JPBDesign Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 I have design a remodel on my home--I want to add a second story to the house. I did the plans in Chief Architect. I then gave the plans to a structural engineer to add his information and stamp the plans. Originally, he said he knew and had the Chief Architect program. However, it turned out he had a very back level of Chief. At first, he was working with me by marking up the pages and I would put the changes into chief. Then when we were almost done he decided the plans had to be put into AutoCad. So now some of the plans pages are in AutoCad and some are in Chief. I am trying to get the plans into the county for permitting but they are telling me that the plans are missing Design Pressures, uploads, etc. I talked to a Window Company today and I believe the Structural Engineer is just putting in the max numbers to get rid of the project. But the max numbers will cause higher costs in the construction, as I understand. I am looking for an Architect that will work with me and Chief to generally help me get the design through permitting. I am in Lake Worth, FL Palm Beach County. I am almost ready to give up on the project because of all the issues I have encounter and I haven't even started the construction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 I'm going to try and give you advice from my perspective. I would charge a customer A LOT more (even if I took the job in the first place) if they wanted to have a hand the in the design (or drawing process). There is more work explaining the reasons for something to a DIY-er like yourself rather than working with someone that didn't want to take part in the drafting/design process. Remove yourself from being the drafter to just being the owner and you might find better success....and perhaps pay less. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbuttery Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Johnny: we had great success being "just the designers" while the trades reviewed and stamped their portions of the plans and the engineers or architectes reviewed and stamped the portions they needed to sometimes we created the cad details for them to review other times they created them as a "sketch" - we then did them up in chief and sent back for final review and stamp it is very possible to find vendors, architects, engineers that are willing to play their part in the project without having to "do it all" Lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kMoquin Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 On 4/15/2019 at 5:44 PM, JPBDesign said: I talked to a Window Company today and I believe the Structural Engineer is just putting in the max numbers to get rid of the project. You already have one building professional whose expertise is trumped by the window supplier. Will your architect fare any differently? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshall Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 21 hours ago, johnny said: .... I would charge a customer A LOT more (even if I took the job in the first place) if they wanted to have a hand the in the design (or drawing process)...... I think I would charge even more than A LOT. I would double A LOT and then add an aggravation tax on top of that..... with all due respect. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey_martin Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 On 4/15/2019 at 5:44 PM, JPBDesign said: I talked to a Window Company today and I believe the Structural Engineer is just putting in the max numbers to get rid of the project. In other words...."I am going to question everything you say or do with someone less qualified to give their 2 cents as well." No thanks. Been there, lived that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy1 Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 On 4/15/2019 at 4:44 PM, JPBDesign said: I have design a remodel on my home--I want to add a second story to the house. I did the plans in Chief Architect. I then gave the plans to a structural engineer to add his information and stamp the plans. Originally, he said he knew and had the Chief Architect program. However, it turned out he had a very back level of Chief. At first, he was working with me by marking up the pages and I would put the changes into chief. Then when we were almost done he decided the plans had to be put into AutoCad. So now some of the plans pages are in AutoCad and some are in Chief. I am trying to get the plans into the county for permitting but they are telling me that the plans are missing Design Pressures, uploads, etc. I talked to a Window Company today and I believe the Structural Engineer is just putting in the max numbers to get rid of the project. But the max numbers will cause higher costs in the construction, as I understand. I am looking for an Architect that will work with me and Chief to generally help me get the design through permitting. I am in Lake Worth, FL Palm Beach County. I am almost ready to give up on the project because of all the issues I have encounter and I haven't even started the construction. You can look for an Architect to help you get through the permitting process but if that Architect is not a licensed Structural Engineer as well, you'll still need to get an engineer. If you don't like that engineer, then talk to another one. The bottom line is that you'll have to go with what the engineers calls for if they're signing off on it. It doesn't make a flip what the window company says about the structural. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now