Online Architect

We offer architectural services online. It may sound strange to work with an architect that you can't meet face to face, but it is possible. The internet and the many graphic tools available now allow for great communication. And we have free phone service to most of the world along with email, and the possibility of video conferencing.

Us in the news

Well not big time news but a story online about our bell tower project. See it HERE

Big projects - Big houses - Commercial Centers

Yes of course we can do them, have done them. If the projects big enough we will come to you or come to Italy where we are most of the time and spend a week of intensive design work say in the morning while touring the Dolomites in the afternoon.

Do you have a really big project? We also work with other much larger firms in the US and Italy and can coordinate the work between countries and languages. We have the American attitude towards getting the job done in a functional and cost effective way while including the Italian flare for good design.

House Plans Online

At this time you won't find house plan samples here. What we offer are custom plans to fit your needs all done by communicating over the internet, and personal meetings if your project is in So. California or Italy. Send a sketch, a picture, or a plan from a book, or just a list of the things you want and we will prepare an estimate of the cost of our work. Generally if we do the plans this way the total cost to you will not be more than you would spend buying ready made plans online then paying someone to bring them up to local codes. With over 30 years experience in designing homes there isn't much we haven't done so it's very easy for us to understand what you want and make your ideas a workable reality.

Currently we are working on projects in California, Canada, Mexico and Italy, so location is not a problem. We use a voice over the internet (voip) phone system so we can be reached by our California phone number wherever we are and there is not extra cost to you.

Italian Style

Don't know what else to call it. Anyway you saw the design for the bell tower, that's in Italy. Now we are doing some 3D and drafting work for a designer in the So. California area and this picture of the elavtor car will give you the idea. In some ways Italians are looking forward and Americans looking backward. One can speculate on the reasons, Americans without a long history long to have one and Italians maybe have had too much of a good thing. It's interesting.

By the way we didn't design this, just did the 3D which is very difficult to do. We use a CAD program called VectorWorks for all of our work from preliminary design to 3D modeling to construction drawings. Just having to learn one program makes life much easier. Actually the other program we use for design is called pen and paper, the old fashioned way of sketching ones ideas on a piece of paper is still the most efficient way to develop a basic idea.

Good News

We entered a design competition for a bell tower at one one the large churches in Belluno and our design was chosen. The actual project will just be the tower and it's base. We had designed an addition of a large plaza covering an existing parking area, but ownership issues of the land for parking would prevent the plaza being built as we designed. For the project we kept the design simple as the church is rather complicated and we wanted to unite the elements existing in the church rather than add to them. Using our CAD software we are able to capture pictures of the existing materials and use them in the 3D model.

Design, Additions, Remodels

Low cost design service for remodels and additions: We will review any sketches you send us and send back to you a revised sketch and written comments for $75 to $150 depending on the size of the project. This could be the best spent money on your project. Why? Because after 30 plus years of doing this as well as actually constructing some of our projects ourselves, we know what we are doing.

Mortgage Loan Costs Compare

Confused about which loan to take, hi points, low interest, or low points higher interest. Plug in the numbers in our home loan calculater and compare loans. Click on this link:

http://www.hm-architects.com/home_loan_calculator.htm

Think you might only stay in the house a few years the calculater will give you an idea of actual monthly costs over various periods of time. You can change all the variables to see which makes the most sense in your situation. Email us if you would like the excell spread sheet for a small fee. john@hm-architects.com

Remember the numbers are just estimates so the actual costs may vary, but the comparisons are real.

Home building costs

Often we talk with clients or potential clients who have some idea of the square foot costs of building a new home. So in their planning they take the size home they want and multiply it by the square footage costs they have heard from friends or contractors and believe that should be the cost of their completed home. Of course most people would also include the cost of the land and some would remember to ad in the cost of a loan. But their are other costs. If you click on this link you can get a pretty good idea of the total costs and even see how much you would have to sell the home for to make a profit on your construction.
http://www.hm-architects.com/homecosts.htm

It's an excell spreadsheet, you can plug in the numbers shown in red that fit your situation. I've refined it over many years so it has become pretty accurate. If you would like a copy that you can use on your computer and print out, email us and for a small fee we will send you one. john@hm-architects.com

Help U Design

Why not get the advice of a hightly experienced architect without having to pay for the full service. We can show you how to ad a room, rearrange your kitchen or help you put your ideas into a plan that can actually get built.