Stock Plans Or Custom Design?
The Role Of The Architect vs The Economy Of Mass Produced Designs

Copyright. Jeff Dennis, Firth Year Student, Carleton University, Ottawa Canada, October 16, 2000.

"Clients can get full architectural plans for homes for $350 from a book of plans or, indeed, from the web today. Why should clients pay $6000 to an architect for home plans while these services are available? How can we as a profession compete and justify our services? Is the Internet going to put the profession out of business except for large and complex one-off projects? How can architects react and take advantage of the new technology instead of waiting for it to trample the profession?"

The availability of home plans from cheap sources is not a new phenomenon. Books have been available for many years and the large building centres and lumber yards have often offered plans to their customers at low prices. The addition of the Internet only gives the distribution of these plans a more accessible nature. The question is why then would a client, who could buy a set of plans for several hundred dollars, pay an architect several thousand to do the job. I feel that this question is not entirely fair as it does not compare two similar services. From my personal experience, working with clients by my self, or as a member of the students design clinic I have seen that the two cases mentioned are very different.
There are many people in this world who, even if the services were cheap, would not go to an architect. These people are content to live, or work, in a building with minimal design elements because for them the built environment is just not an important consideration. This is a pessimistic view, but I have encountered several clients who actually seem to desire nothing more than a stock plan, or a copy of something they have seen, even when offered the alternative, a home designed for them, at the same price.
On the other end of the spectrum are people, who even if they only have a small budget and modest intentions, who will seek out the advice and services of an architect, because to them the design of their home is truly of importance to them. While these two are the extreme cases, that probably will do what they want regardless of what we say, there is a third group of people who fall in between that this question may be trying to reach.
In working at the students design clinic I met many clients who brought in stock plans from books, the Internet, or designs of houses that they had seen. These people (at least initially) had a strong belief that this is what they wanted. However, they were seeking out the services of a professional designer for one reason, they desired a personal contact with someone who could answer questions for them. This desire is the main reason why I don't feel that architects can be put out of business by a book, or the Internet. People like to talk, to express themselves, to be heard, and the architect should be trained to listen as much as to design. Building a home is one of the biggest single investments a person can make, and as such, people are willing to pay for the services of a professional to help them make decisions, and work on the design.
In the design clinic we met with around twenty different groups of clients each week who wanted work done. We offered a free consultation with clients before they signed a contract to discuss the projects. The response to this service demonstrates that most people are not comfortable just building from a drawing without talking to someone about them. All of these free Saturday consultations did not turn into paid work, but the people who came in were always relieved to have talked to someone who could give them answers. Questions posed to us at these meetings ranged from one couple who brought in a land survey and said "we are thinking of building a house here, what do you think?" to a lady who brought in a picture of her bathroom and wanted to discuss with us what color she should paint it and whether or not she should place dried flowers on the back of the toilet. (True story) Although neither of these clients ended up signing a contract with us, both left feeling better about their individual project because they had gotten something from an architect that they could not get anywhere else, that is someone who listened to them and gave them informed answers based on their individual needs.
In working with clients who did sign contracts I have found that the same is true. In many cases the people who came to the design clinic did so because we offered professional design services at student prices, and the budgets of many of the projects we worked on was quite low. This being said, we were often constrained by cost, and had to be sure that our designs could be built affordably. This led to many of the designs at first glance looking not so unlike the plans that the client could have purchased from one of the many plan books, or other sources. This is not, however, the case. In each case the clients were very happy because the individual needs of them and their families was worked into the design, something they could not have gotten from stock plans. This degree of personalization is something that an architect must give to each project, otherwise they are the same as the books or the Internet. The first step in the design process was always to sit down with the clients and have them describe what they want out of a room, not what they want the room to look like. This leads to a personal interaction between the designer and the client that is really what the clients are willing to pay for. The peace of mind that comes from talking to a designer who knows and understands your personal needs, and the pleasure that comes from spaces, that although perhaps "conventional", truly fit the needs of an individual, are why I feel that some people will always want to have an architect design their homes.
As to the justification of our services, I have found that most people, when explained the benefits described above, need no further justification of why they should spend the money. The service that we as architects offer goes beyond just the drawing and design services we can present on paper. We offer to the clients the personal interaction and peace of mind that comes from having someone to bounce their ideas off. Someone who listens to their needs, and wants, and is able to offer new ideas or solutions that fit the project. It is this service that sets us apart from the stock plans that can be found in books or on the Internet, and it is this service that clients are truly paying for.
The Internet is an interesting twist in this debate. It offers the low cost plans that can be found in other places and take work away from professional architects, but it also opens the door for us to reach new people. As I have said above I feel that there will always be people who are unwilling to use an architect because they have no desire to, and I feel that these people will be the people who will use the net as just another place to get plans or ideas cheaply. But there is also the other group of people mentioned, those that are looking for the services of someone who can talk with them, and design with them to make a project exactly what they want, and these people will be able to use the Internet in a different way.
If architects start to post their work on the Internet it allows for greater access to your ideas. This can serve as a door opener to get people interested in your work. Architects should be ready to talk to clients who have seen something that they like, and want to work with them on a new project. This exposure allows new ways for an architect to contact clients who perhaps would never have seen your work otherwise.
I feel that the best way to use the net will be to allow it to give you access to new clients. It is up to the architect then to create the personal relationship needed for good design. Once a client has contacted you and told you they like one of your projects, you can meet with them and find out what aspects of the work intrigued them, why they found it appealing, and so on. Then it is our job to talk to them about themselves and see how we can take the elements or ideas they liked in our work and redesign them for a new set of ideas, or a new lifestyle. This personalization and customization will lead to new projects that give the clients everything they enjoyed about the work that drew them to you but also gives them a new piece of design that suits them perfectly.
What this whole paper is saying is that I believe that although there are, and probably always will be, cheap ways to get a set of house plans available to the public, the architect doesn't need to fear this. People come to an architect because they want a degree of personalization in the design of their homes and they want to be able to talk to someone about their ideas and their intentions before something is built. This personal interaction between the architect and the client is what makes our services valuable and allows us to be more expensive. I don't think there will ever be a time when people are willing to spend large amounts of money to build a house, and feel comfortable about it without talking to someone about it first, and this is where architects will always have work. Architects must embrace new technology, like the net, to give a greater range of exposure to their own work, but must rely on their personal relationships with clients to make projects successful.

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