In a residential remodel or custom home build, there’s no substitute for hiring a great architecture firm—but maybe not for the reason you think. Yes, a great architecture firm can design a home that meets your needs, and has a style that fits your personality and neighborhood. They can create something beautiful and come up with ideas that you wouldn’t necessarily come up with on your own. They might even be able to design something that no one has ever seen before! However, nothing will be more important than an architecture firm that will be your advocate throughout the entire design and building processes.
What do we mean by an “advocate?”
In architectural design, an advocate is an architecture firm that doesn’t try to talk you out of ideas that might be difficult to get approved by the city planning department. Instead, they come up with a way to accomplish your goals by working within the building code in a creative way.
One way of accomplishing this is by requesting what’s called a “variance” from the City of Long Beach. A variance refers to a request for relief from the strict application of a certain aspect of the building code. Basically, it’s an exception to the rules.
The Community Development Department in the City of Long Beach, CA does not often approve variances, but if a very compelling case can be made as to why it should be, they may do it on occasion. It is often up to the architect to make that compelling case.
Mark Grisafe, owner of Grisafe Architecture in Long Beach, CA, had this to say about the challenge of applying for variances: “City planning departments don’t publish ‘exceptions’ to their zoning laws on their websites, and officials don’t go out of their way to tell architects how they can legally get around zoning laws. It is up to us to ask the right questions of the right people to find out what variances will be approved and which ones won’t.”
Grisafe continued, “When we have a project that would benefit from a variance, we do everything we can at the beginning of the design process to find out if we can actually get it approved. This often means going to the city planning department in person to ask questions and seek guidance from those with the authority to approve the variance.”
Not every architecture firm in Long Beach will go out of their way to work with the city to get a variance approved. Instead, they will just tell their clients that what they want to do isn’t possible due to a certain item in the building code. However, an architecture firm that truly advocates for their clients will make the extra effort if they believe it will benefit their clients and their projects.
That being said, not every idea you present your architecture firm will be a good one. There may be a legitimate reason for your architect to try to talk you out of something you think you have to have in your home remodel or custom home build. Your idea may negatively affect the design in ways you hadn’t considered, or would never get approved by city officials, even if a variance is requested.
Work with an architecture firm you trust—one that has a great reputation for both quality design and client satisfaction—and the chances that your project will end in success will go way up!
