, and, uh, developing their, their dreams.
1:41
So this week, I got the question,"Well, James, why should we hire you or, or any other architect or construction manager for, uh, as a matter of fact?" And I, I think I finally pulled it together for you so that, uh, the process can start to make sense for people.
1:58
So when you start to think about designing your project, uh, there are different ways to go, and you can work with an architect, you can, work with a, designer, You can, uh, work exclusively with a builder, and you can even get package plans and, prefab models and all that.
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where do you start?
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You know, what, what makes sense, uh, for you?
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I'm going to give you the no-nonsense, no BS version of things.
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I, I truly believe that people should end up in the right place for their projects, and I've learned a few things along the road, and maybe I can pass them along to you.
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So what is right for your lake property?
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Now, uh, the, the, the first thing is that designing, uh, on a lake, um, or a rural property is a little different than working in the city.
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There's more choices, and there are more challenges.
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And I would say on a simple project, who you work with is less critical when you start to deal with lake sites that will have a slope and different orientation and different, r-regulatory requirements, meaning setbacks and bylaws, zoning amendments, different material approaches.
3:09
the decisions can become, uh, pretty important.
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let's start with, uh, the, the builder.
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Do you jump in with a builder first?
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We, we don't need an architect.
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We don't need a designer.
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Or the builder's gonna build a place for us.
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that is an approach, and, it, uh, may have a place, for generic design on a flat site without specific opportunities and challenges, um, that may be an option for some people.
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I would say overall, your design options are gonna be limited.
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materials are tend, from what I've seen, are limited, and there's not a lot of flexibility.
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It is a short process because, a builder is not in the business of, working with you on your ideas, articulating different approaches, and so on.
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It's not what they do.
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They're there to execute.
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a lot of cases, we have people that go to a builder, and they end up with stock plans, generic plans that are reused and recycled.
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that may or may not work for you.
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That's not the type of design that we do.
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We do very custom design driven by the client's vision and/or challenging sites.
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So I find that very, uh, uh, very important.
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Um, but at times, uh, builders with a l- with a large in-house crew, and I don't mean subbing out to, to the trades.
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I mean, if they have a big staff and they have the equipment, and they can build something for you in four months, if that is what you're looking for, that may be your choice.
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Okay?
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So hopefully that helps, uh, one quarter of the people out there right away.
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The second, category, let's say, is going with a architectural designer that is not an architect.
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I would say on simple projects, if you're doing a simple addition, you're doing a garage, you wanna extend your roof, and you're not going to do the deep dive on design, that could work, with varying results.
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there, there are, decent designers that can handle what I would call, like, a basic program.
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So if it's not a huge dollar value, the decisions aren't so critical, you're looking for something basic, that could work for you.
5:15
If you're on a site and you've got to decide, well, should we work with the slope?
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Are we gonna end up with a lot of blasting?
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Uh, does the site have some other challenges due to location of septic and services and all that?
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What's the best possible design?
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I would say that process is just too short It can save, sometimes it can save you a little bit of money because it's a short process.
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Basically, you're getting drafting.
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So if you feel that you've got all the ideas worked out and you're not gonna benefit from a deeper dive on materials and specifications and options, that could work for you.
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It's not what we do, but there's a place for it, and hopefully you can find your fit.
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You can go online and, and, find, uh, qualified, uh, designers is, is what you look for, okay?
6:04
Now, the next category is the licensed architect.
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let's think about what the role is.
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Comprehensive design leadership.
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This is for complex sites, sites that have regulatory, requirements that are difficult to meet, and these are for clients that have a very high expectation for what they wanna do.
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Typically, these are like legacy style projects, meaning Commitment of time, commitment of resources.
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They really want the best results.
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I'm gonna give you a real-life example, and hopefully this applies to you.
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Current project on, uh, on one of our, our lakes, that we work on.
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Currently, I'm working on, Chandos Lake, I'm working on Glamor Lake, working on the Bay of Quinte, and working on Amherst Island.
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So one of the projects-- Well, this is similar to mostly all the projects that I do.
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One of the projects had a very tight site, kind of considered unbuildable.
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There is an existing house, uh, cottage on it that had to be demolished.
