Robert_N

Thanks for the reply... I would say I am a little needy in that I have never done this before.

BTW Nevin... I think you are Spot On for the character and then training... I taught for 21 years and the students coming with the best character always did the best and that was the most difficult thing to impart, more so in upper grades than elementary as the students in elementary are open to character education more than older students... with exceptions of course. As a potential client I want character first... in myself and everyone I deal with.

Thank you for the reply... can you send me some contacts for Del Norte county? Thanks!!!

Charles, thank you or your insight and experience. I found you avoidance of SoCal both humorous and telling. I currently live in SoCal and the site is in Northern Cal. I sure would like to trade U.S. Senators with you... I like yours better than mine. Thank you for our help.

Can some of you comment on the advantages of having a designer in close physical proximity to the site? I have see people on the forum use this as a criteria and the advantages I can see are designer access to site and local builder, designer familiarity with local codes and very likely building inspectors. Are there other advantages?

Hi David, I often see posters looking for resources close to them to facilitate site access and site resources access.

Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety... It is a Code+ standard put together by insurance companies in the South East and South and Mid-West who have been taking a shellacking in losses from Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Hail, Flooding, and High Winds.. it also covers Wild Fires and Earthquakes. There is a newer set of specs called Fortified Home which have 3 levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. https://disastersafety.org/fortified/resources/ And finally they have a Fortified Commercial program as well...

I am vetting potential designers of a project in Del Norte county and would like to get info on your builds/designs in Del Norte. Can you send that info to me? Thanks, Robert

Hi All, As a potential client, possibly one of you may be my designer, I found this thread very helpful and useful. In talking with someone, it may have been an architect, I can't remember now, the idea was put forth that one should have an architect that they connect with... I sensed the person offering the information meant an architect that didn't try to dictate, but tried to help the client sense what they wanted and flesh it out and achieve their dream. I thought that was good advice. I also think there is a lot of good advice on this thread and one can get a sense of each designer's fit with them from the responses seen here. That you all for your input. I going over to read the new thread HumbleChief started to learn more.

As a newly minted Home Designer Pro user and potential upgrader to a higher end program, I appreciate this topic and thread... I especially liked the openness of most to discuss this. That you all for your input.

Very helpful question and posts!!! Thanks everyone!

Thanks... in the meantime I am trying to learn all I can including additional regional weather info and Home Designer Pro...

Hi, I am just looking to locate/identify potential services by location and experience.... I am building a home in the 95567 zip code area, but I live, currently in the 92688 zip code area. I am trying to determine what design and design/buiild services are available in the 95567 area. The experience I am looking for is with CA and hopefully some SoftPlan as well. I would like to know about IRC 2018 and 2015 as well as CBC and IECC experience. RIght now I just need to see what services are available. If I am asking this incorrectly perhaps someone can give me some guidance. I have some resouces but they are not in the 95567 area and one, although very good from what I can tell isn't in the 95567 state which has strict code reqs. Thanks for reading my post.