An architect is a necessary aid to create the house of your dreams

I recently have renovated my house. As it is a very old cottage, serious home-building works were needed. After many discussions with my wife, we agreed that the professional assistance of an architect was required. The typology of the works to do was in fact so specific that we were not able to manage the situation. I wanted to re-design part of the house, building at the same time bathroom and kitchen extensions. I then made some searches to learn more about the job of the architect, to make sure that it was the exact professionalism that we were looking for. The web has been very helpful because I have found many websites that provided me all the required information, which have allowed me to make my choice well-aware of what was doing. Just to give you an example, the Royal Institute of British Architects website (architecture.com) provides a client advisory service of the highest quality, where you will be able to find all types of information. Now, let’s have a look to what exactly an architect does. An architect is a professional who works in the fabrication manufacture. His activity is to design new buildings and the project of the areas that surround such spaces, to create a well-harmonized new housing development. This project is usually done working in combination with officials (who control that the building project is made strictly following the actual regulation and respecting the environment), users (following their housing requirements) and clients (who firstly have the idea of the building to be constructed and who want that their planning needs are satisfied as much as possible).

Therefore, an architect works on plans regarding totally new buildings as well as on the development of existing groups of buildings (also called area regeneration projects) rather than projecting modifications to existent buildings (both functional and aesthetical alterations) or giving advise concerning the preservation and the restoration works of old estates.
As said above, the architect works together with different types of professionals, such as surveyors and engineers. This group work is mandatory to ensure that the planned building is able to meet the compulsory regulation requirements.

Furthermore, the architect must work very nearly to the construction specialists and has the responsibility of supervising the project from the first step until the end of the building works. This means that the architect is involved in the project since from the selection of the appropriate site, in case of construction of new buildings, until the work is completed, verifying that his plan and his ideas are closely followed.The following is a summary of the typical activities that the job of an architect includes.
First, there is the consultation with the other professionals involved in the project in relation to the early design of the environment that has to be built. Then, there is the phase of the preparation and the presentation of the plan to the client, giving them professional opinion whether the project is feasible or not within deadline and budget. Once all these details have been determined, there is the stage of the preparation of the tender applications and the negotiation with different potential professionals and contractors. Subsequently, there is the phase of the preparation of the project applications, followed by the coordination of the activities of the different contractors. During all the period of the works, the architect will visit very often the site, controlling the progress and the respect of the work schedule, helping to resolve problems that may possibly happen during the construction.