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Here's the challenges: steep, rocky site.
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Does that sound familiar?
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Do you have a steep, rocky site?
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Hard to get in and out of.
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Are you gonna bring in the materials from the land?
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Do you wanna bring it by barge from the water?
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Are you doing blasting?
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How much money to spend on blasting?
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What's the sweet spot for cost?
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It's like that.
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The second thing is where are you gonna put the septic?
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So if you have a great design by the builder or the design technologist and it doesn't fit on the site, they are not gonna be there to redesign things for you multiple times.
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And it does take redesign because it's complex.
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So on the first project, the restraints were distance from the, the, the water.
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Uh, it wasn't, sufficient enough.
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the height would have to be exceeded.
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Do we blast into the rock and lower the whole building?
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If you do that, you don't want to put a big shoebox on there because it's gonna mess up your site.
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You can do really beautiful buildings in parts and with terraces and working with the site, a little bit of blasting.
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I don't encourage a lot of it.
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It gets expensive.
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Finding that sweet spot, it takes experience.
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What kind of experience?
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Project experience from the sites.
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What did we do last time?
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What did we do the time before?
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Did we go for a zoning amendment?
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Did we go with a smaller building footprint?
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Did we, break up the building into parts?
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It's more complex.
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Here's the advantage.
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The advantage is if you have a tricky site, maybe you've inherited it, maybe it's been in your family, maybe this is just what you have, uh, maybe it's got a beautiful view, but access is tight.
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It takes work to really figure things out.
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The way that we work at Lakeside, Lakeside Architecture is I work in 3D modeling.
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I get the, the site modeled in 3D.
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We put the building on there, try different configurations, turn to the building, adjust the location of the septic.
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There's clearances from the septic to the property line, to the holding tank, to your cottage, to drilled wells.
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It's a pretty complex puzzle.
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Now, there's different levels of figuring stuff out.
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There's the, simplistic, there's the mid-effort, and then there's like really figuring things out so that you get the best design possible.
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that's what we focus on.
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It is getting the right solutions for your particular site.
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If you make the wrong choice What does it lead to?
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Well, you might wanna be prepared to redesign, the costs come in higher, delays take forever, you miss the approvals, and so on.
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It's more complex than a person, might, uh, anticipate.
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However, if you get in control of, of that with a good architect, then, uh, likely they're going to be, really focused on solutions and they will know what works so that you don't sink a lot of time or money, four months, six months, 18 months, 24 months waiting for approvals, things don't work, they forgot about wells and driveway accesses and hydro and so on.
9:59
there's a, the design of your cottage, there's site design that they, they have to work.
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It's, uh, interesting challenge.
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It can be productive, but the design has to come from there.
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It can't come from a box or a plan book and, and dumped on your site.
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So there's a little bit of, information for you.
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Quite different from building in the suburbs or on, on flat land in, in the countryside.
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But even in that case, you might wanted to have a very custom design, blocks the wind, has good solar orientation, is flexible, maybe you can build it in phases.
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That's the sort of thing that, that, uh, we look at.
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So let me tell you when, it makes sense to, have the builder.
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So we jump in with the builder.
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If you have a builder that is building a very particular type of, place, they really...
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They, they exclusively build ski chalets.
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Well, in that case, they probably worked out a co- uh, with various design ideas, materials, and so on.
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They, they, they probably have sufficient experience to give you a decent project.
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If that is what you're looking for and possibly a shortened timeline, well, yes, that could be a good fit for you.
11:02
Now, with the caveat that before you lock into those designs and before you send the, sign the contract and make the big deposits rural properties and the steep slopes that you see on lakes and like Lake Muskoka and Rosso and Stony Lake and, um, uh, Thousand Islands, places like that, it's more complex.
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Like, there's just more to the sites and more opportunities.
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I wanna make sure that you don't, you don't miss out on it.
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So before you lock in, you, you lock into those construction decisions and start making the big payments, do you really know what the options are?
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Again, it's not the builder's role to do that.
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They're there to execute.
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they're not, planning.
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They're not working in 3D modeling.
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It's a different type of approach.
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So simpler site, uh, possibly if they have extensive experience with in-house crew, well, possibly that could work for you.
