Project Team for Your Custom Home: What Consultants and Engineers Do You Need?

Thinking about designing and building a custom home? To successfully complete your project, many different people will need to be involved and bring their individual expertise to the table. The quality of your project team will largely determine the outcome of your home.

Assembling an experienced, talented and hardworking project team is critical to the success of the project. Although each project is different, below is a general list of the project team members that you will need for your custom home.

1. Project Architect

   • The Architect on your project is traditionally the project leader or the prime consultant. Your architect is typically the first consultant that you need to bring on board. In many cases your architect can take on the responsibility of assembling and hiring the rest of the consultants needed on the project.

   • Your project architect will create the design for the home starting from conceptual design to highly detailed construction/technical drawings. They will also take your project through the permitting process, chaperone the bidding/contractor selection process and perform construction administration while the project is being built.

   • During the design process your project architect will be responsible for coordinating the rest of the project team. The project architect typically reviews all consultants drawings to make sure there are not conflicts between consultants. Your architect has a wide array of responsibilities and services throughout the project so be sure to sit down with them and discuss this at the beginning of the project.

2. Interior Designer

   • The Interior Designer is critical to the project, especially custom homes. The interior designer should be brought on as early in the design process as possible. Many interior design items need to be thought through before other consultants can begin their work. For example, the interior design must be developed to know where dropped soffits can be located to accommodate mechanical equipment and ductwork. Air registers need to be located where they do not conflict with cabinets or other interior design features. On luxury custom homes, have a well thought out interior that jives with the architecture is critical. We suggest working with a firm that offers both architectural and interior design services. To read our article about the benefits of working with a hybrid architectural and interior design team, click here.

3. Structural Engineer

   • The Structural Engineer should be brought on after the schematic/conceptual design of the home is completed. The Structural engineer will take the architects design and begin specifying the exact framing members and structural system needed to support the design. They specify sizes of beams/columns locate shear walls and design the lateral system for the home. The structural engineer will work with your architectural team to make sure that their structural system will work within the envelope that the architect has provided. If you would like to learn more about the role of a structural engineer, check out our interview with KFSE Engineers.

4. Civil Engineer & Surveyor

   • Typically civil engineering firms offer engineering and surveying services. A survey will need to be conducted at the beginning of a project usually before the architect can begin their work. The survey will show property lines, locations of major site features, site topography, utility locations and other site features.

   • The civil engineer (usually the same firm) will then use the architects site plan and the survey to begin civil engineering work. They will engineer/design/calculate the required site grading and drainage, calculate water runoff on site, determine if any water filtration systems are required and help to set the slab elevation in relationship to the surrounding site.

5. Title 24 Energy Consultant

   • The California Building Code requires that an energy report be conducted on proposed buildings to calculate the overall energy usage of the building. The report will use size and types of glazing, HVAC systems, insulation thickness/types and other factors to determine if the building will pass or fail the requirements. If the building does not meet the minimum energy requirements, the design team will need to modify the design.

6. Lighting Designer

   • A good lighting designer can elevate your home to the next level. Your lighting designer will create the lighting layout for the home. They will specify lighting fixtures taking into account the appropriate light levels needed in each room. The lighting designer will specify temperature of the light, lighting scenes, produce load calculations, show switches and what lights are on which switch legs. Don’t underestimate the importance of good lighting design in your home.

7. Geotechnical Engineer

   • New ground up homes will need a geological engineer to take soils samples and conduct a report on the soil composition on your site. The type of soil on your site will impact many factors of your home. In the soils report, your geologist will make a foundation recommendation to the structural engineer for the best foundation system to suit the project.

   • Conducting a soils investigation and geological report should be one of the first things you do when you plan to build your home. Your architect will ask for this report at the beginning of the project as it will help them design your home.

8. Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer

   • On large custom homes, we like to bring on these consultants to the project to dial in the MEP systems. We will work with these engineers to determine the exact systems, runs, locations of equipment and specifications. On smaller homes with simple layouts, sometimes these systems can be completed as a “design build” scope item and done in the field by the subcontractors.

9. Audio/Visual and Low Voltage

   • In large homes with full home automation, audio and visual systems, it is a great idea to bring on an AV Consultant early in the process. They will also provide consultation on home theaters, shading systems, data networks, and home security systems.

10. Landscape Designers

    • Landscape can make or break a project. In many of our projects the connection between the home and landscape is critical. For this reason we feel that landscape design is one of the most essential elements to the success of a project. We typically create a conceptual landscape and hardscape plan for our homes. This ensures that the overall design of the entire project is cohesive and spaces flow from the interior to the exterior gardens. Once our team has completed the conceptual landscape plan, the conceptual design will then be handed over to a landscape architect to finalize the technical drawings.

    • Our approach to landscape design is to work with the native plant species in the area. The landscape should celebrate the local environment and microclimate of a site. We prefer natural plant organizations with a curated plant pallet to keep the landscape simple and clean.

11. Specialist Consultants

    • Depending on the requirements of the jurisdiction that you are working within, you may be required to bring on different specialist consultants to satisfy the requirements. These can be environmental consultants, wildlife specialists, fire consultants, arborists, and archeologists just to name a few. Again these are not typical and will depend on the location of your site.

Each of these consultants serves a valuable role on the project team.

Work with your architect to assemble your project team. They will help you determine which consultants are needed and/or required for your project. We recommend, sitting down and personally meeting with each member of your team as you will most likely be working with them for several years while the project is being designed and built. It is important to feel comfortable with each consultant.

Over the years, we’ve developed strong relationships with many engineers and consultants in the Orange County and LA markets. We’ve been fortunate to work with many outstanding firms in the area. If you need recommendations on which engineers/consultants to use on your home, feel free to reach out to us at www.rostarchitects.com.