For something so visible, architectural design can be surprisingly difficult to place a value on. Its effect on the function, feeling, operating cost, resale price, and environmental impact of a house seems beyond question. Design puts the custom in a custom home. Yet there will always be those skeptical clients who consider architecture an “extra,” and in the current mood of financial anxiety, anything deemed extra is ripe for elimination. Because this is the CUSTOM HOME Design Awards issue, the question occurred to us: When project budgets shrink, does architecture get cut, or does it become more important than ever? Conveniently for this discussion, our annual review of the best in custom building also supplied a ready source of experts on the matter—the builders of our winning projects.
Sharon, Conn., custom builder Ian Hochstetter has no doubt about whether architect involvement makes sense in a down market. Design pays for itself “in spades,” he says. “You get what you want, right out of the gate.” Hochstetter’s company built the striking Artreehoose in New Fairfield, Conn., designed by architects Della Valle Bernheimer. Daringly engineered and highly specific to its site and owner, the building is the furthest thing imaginable from a stock design, which makes it just Hochstetter’s kind of project. “Most of our work is with architects,” he says. “They’re critical to getting the custom-type house [our clients] want.” While the current recession has led many clients to scale back their plans—“We had to shave as much as half a million dollars off the project we’re pricing now,” Hochstetter says—he hasn’t seen a flight from architects. “The good architects are still getting work,” he says. “People are trying to design within a budget. There’s a growing consciousness of reasonable-size footprints.” Good design isn’t free, but it pays for itself by delivering the most house per square foot.
“It all starts with the design,” agrees Adamsville, R.I., custom builder Jacob Talbot. “You’ve wasted a lot of money if you don’t get what you want in the end.” To stimulate sales, design/build contractors in his area are offering in-house design services at no charge, he reports. But Talbot has shifted in the opposite direction, toward working exclusively on architect-led projects. “I find here that architect-designed stuff is what’s moving, more than stock plans,” he says. Partly for that reason, “I’ve moved from a looser way of doing things to working more closely with the architect.” But the input of a top-flight architect makes a builder’s life easier in a number of other ways as well, he adds. “From a budgeting perspective, when you get a really good set of plans, you can’t really miss much. All the information is there for the bidding.” Accurate and complete plans reduce jobsite errors and wasted time. Working with talented architects also keeps Talbot interested in his own job. “They have a vision,” he says. When that vision guides decisions in the field, the builder becomes part of the design team. “And that’s fun.”
Talbot’s work appears here (and on the cover), in a Little Compton, R.I., house designed by Estes/Twombly Architects—a firm the builder especially admires. “Their houses are like sculptures,” he says. “They get a lot of press for that reason.” And when a house makes a big splash, some of the attention spills onto the builder too. Having his name associated with the best architectural work sends the right message to potential clients, he says. “I would much rather clients spend money on design than dump it into square footage or really expensive materials.” The message seems to be getting through. Even as budgets shrink, he says, “I haven’t seen people cutting design, at least in the high-end market.” On the contrary, with construction slow across the board, custom clients “are happy to be getting more of their architect’s time.”
San Francisco custom builder Michael Bradford crafted architect Strachan Forgan’s urban-infill gem—a project, also in San Francisco, that predates the collapse of the California real estate market. Today, engulfed in an atmosphere of crisis, even clients with the means and intestinal fortitude to build a custom home have reordered their priorities. “They may have the money,” Bradford explains. “[The issue is] peace of mind. They’re not as free to spend it.” When they do spend, he says, their focus is on “family and enjoyment of the house as a home, rather than on grandiose statements or how many cars are in the garage.” But that reorientation leaves many ways to trim the budget without sacrificing architecture. “The design doesn’t change a whole lot; the details change,” he says. “You can spend $20 per square foot on countertops or $2 per square foot, and the difference isn’t ten times.”