11:51
Now, going back to the architectural designer, if you have an, uh, uncomplicated site, uh, and you basically need permit drawings, maybe you're building a pole, a pole barn.
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Well, I don't know that the average interior designer, architectural designer would, would be doing pole barns.
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But a basic sort of structures, not too much challenge in terms of regulations and so on, not too much responsibility, well, that could work for you.
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maybe somebody that you have friends that have worked with or somebody that, that, that, uh, uh, you know, and, um, you're okay with that process.
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Again, there's a limit to that sort of thing.
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If you're building a 2,000 square foot place plus, particularly if you're getting higher in the square footage and the more interesting, challenging the site, it's a lot of responsibility.
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There are a lot of things to, to work out, and the level of detail that's really required to, to get those beautiful designs that maybe you've read about, you've seen them in magazines, you've seen them on, on shows.
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they're very specific specifications and details, and y- you have to make sure that the building can be built, executed to your spec, so it isn't a messy execution, over budget, over, delayed scheduling and all that.
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So simple, you know, simple designs, that could work, possibly.
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That, that, that could work for you.
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Now, the way architects work, and, uh, I, I do encourage you to learn about various architects.
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Of course, I'm, I'm a, I'm a registered architect here in Ontario.
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I've been, licensed, uh, forever.
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I also am licensed in Alberta.
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I worked on ski resorts and chalets and, and so forth.
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Where the architect shines is they're going to work in a more collaborative team approach, bring in outside consultants, have good in-house resources to handle, a site.
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Sites that have, various terrain, regulations, environmental factors.
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So before jumping in with,"Here's the design, and, like, hope it works, and we're not responsible if it doesn't," like, those were the two first categories.
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Not to take away from them, but there's limitations to going directly with a builder or someone who's not licensed as an architect.
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Things end at a certain point.
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You know what to expect.
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So complex site analysis.
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Then legal responsibility.
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as architects, we're responsible, we're accountable for public health, safety, regulations.
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There's no missing things, or we didn't know, or it went over budget, or it, uh, didn't get built on time.
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There's more accountability, and it's a deeper dive into your exact requirements.
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Coordination, geotechnical engineers, environmental assessments, surveyors, best, design for the property.
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Oh, your property is not big enough for your, place and the septic system.
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Is the project dead?
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No, We, we can work with a, a, a septic engineer to design very custom systems for you.
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We make it work.
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So if it's not working for you, we make it work.
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Now, again, with the caveat that, I've worked on, on urban projects early on.
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I did commercial work, I did restaurants, little mini malls.
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I worked on condos and all that.
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Right now, I work exclusively on, lake sites, challenging sites, beautiful, one-of-a-kind legacy-type projects.
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So what I bring to that is I, I bring the experience of, of the whole team.
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Now, when, when you're selecting, uh, architects, this becomes important, too.
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All architects are, are trained and, and skilled, of course.
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However, I wouldn't go and design a shopping mall.
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I doubt that someone who's designing shopping malls is going to have enough experience on the lakes to make the best use of the design.
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You can determine that independently, and you can research them, but typically it's a good idea to, work on projects that, that you have experience with.
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It's just common sense and, it has good results So as an architect, if you're working with an architect, it's a more holistic approach, and it's balancing with foresight, the function, the aesthetics, your budget, accountability from the start.
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And the way that I work is with 3D modeling, with consultants, with specifications from previous projects, current specifications we're developing, and so on.
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And this makes sense for those complex sites that have-- and shoreline properties that are adjacent to conservation areas, have, issues with setbacks, maximum building area.
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everything that you want to build, things are buildable, but it takes some time and some design management to get the results.
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here's some challenges for your, your wonderful, cottage or lakeside project.
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Site challenge.
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should we excavate?
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How much do we excavate?
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Does it make sense to build this because this is not on an island?
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Can we handle the cost?
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Should we build in summer, in the winter?
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Should we barge across?
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These are the factors which will, which will enable you to know, like, how far can we go with this?
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Is this worth pursuing?
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What are we gonna, uh, end up with That's the first challenge.
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Getting equipment in there too.
