3 Reasons Why We Recommend You Hire a Designer for your ADU

At New Avenue we are all about great value.  In design and construction the hard way is usually the right way. This means the best value is often the more difficult and more expensive way.

This applies to the design as much as any other part of the process.

Many people want to cut out a designer and trust the design to their own capabilities or to a contractor. The hope that you will save time and money is a short-sighted decision that can sound like a good idea at first, but it will typically make your project more costly and painful in the long run.

Top 3 reasons to hire a professional designer:

Reason #1:  You want your home to be amazing.  A designer with 10, 20, or even 30 years of experience and a creative ability is critical to creating a truly great design. A professional designer can create a custom design that meets your goals, fits your property, and makes you feel at home.

Reason #2: You need someone who has been through the entire process many, many times.  Exposure to hundreds of photos on Houzz.com and Pinterest makes you a more informed and better client, but it doesn’t prepare you to plan the crucial details of your home or face the city permitting office. A designer will typically require at least 200 hours of work to get a good design and the permit drawings together. It may be 400+ hours of work if your project is larger and more complex.  Someone who isn’t already a pro can easily take five or ten times as long. An experienced person can pull from decades of experience in design, permitting, and construction administration.

Reason #3: Little mistakes can last a lifetime. An experienced designer prevents regret. A design mistake is something that will be built into the home, and it may never go away. It is worth a few thousand dollars to make sure you will truly enjoy your home.

The super pragmatic perspective is to acknowledge that having an experienced, professional designer will save you from at least one major mistake, whether it’s wasting thousands at the permitting office, building flaws into your home, or having to change the design in the middle of construction. That alone will justify their entire fee.

At New Avenue, our standard practice is to have a pro designer involved from start to finish.  We mapped 300+ key steps in any residential addition, remodel, accessory dwelling or new home.  Not every step is essential, but each is a potential pitfall. An ally who can navigate and resolve the design challenges effectively creates a ton of value.