Role of Other Professionals

When you design and build a house, there are three primary
players:
yourself as the Owner
the Architect
the Builder
The Owner contracts with the Architect to design the house
and to prepare the construction drawings and
specifications, which become the contract documents. The
Owner signs a separate but related contract with the
Builder who will construct the house according to those
construction drawings and specifications. The Architect's
role is to serve as the Owner's agent during the bidding and
negotiation phase on through the construction phase and
warranty period.
In addition, most projects require, or would benefit from, the
services of the following professionals: structural engineer,
licensed surveyor and geo-technical engineer:
The structural engineer is typically required by the
municipality issuing the building permit; while some
structures might be adequately designed by lumber yard,
rule-of-thumb minimums, most modern structures are
complex enough that we would insist on using a licensed
engineer for the structural design of the frame and
foundation.
The licensed surveyor is important because she determines
where the boundaries of the property are, which has both
legal and practical consequences. The surveyor can also
provide topographic information such as contour maps,
location of trees, rock outcroppings and other features. This
information greatly assists in properly locating the building
for optimum appearance and performance. Ideally, the
survey information is provided in a 3D CAD format to speed
the design process; paper versions can be used, but some
accuracy is lost in the translation.
The geo-technical engineer takes core samples from the
site in the footprint of the proposed building to determine
the actual soil conditions. These samples are translated
into a soil report which specifies the structural bearing
capacity of the soil, the swell potential, the approximate
height of the water table and other data which impacts the
building. Some areas of the country have fairly uniform soils
conditions across a wide area; designers then work off of
rules-of-thumb, based on the experience other people have
had in that area. In areas with potential swelling soil, the
municipality often requires a soils report; if there is a
possibility of swelling soil, it would be good practice to get
a soils report, regardless of whether it is required.
A landscape architect, interior designer and various
artisans may be included; depending on your goals for the
project they can add special features and bring a specific
area of expertise to the "visuals" of the project