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are you trying to bring in, concrete onto a very steep cliffside site, like halfway down it?
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Uh, maybe you should look at different options, piles, helical piles, different types of construction.
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That's what we look at.
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We, we look at things holistically, and, uh, I look, like to look at options for you.
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That's the design challenge right there.
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The access, can we access the, the site without destroying it?
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Uh, is there a way to build without a ton of blasting?
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Are there environmentally sensitive areas?
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can we get recommendations, on grading of the site, blasting, protecting the waterfront?
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This is a big investment, and being on, on a beautiful lake location or a rural location, there's a question of stewardship too.
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You don't want to be the one that dumped a lot of silt into the lake or blasted half the site.
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You know, if you're, if you're bl- blasting half the site, maybe it's the wrong site for your project.
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But that's what we can discuss, laying your design on the site lightly, and I find that 3D modeling is really helpful for that, terrain models and so forth.
18:02
It's not as simple as doing, building permit drawings.
18:05
There's the main difference, and, and people tend to confuse that because they'll, they'll be told a lot of times, truthfully, everybody's making things seem like they're easier all the time.
18:14
The builders will come in,"You don't need drawings.
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We'll just get the, the, the drafting person working out of their basement, get a, you a set of plans.
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Don't worry about it.
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We'll take care of it." Uh, drafting designers, unless they've worked on the tough, tough sites, uh, they wouldn't have a lot to draw upon in terms of being resourceful with materials, costs, scheduling, and so on.
18:37
So that's where, uh, where it is more effective to design and plan first and thoughtfully Take a-- commit to a longer design period and thoroughly and thoughtfully before building or, or committing a lot of resources, time, and money to consultants, designers, builders, when at the end of the day, you can't get it built that way because of the challenges on the site.
19:04
And we get this, people come in six months in, 10 months in on through their project, and we can't build it.
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Like this is-- or the, the costs are skyrocketing.
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Regardless of your budget, regardless whether it's$50,000 or 10 million, there is a best design and a best approach for sites, and you will know when you're getting too close or when you're exceeding it, and I wanna help you, help provide, prevent you from going over the cliff's edge on, on things.
19:33
So, uh, based on what I've seen on site, we tend to take a very careful approach with your project.
19:40
You need a good, uh, site analysis.
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We need proper designs and a scope and specifications.
19:48
I'm gonna give you a quick example.
19:50
Everybody loves polished concrete floors these days, but do you know that when, when you get that stone from the quarry, a lot of times it's pretty dark?
20:00
A lot of the projects that you see, they're coming out of the States.
20:02
They're using a different cement mix entirely.
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We, we bring it in.
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One of the secrets is, uh, of all things, is white Portland cement, and another secret is titanium oxide.
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Now, somebody's got to develop that, the, the actual specification.
20:15
So when I spec, I look at the amount of, of the mix, the amount of water, adding, chemical retarders or accelerators so we get the right mix.
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Why do I need to do this?
20:27
Because a lot of the time we have in-floor radiant heating.
20:29
We want to make sure that the, the mix is fluid enough so it goes around all the tubing, but if it's too wet and you go to grind it, it slews off.
20:37
Like, people don't know this or they're wondering,"Well, why didn't we get the result in, in that book that we saw or in that show where we visited this beautiful place?" Well, it's because things are more specific.
20:49
Now, if you're going drywall and you're doing vinyl flooring that looks like wood, okay, you don't need that.
20:56
However, if you're looking at steel fabrications and polished concrete and different wood and treatment and so on, there's a lot of detailing involved.
21:06
You need good drawings and specifications, and that way you can get in control of your design, and you can also get in control of your, results, your specification.
21:13
If you want that concrete light and bright, you need the lakeside mix or someone that produces something similar to it, someone that's gone through it and is very precise about the results.
21:25
Then, as you all know by now, I have two companies, Lakeside Architecture Inc., I'm a registered architect, a completely separate company, no obligation to go with both, of course.
21:36
Uh, I also, on more complex designs, I'll, I'll run the project so that you can get your place built, and then we can coordinate with good specifications and drawings.
21:47
Plus we know our details, and that becomes really important so that you have a smoother execution and the design is aligned, the construction is designed, with the design itself.
