A good architectural project requires significant planning and consideration to be successful. Many people have a simplistic view of what is required to complete an architectural project and are quickly surprised by how difficult it is when they undertake one of their own.
In this article, we outlined three essential things you must have in place for any architectural project. Failure to look after these three things will increase the odds that your project is not successful.
Each of the three things I've already described in brief and you will need to undertake further more detailed research about each one before undertaking your architectural project.
Appropriate Financial Resources
The number one thing that disrupts many architectural projects and leads them to fail is a lack of appropriate financial resources.
When you map out the budget for an architectural project you may get quite a surprise when you realize how much money will be required, and how much cash you need to have access to at various project stages. It's all well and good that the finished project will be quite valuable and worth a lot of money, but if you are not able to provide the relevant funds to get the project to the end you could end up stuck halfway with no money, and a property that is not worth much. A half-finished architectural project is a nightmare because you will never get your money back.
There are many things that you will need to fund both at the beginning of the architecture project and throughout. The main initial expense will be to purchase the property that you are using for the project. If you already own the project and just decide to commence an architectural property then that makes things a lot simpler for you, but if you don't yet own the property and need to purchase it then that is your number one initial goal.
If you need funds to purchase the property you could utilize a traditional bank loan, or opt for hard money Charlotte NC for a quicker settlement process.
This interest rate calculator can also help you get a clear idea of the interest you would pay for different loan sizes.
Once you own the property on which you will be conducting your architectural project there will be a considerable investment in plans for the project.
With the plans in hand, you will then need to purchase all the relevant materials that the project requires. You won't have to buy all the materials upfront, so you can strategically map out which materials you will buy at which point throughout the project.
Deciding which things you need to spend money on straight away and which things you can defer your spending on is critical to managing cash flow which can make or break an architectural project.
Last but not least you will also need to pay for all the tradespeople that will be working on your project. If you don't pay your tradespeople you will quickly get a reputation as someone who is not good to work for and it will be hard for you to find people to finish your project and therefore hard for you to complete your project which could ruin you financially.
Project Manager
Running a successful architectural project requires the coordination and oversight of many different moving parts. There will be dozens if not hundreds of different individuals who may be involved in your project and knowing which ones you need at which point and for how long will be a full-time job.
If you are self-managing this architecture project then you need to embrace the role of project manager. A disorganized project can not only cost a lot more money but can become chaotic and lead to poor decision-making and poor-quality work.
If you don't have the right parts of the job completed in the right order then you may end up with tradespeople on site wanting to work, but they are unable to complete their work because other things are not done. If this happens you may still be liable to pay them for their time even though they are not producing any work for you.
Unless you plan to take the role of project manager very seriously, we strongly advise that you hire a dedicated project manager to ensure the success of your architectural project. Even though it will be an added expense that you could potentially save, the benefit of having a project manager will more than outweigh the cost you need to pay them.
Relevant Permits and Approvals
The last thing you need to complete an architectural project is the relevant permits and approvals. If you start building an architectural project and you haven't requested and received the approvals for the plans and design that you are implementing you could not only waste a lot of money on work that you then need to destroy but find yourself in legal trouble as building unapproved structures is against the law.
Purpose of Permits and Approvals
Property Tax
One of the main purposes of getting the right permits and approvals for an architectural project is so that the government body that oversees your property taxes can keep their evaluation of your property up-to-date.
If the city or state that looks after your property taxes has an inaccurate understanding of your property then they may charge you either too much property tax or not enough property tax. So when you do renovations and conduct architectural projects it is important that the documented understanding of your property is updated in line with the changes mate so that an appropriate evaluation can be made when determining the amount of property tax you should be paying.
Ensure Safety
Permits and approvals also play a role in ensuring the safety of building works that take place.
If people were not required to get permits and approvals before completing their architectural projects they could end up building something that is not only unsafe for the inhabitants of the property but also unsafe for visitors to the property. Even though obtaining the relevant permits and approvals can be timely and expensive, there are many benefits to having these approvals. The primary benefit is that it makes it possible to insure your property and receive those protections. Whereas unregulated building changes would be a lot more difficult to insure for the insurance company.
Maintain Style Guidelines
Some geographic areas have rules around the style of the properties in that area. It could be due to some historic buildings in that area, and the need for all buildings in that area to maintain certain historical aspects of their design.
Another example is certain suburbs where properties in that suburb need to stick to certain color guidelines and certain fencing requirements to maintain a consistent and uniform look for all houses throughout their suburb.
Final Thoughts
To ensure the success of your architectural project make sure you have not only the financial resource to pull it off, but also the relevant approvals and a project manager to bring your project together. Skipping out on any of these three things will increase the difficulty of your project immensely and increase the chance that your project does not come to fruition.
