And then, the tears

Several trusted friends reviewed the latest set of architectural drawings. We got some good advice:

• David suggested we retain the architect’s window scheme downstairs, which went down to the floor (our sketch didn’t), because we’d appreciate the view and light—especially when doing yoga.
• Bob told us not to limit the useful space of the screened porch by adding a door to the deck. There is plenty of outdoor access from the nearby great room.

Yet the more people I talked to, the more I thought: This is just a ranch house! What the hell did I hire an architect for? Why did I spend these big bucks?

Friday, October 19, heavy winds scattered heavy rains and rivulets ran through the skylights and down my wall. (As the above photo of the great room shows, the unwanted water feature returned the morning of Saturday, October 27.)

These weren’t the only waterworks. I couldn’t get the original drawings out of my mind. The roof deck. The curved roof. So I looked up with teary eyes and threw out a trial balloon: how about a curved roof over the screened porch?

My poor husband gave me a look of, “Oh no! Not more follies by the wife! These ‘big ideas’ are why the so-called ‘dream house’ project is in month 13—with nothing to show for it!”

Folly avoidance was one of the key reasons we choose Jimmy Dumas Architecture. He explained that his firm had build capabilities, so his drawings wouldn’t only serve in the role of artwork, they’d be workable. His literature entitled, “Benefits in the Use of Design-Build,” states:

Early Knowledge of First Costs — Because the entity responsible for design is simultaneously estimating construction costs and can accurately conceptualize the completed project at an early stage, guaranteed construction costs are known far sooner than is otherwise possible. This … avoids the possibility of committing substantial time and money for design, only to learn that the cost of the project is prohibitive.

This paragraph describes the level of service we had expected—and details the opposite of what we have experienced. Not once did Jimmy or his subordinate push back and say, “Great idea. Here are the resulting cost and logistical implications. We suggest doing ‘X’ instead.” So we believed the drawings they presented to us were precursers to the home we would live in. Instead, after two design concepts and “committing substantial time and money,” we “learn that the cost of the project is prohibitive.”

We shared the architect’s drawings of our scaled-back project with Local Guy, currently our top choice for general contractor. He said, “Looking at these drawings, I cannot begin to guess at what your architect is intending. There is no information here. Even the floor plans are vague” because they lacked even the bare minimum in details, such as a scale. So Matt and I got on the phone with Jimmy: When would we get “real” drawings? He stated in a subsequent e-mail, “I want to have the final sealed bid/permit drawings by Monday, November 5th.”