21:56
Really important Now, combining design with construction, two separate things mind you, two separate companies.
22:03
The way that we work, if you want to work with our designs, you can take it, and then if you want to go separately to a builder, of course, you can do that, and you should do that if that's what you think is right for your project.
22:12
if, if we act as your construction manager, there's better coordination.
22:17
We take materials and specifications from projects that we've done.
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We develop them further on each project.
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I have material takeoffs and so on.
22:24
It takes coordination.
22:26
The advantage is if you are, uh, professional or if you've been in business, you're used to making decisions, you need more, uh, decision-making ability and accountability.
22:36
It's a very collaborative process.
22:40
One-on-one, we get the design the, the way that you want it, and there's options as we go through.
22:47
It's almost a la carte.
22:49
and there's practical and aesthetic benefits to having a very organized, process.
22:53
Single accountability, and then you don't have that gap between an architectural vision and then buildability.
23:01
And it's already-- The gap is already there because if you have a, if you have a builder that says you don't need an architect, there's a gap there because it's two different functions.
23:10
If you have a designer says,"Well, we do the same thing anyways," there is a gap there, a gap in trust too, I would say, because things are more complex, and I see it all the time and every day, and it's good to know what is really required in terms of design, specifications, materials, costs, monthly draws for financing and payments.
23:35
You need a team that has responsibility and is involved through the project, so you're not left hanging.
23:41
And this is why projects go, go over budget, and they don't get finished, and so on, or the, the spec gets substituted because, things actually take a lot more management than, uh, somebody might, suspect.
23:52
So making the right choice.
23:54
James, we want to make the right choice.
23:56
Obviously, we don't want to make the wrong choice, and, uh, where do you think things stand?
24:00
If it's a simple project with very minimal constraints and, not a lot of challenges regulation-wise, no particular preference, like for orientation or options, urban projects, possibly suburban projects, uh, if you have a a designer, meaning like a not a licensed architect, a, a designer and a builder, and you think you can work with them, possibly that's for you.
24:28
If you're, if you want to work with developers or if you, are flipping a, a, a property You're probably-- the level of commitment might not be there for you for a deeper dive in with like a, like a more tightly run project.
24:44
So that might, that might be for you, that might be your option.
24:47
So simple, non-complex projects without a lot of, challenges and/or opportunities because when, when there's no challenges, you're not exploring the opportunities and that might be the thing for you.
24:59
I don't think it'll necessarily be cheaper at the end of the day, uh, I think your projects will probably come in, uh, more costly and take longer to build.
25:06
But in, uh, uh, for some people, that seems to be an option that, that works for them.
25:13
When to go with an architect?
25:14
Well, for more complex projects and there's more opportunity.
25:18
When I say complex, there's more challenges, there's more constraints, but with those constraints, every constraint is an opportunity to shape your project.
25:26
And, um, on larger projects, it's, it's obvious with the building code, once you get over roughly 6,000 square feet, you need an architect anyways.
25:34
Why?
25:35
Because things get complex and things get screwed up all the time if you don't.
25:39
What can get screwed up?
25:40
Building doesn't fit on the site, you have to pull a wall back, it screws up your kitchen.
25:43
you build a open structure and it wasn't coordinated with the mechanical, so you have ducts everywhere.
25:50
Now you need, bulkheads that look just terrible break up your, your view and are awkward.
25:56
And in some fa- cases, those bulkheads come down, you no longer have sufficient ceiling heights in areas.
26:02
W- if you're spending, 500,000 or a million or 2 million or 5 million on a place, you cannot have those mistakes because they will happen and your design will be compromised.
26:13
Just not a great solution.
26:15
Mechanical systems, builder will bring in,"Oh, the, the mechanical, we always use this, uh, um, these suppliers here." They're going to bring in, they'll tell you,"Let's bring in these split ductless units, mini splits, and so on." These things can look really terrible and screw up your interior.
26:32
They do the job.
26:33
They'll heat and cool your cottage, but they don't make sense in a lot of ways.
26:37
Clients don't like them once they see what they actually are.
26:40
There's ways to work around them.
26:41
You can build them into, screened, um, walls.
