Kieran McCarthy: Should I employ an architect when renovating the home?

"The most important tool in any house design is a compass,the sun rises in the east and sets in the west," writes Kieran McCarthy

Sun, 19 May, 2024 - 07:31

Kieran McCarthy

Hi Kieran

I have a small three-bed bungalow that I have been living in for seven years.

Unfortunately what I have realised down through the years is the layout really isn’t great. With the grants available for retrofit, etc, I am considering taking the plunge and at the same time reorganising the layout internally.

My question for you is should I employ an architect or would the builder be able to advise on the new internal layout design?

Karen Linehan, Cork.

Hi Karen,

Thank you for this question. This is indeed a great debate and one where I would have some strong opinions and plenty of experience. It brings me back to a project I was involved in some years ago in Cork so let me share this story with you and let’s see what happened.

I was contacted by a lady from the southside of Cork city. She had come across our company at a local trade show at the time. You’ve heard this story many times before; she had bought a three-bed, semi-detached house in the suburbs. As her children grew older she came to the realisation that she needed more room in her house.

I guess there are many ways you can go about this; using a builder; a builder and an engineer; or a builder, an engineer, and an architect. She chose to just use a builder. Whereas this is theoretically possible and there are builders who will work this way it is not best advised as you will need an engineer as a minimum to detail the works and sign off on all the structural elements. So, what happened?

The builder told her that there was no need for an architect (or indeed an engineer) and that he would do everything. Now, you can immediately see the appeal here. Apart from the obvious saving in fees, the single point of contact is what every project needs isn’t it?

The problem here is that you can be duped into a simplified project set-up which appears to be finally moving in the right direction at a time where you are under pressure to execute and get moving. What was the outcome?

The project began in earnest and the builder did what he said he would do. He drew a few hand-drawn sketches on site, the lady of the house waved them on excitedly, he gave in a rough price and off they went. The project proceeded and eventually they got everything finished and it was time to take back possession of the newly renovated and redesigned home. Unfortunately, the thing about design is you don’t really know how good it is until you road test it.

So, the builder got paid in full and the lady moved back into her home. Everything seemed fine for the first few months. The house was very different and new so this was enough to keep everyone at bay. However, after about six months there were a few issues that they just couldn’t ignore. The layout wasn’t great; there was too much room in some parts and not enough room in others.

There were now rooms that had little or no light as they had been cut off from the light outside by the new extension. The utility was too small for a growing family and there was no storage. Some rooms were too hot in summer and some too cold in winter.

They began to realise that the builder, possibly meaning well at the time, had just taken on too much and was wearing too many hats, some of which really didn’t fit.

When we were called to look at the project, the first person I contacted was an architect. It should be remembered that the most important tool in any house design is a compass, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west so you need to ensure you capture as much daylight as possible in each room, depending on what time of the day that room would be in use.

Because so much money had already been spent, we had to make sense of what was built and try to make the best of what we had inherited. It was a difficult job. We managed to keep most of the construction.

By moving the stairs we managed to create a bigger utility room (which is the engine room of any house) whilst creating a wonderful feature staircase with a view of the front south facing garden in the stairwell.

We repositioned the kitchen in the extension whilst opening out as much space as possible and adding large windows to add westerly light into this room and creating a newly extended space for dining with wonderful access to evening light whilst getting as much reflected light as we could from the northerly glazing.

Yes, you’ll initially save money and probably time too by going straight to the builder for design but, in the long run this is a false economy.

A dining room that had been cut off from outside now became a kids’ gaming room (which as we all know doesn’t need light) and we organised the bedrooms upstairs to get rid of the box bedroom. All in all we didn’t add much space but much of the internal walls and window openings had to be altered and repositioned to reimagine the space.

In truth we had to make compromises given the original expenditure and to drive value but the resulting transformation was considerable. Now, the rooms worked and we knew how the design would perform at handover, and how it would perform in the future as the family’s needs changed, as the children became teenagers and eventually moved out.

So, what’s the answer to your question? Yes, you’ll initially save money and probably time too by going straight to the builder for design but as my story above demonstrates, in the long run this is a false economy. You need to get the design right before you build and rather than cutting costs, I’d consider good design to be a worthwhile investment. Measure twice, cut once.

Kieran McCarthy is a building engineer and director of KMC Homes bespoke A-Rated new home builder, serving Cork and Limerick. He is also co-presenter of the RTÉ property show Cheap Irish Homes.