Architectural drawings

[stgermain1969]

We are almost set to start our build.... we have done the research.....purchased a haunt.....acquired a building......been working with the town......the only things I have left are to have the haunt drawn,, built and inspected.... my question is on the drawings..... my town is needing a architectural drawing....... does anyone have any advice on how not to pay an arm and leg and my first born to get this done?? I have a few quotes......they range from $6000 to $10,000...... Looking for any and all advice......Thanks!

[Kelly Anderson]

If you used a home or building design program and lay out your building, all the rooms, list the flow and all exits, will that satisfy the city????

I have been using a program called HGTV Home Design & Remodeling Suite. Cost around $50 from Office Depot.

Just a thought you could try..........

[stgermain1969]

Kelly,

I thought the same thing but I was told today that I needed an architect to draw the plan..... I was hoping that people on here had used a certain group or company and had good luck and rersults and didnt have to pay thousands for it... Thanks for the reply!

[HauntedOzarks]

I'm assuming that your haunt is going to be modular and if it is, I cannot imagine the reasoning in wanting a full set of architectural plans if the maze is only going to be temporary. I would seek any and all means to make them change their minds. It will end up costing you thousands.

Or...one option is to see if a college has an internship program and have a student draw it up for college credit. That's how we got our market study done. Good luck with it!

[gadget-evilusions]

We were asked to submit architectural drawings for our temporary haunt as well. Our architect charged a ton less because I did the initial autocad drawings for him. All he had to do was tweak them and put his stamp of approval on them.

[stgermain1969]

Brian,

Thanks for the information.. I have started the drawings....now to find an architect to stamnp it!.........

[rwrussom]

As an actual licensed architect in California and haunt owner, i felt I could offer a bit.

First off, times are tough, so you should be able to find someone with a license to stamp off fairly cheap, especially if you do most of the document drawing.
Look for a small one man operation. The charge really will have little to do with the work involved. When you are talking about something like this your asking someone to take on a liability headache: fire, safety, exiting, ADA, etc. That's worth more than the time to put together a page or two set of plans to communicate the issues to the jurisdiction. That's why you are going to get big quotes out of full service firms. Your project is just not worth the risk for less. A one man operation will have other motivations like paying the mortgage.

Unfortunately, you can't farm out all the small haunt projects to one or two guys like me who understand because our licenses are state specific. Believe me I would love the work.

If you know a contractor buddy, he probably has a line on a small time architect who helps him out with simple projects. That's your guy.

Good luck