26:46
There's ways to design, uh, conceal the design somewhat or not use them, but it's good to know what you're up against be- before it's foisted upon you, and mistakes are expensive.
26:55
When I say a mistake in construction, I mean like from 50 to 150 grand, that's the range.
27:01
you pick your project and if you're not working with people that are skilled, you're g- probably gonna have five of these.
27:06
So you can do the math, uh, it, it adds up and then your choices get, uh, diminished One advantage, uh, I, I guess the, the blessing working out in, in, uh, in Lake Country there is that, the projects that I've worked on, they're always site-driven.
27:22
So if you're gonna take any note away from here, write down,"James says that the projects are site-driven." It's site-driven.
27:29
There's the discipline of the site.
27:31
It helps you.
27:32
It is your friend.
27:33
It will help you with design.
27:35
It will help you with your budget.
27:36
It will help you with avoiding decisions that, that you'll have regrets.
27:41
There's, there's discipline there.
27:42
You can't get around it.
27:44
A builder can tell you, you don't need it.
27:46
The designer can tell you that you don't need it.
27:48
Some do-it-yourselfers will say,"Well, I'm just gonna start building this thing.
27:52
I'm gonna build it out of straw bales." Okay.
27:54
Uh, anything's possible, um, but there are so many, uh, steps in the process that can screw up your project.
28:01
I encourage you, it's site-driven, client-driven.
28:07
It requires a certain discipline, meaning things have to be a certain way for a reason.
28:12
Even with the most creative design, things are built a certain way, and they're built to your specification, and you, you end up with something, there's always a reason behind it, then it makes sense.
28:21
It's a, it's a tight design.
28:23
If you don't do that, count on that five or six mistakes that add up, and then you look back and think,"I wish we did this," or,"We didn't spend an extra$200,000 on that," or,"Wish we had more choices on the windows.
28:34
We understood what the different quality levels are, different interiors, warranties, guarantees." This is all part of the mix.
28:43
It's important to get that under control.
28:46
So it's a big investment.
28:50
The smallest project to the largest project are a big investment, even on the-- at the opposite ends of the spectrum, again, from a$50,000 project to the$10 million project.
29:01
Do you wanna be 10% over it?
29:03
Can you handle 20-- being te- 20% over, 25% over budget and six months to a year to 18 months late on the project?
29:11
Is that acceptable to you?
29:12
If it isn't, and you want really good design, the options are to design more upfront, better specifications, better modeling, so that you know what you're getting, and at the same time, doing material takeoffs.
29:24
Here's one design.
29:25
Let's change the roof on it.
29:25
It, it changes the cost.
29:27
Let's add more windows.
29:28
Let's take away windows.
29:29
Let's drag and drop kitchens in there, different manufacturers, different costs.
29:33
What are the options?
29:34
How much is the poured concrete floor with in-floor radiant heating versus, forced air and s- split units and, reclaimed hemlock?
29:43
These are good questions.
29:44
They're worth exploring Where, where do you personally start?
29:47
Your project's gonna be an investment.
29:49
It's, for our clients at least, it's usually an intergenerational investment, meaning people are doing it for their families, they're doing it for their kids.
29:56
They, they want to have a great place, and they have high expectations, particularly on beautiful sites.
30:04
It takes care and it takes time and thoughtfulness.
30:09
That's what I've learned from the site people.
30:12
I'm James Pitropov, Lakeside Architecture Inc.
30:15
My other company, unrelated, optional, Lakeside Construction Management Inc.
30:20
I like to keep it real for people.
30:21
We do really unique projects.
30:23
It's a great process.
30:25
Uh, one advantage is you can start on a design.
30:28
There's always an off-ramp.
30:29
Start off with some preliminary modeling, get some pricing, check out the regulations, get some timelines, go to planning meetings, see what we can push at council for your particular project.
30:42
This is where the value is.
30:43
I encourage you, if you have a special project, lakesidearchitecture.c- ca, lakesideconstructionmanagement.ca.
30:50
I'll, I'll show you what I've learned from the lakes, and maybe I'll learn a thing or two from you as well.
30:54
Thanks, everyone.
30:55
See you on the next podcast.