Design vs Design and Build

Paro Team

Sep 26, 2022 • 7 min read

Renovations and remodels can be stressful, especially if you’re also looking for new teams to hire that will help you with the whole process. While we’ve already explained the roles of architects, contractors, and designers, we’ll now give you our input on the differences between working with an architecture company vs working with a design or a design-build company.

Whether you should hire someone who will only give you design specifications or you’d prefer for the contractor to also build the design for you is one of the questions that often comes up when planning renovations. For this reason, we decided to equip you with the knowledge about what you stand to gain by hiring an architect, a designer, or a contractor from a design-build company.

Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Working With an Architecture Firm

Architecture and design companies have always had a friendly rivalry with design-build companies. This is because the former believe that planning a renovation should be left to the designers and architects due to their thorough knowledge of how the design process works, while the latter believe that planning and designing should be done together with those who know how things are really built.

Therefore, hiring an architect for the design and planning stage will require you to also hire a separate general contractor for the building stage. In some cases, the architect or architecture firm will recommend a company or a contractor for the execution stage, while other times you might have to do the research yourself. This is why you’ll need two separate contracts, one with the architecture firm, and another with the contractor, and they each work in their perspective fields to bring your ideas to life.

Pros of Working With an Architect and General Contractor

Working with experts in their field is a sure way of having the desired results at the end of the renovation process. There are a lot of benefits that come with working with an architect and a general contractor separately, so let’s see the major ones:

You can hire specialists in both fields with in-depth expertise and relevant experience for that particular project. If you go with a design-build company, the building team may do a great job, but you may not be satisfied with the designer.
Architecture companies tend to focus both on function and design.
You’ll be able to control how the process is going overall because you’ll have experts from each team that will give you daily updates, and you’ll be notified about problems during each stage that may affect the ongoing work of the other team.
You can consult one company about your contract with the other to ensure that the price you’re paying is the right price for the job.
Your architect can oversee the contractor’s work to make sure that the contractors and builders follow the architect's plan. They can also give you information about what’s actually going on at the construction site without downplaying potential problems. We don’t intend to say that design-build companies are not to be trusted, but rather, having two separate teams controlling each other and keeping each other in check is always better.
You stand to gain a good contractor referral from your architect and vice versa based on the previous jobs they’ve done.
The architect you work with will be able to give you a standard specification for all the things you’ll need so you can just go to a contractor and get things started the next day.

Cons of Working With an Architect and General Contractor

While there are a lot of benefits that come with working with two separate teams, there are also some downsides:

The downside of working with an architect and general contractor is that each team has different approaches when handling situations because they aren’t used to working in the same manner. This can even delay the process and, with that, increase the cost. Establishing good communication can help the process go more smoothly, and if you have the budget for it, hiring a project manager will ensure that everything goes according to plan.
If you’re doing a smaller renovation, paying for two separate teams will cost a lot more than just paying the main contractor and the builders.
Architects need a lot of time to become truly capable of managing problems on site, while the staff working at design-build companies handle problems on site since day one.
Builders and design-build companies have much more knowledge about construction costs compared to architects since they follow the weekly and monthly shifts in pricing. While architects can also track these changes, design-build companies are more in tune with the day-to-day price fluctuations and understand the true cost of the materials.

Working With a Design Company

Apart from working with an individual architect, another option would be to work with a design company. The benefits of doing so are numerous as most people who’ve done remodels are grateful for hiring a professional since it saved them both time and money compared to doing everything themselves. So, let’s see what you stand to gain by hiring a design company for your renovation.

Pros of Working With a Design Company

There are a lot of upsides to hiring a design company for your next renovation project, and below we’ll name just a few:

Design companies employ very creative individuals who will make sure that your vision comes to life and will often give you ideas about how you can improve your vision for the space.
Design companies give you standard specifications about the layout but also about any custom-made furniture you may want to include in your home.
A design company knows the latest advances in technology, energy-efficiency requirements, and how to stay on budget while also providing you with great service.
Design companies create a design specification document that you can tender out to the contracting company.
Design companies have great attention to detail and will create a space that you will love for years to come that’s tailor-made to your specific needs.

Cons of Working With a Design Company

Some drawbacks of hiring a design company include the following:

Since you just pay for the design, you won’t get the full service of planning and executing a remodel. So, once the design stage is over, you’ll have to find a different team to do the construction.
You pay extra for the expertise of two separate teams - the design team and the team that will work on the remodel or the renovation.
The design company may propose a great conceptual design, but once construction starts, problems may arise and you may need to alter the original design. This means that the whole space will be redesigned and that often comes with additional costs.

Working With a Design-Build Company

Design-build companies are here for a reason and working with such a company has its own benefits. This is mainly because design-build companies control the whole process from planning to executing, so you’ll always have one person who’s on top of everything.

Pros of Working With a Design-Build Company

If you choose to hire a design-build company for your renovation, you stand to gain the following:

Working with just one team from start to finish makes the organization and communication more efficient.
Design-build companies are a perfect option if you’re planning to work on a small renovation with a tight timeline because they’re used to working under pressure and delivering in shorter periods.
There are fewer unplanned situations and hidden costs as both the design team and the construction team work closely together and have already built good trust and communication channels.
Design-build companies give you up-to-date construction costs, which means that you generally pay the price that was calculated before construction started.
The renovation will costs less overall since you’ll just have to hire one team for everything.

Cons of Working with a Design-Build Company

Even though there are a lot of positives that come from working with a design-build company, there are also some things that make hiring a design-build company not the best idea:

Even if the building team is up to your standards, the design team might lack the creativity you’re hoping to get as design-build companies tend to focus more on function but less on design.
If you’re working on a bigger and more complex project, the designers may not be as experienced as you’d like them to be. And if they’re unable to work through these design challenges fast, you’ll end up paying more for the project due to delays in construction.
You may not be able to understand what are the true construction and design costs since you’ll be paying for both at the same company.
You may have less autonomy about who you can hire to work on specific tasks in the project as you’ll be hiring the whole team together.

Final Thoughts

The choice between getting a design specification from an architect or a design company vs a company with in-house design and construction should be well thought of before you decide on one or the other. And in the end, it will all come down to your personal preference.

However, the general rule of thumb is that you’ll need to hire both an architecture and a construction company if you’re doing a big project, such as renovating an apartment or building a house. Their combined experience and expertise will ensure that the final product is exactly what you’ve envisioned and is properly built.

On the other hand, smaller remodels and renovations can easily be handled by a design-build company as there’s hardly room for errors. Your job will also be done in a timely manner as design-build companies tend to finish projects really fast to be able to move on to the next client.

Whichever option you go with, make sure that the team or teams you choose come with good recommendations and will follow through with your project with professionalism from start to finish.