Suitability of Our Drawings - Art Form Architecture

Art Form Architecture’s Construction Drawings are a “builder’s set” as the base (what we provide for the fees in the pricing chart, or listed on each plan). Our drawings include floor plans, elevations and sections; framing and foundation plans. Our base drawings are suitable for use by a professional builder, hired via a negotiated price construction contract.

Our system brings you great design with clear and current drawings at a lower cost than traditional architecture by splitting responsibility. We’re showing what a good builder needs to know to build this house, not how to build in general. You and your builder are responsible for areas where it’s individual per lot, homeowner and budget; or where builder’s have their own specs.

We regularly provide additional services hourly, if you need or want help with these areas of client responsibility. See Additional Services.

See Terms & Conditions for additional information.

What things aren’t in the drawings?

Interior Design

Interior finishes selections – like flooring and crown molding, countertop materials. These are normally worked out with the builder and documented in your construction contract via their specifications.
We show kitchen and bath – where there are cabinets, fixtures and appliances, where there are overhead cabinets etc – but we don’t show which ones have drawers and which doors, cabinet styles etc. Most builders have preferred cabinet lines and will either have someone in-house to work that out with you or will send you to one or more showrooms.
Interior moldings and mill-work – such as detailed fireplace surround, ceiling coffers, wainscotting, interior columns.
Lighting and electrical – this is normally done with the builder or the builder’s electrician. We can do this with you as an hourly design session.

We offer Interior Design Services if you need help with these.

Energy and Mechanical

You or your builder will need to select your window brand. Most builders will have a brand that’s included in your new home package. Our plans size the windows with commonly available generic sizes. Most builders simply do a hand markup with the exact size. If you need or want your drawings adapted to have this exact size, we can do that, usually as a Minor Change.
Mechanical systems – we’ll provide duct chases when requested, but the exact design of the system is normally done by the mechanical contractor. It’s rare that we can help with this. If things are tight, we can help coordinate with your builder and show the furnace etc at exact size and with needed clearances, as an additional service.
Insulation strategy. We can guide you through your choices (usually in consultation with your builder), then document your decisions in the drawings. In some jurisdictions, this additional service may be required.

“Negotiated price”? What if I want to bid it?

For true competitive bid the drawings need to have every last screw identified. Our drawings show what a competent builder won’t know about this particular house, not absolutely everything that goes into building a home. So, people do use them for some bidding (framing for instance), but they are not suitable for simply sending the drawings to five builders and hiring the lowest bidder.

What if I want to be my own General Contractor (GC)?

Homeowner as GC is not supported under our Terms & Conditions. If you do so anyway, you will be waiving all rights to technical support, additional service and claims. Why? Basically when the homeowner is the GC (General Contractor), two things happen:

Usually that means there really is no GC at all, and the GC makes very important contributions. You have a “real job” during the day, right? The GC does more than phone calls and paperwork.
Even if you’ve built one or two homes for yourself before, your knowledge simply isn’t going to be the same as a builder who builds all day every day, and knows the subcontractors and building officials in your area. We know from experience that the phone calls coming in to us from lumber yards, subcontractors, building inspectors and from you will be tenfold. You’ll say they won’t be. You’ll sincerely believe they won’t be. But they will be.

For more information as to what is not included in our Construction Drawings, please refer to our Terms & Conditions. *Please note that the foregoing information is for marketing purposes only and is subject to change without notice. If any of the foregoing is inconsistent with our Terms & Conditions, then the Terms and Conditions shall prevail.