designer

Architect, Designer, or Contractor: Who Should You Hire for Your Project?

Carrie Kirby — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 09:30:37 +0000

I'd like to add a bathroom to my home, but my budget will be limited. One thing I've been wondering: What professionals will I need to hire to do the job? Should I spend money on a designer or architect to plan the space out? Or should I just hire a contractor and tell them where I want the toilet, sink, and shower?

Researching this question, I learned that it's important to understand the difference between these professionals and what they do.

The architect

An architect comes to your home and listens to your hopes and dreams for the remodeling project, talks about your budget, then draws up a plan to make it happen. An architect's involvement could stop there, or you could hire them to manage the project, selecting and checking up on the contractor.

An architect's qualifications

Architects are state-licensed, a process that requires a degree in architecture, an apprenticeship, and an exam to prove their mastery of building technologies, structural safety, and regulations.

What an architect costs

The standard cost is $50 to $200 per hour, or a 5 percent to 20 percent project fee if overseeing the whole thing.

The designer

A designer will use their expertise to come up with appealing ideas for carrying out your desires, give budget estimates, and draw plans. A basic design would include the floor plan and built-in features such as cupboards, while a full-service designer might include color and material ideas, and even shopping for fixtures. Designers are less likely to manage the whole project than architects are, but some do.

A designer's qualifications

Some states license designers, while others don't. They don't generally need to have a degree, but you can find out if they've done good work by asking for customer references.

What a designer costs

Their rates are typically $50 to $200 per hour — yes, a similar range as an architect — although architects tend to charge more than designers. Some designers have a minimum project fee of, say, $5,000. One design firm recommends that you budget 8 percent to 12 percent of your project for design.

The contractor

Generally, the contractor will oversee the entire project and make sure everything is done according to your expectations. They will determine the cost and give you a contract, design it, provide the carpenter, plumber, and other workers, and supervise the work. The contractor may have a designer or architect in-house that they partner with, or they may be open to working with a professional of your choice. Many contractors are quite willing to do the design themselves, if given the opportunity.

A contractor's qualifications

Contractors must pass exams to become licensed, and without that license, they won't be able to pull permits with local authorities to get your job done on the up and up.

What a contractor costs

Instead of charging you an hourly rate, contractors generally pay themselves on a "cost plus" basis — that is, they take the amount they expect the project to cost to complete, then add a markup, often 50 percent. So, if they estimate that the labor and materials for your job will cost $20,000, they'll charge $30,000. That extra $10,000 isn't pure profit, though, since they'll have to pay overhead out of it.

So, which one should you hire?

Experts say it depends on the scope of the job.

"Many experienced contractors are as well equipped to deal with a simple remodel as an architect," writes Bob Vila. Because of minimum per-project fees, designer Carla Aston recommends doing the design yourself, with your contractor, if the project is under $10,000. If you want some design advice for small projects, you could hire a designer for a consultation, or work with someone who does online-only plans without physically visiting your space.

Another way to look at the size of the project is to compare it to the value of your home. A project costing more than 5 percent of a home's value calls for an architect, Stamford, Connecticut, construction manager William Harke told Houselogic. So, if your home is worth $500,000, and you have a $25,000 budget for a kitchen update, get an architect.

Personally, I let the contractor do the design for a $15,000 bathroom remodel, and while it worked out fine, I wished I'd had a little more input on ideas for, say, improving storage.

With projects that cost more, who you hire depends on how much structural change you're looking at. While both a designer and an architect may have plans checked by an engineer to avoid safety problems, you're better off with an architect if your project involves expanding the footprint of your home, moving walls, or adding a level. Designers should be able to create a room's floor plans and suggest finishes. An architect's strength tends to lean toward the structural, a designer's skews toward the aesthetic — although both will certainly consider both aspects of a plan.

Where I live, adding a bathroom will probably cost at least $25,000. Because that's more than $10,000, but less than 5 percent of my home value, because I won't need to change the structure of my home, and because I need ideas about how to fold as much storage as possible into a tight space, I plan to hire a designer — not an architect — for a consultation, and possibly to draw up the plan. I'll budget $2,500 of my $25,000 budget to pay this professional.

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This article is from Carrie Kirby of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Thrifting the Perfect Designer Wardrobe

Camilla Cheung — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 10:00:10 +0000

Recently, I purged my closet of clothes I don't wear and pared down my wardrobe to just 30ish pieces. As I delved deeper into the capsule wardrobe phenomenon, I discovered that many people were building their carefully-considered wardrobes using second hand or thrifted pieces.

On my first trip to my local thrift store, I scored an Anthropologie blouse, a J. Crew shirt, and a Madewell skirt, all for $12. I was hooked. On my second visit, I left with a pair of Joe's Jeans and an Adrienne Vittadini cardigan. A few thrifting trips later, I had beefed up my capsule wardrobe to the point that I had to stop myself from buying more, otherwise my wardrobe really wouldn't be a "capsule" anymore.

To be honest, I have gotten more compliments on my thrifted clothing than I ever did on my full-price clothing. I can now dress the way I've always wanted to, but could never afford before. In addition, my higher-end thrifted clothes are often made with better materials (like linen, pima cotton, silk) and will last longer. All in all, building a secondhand designer wardrobe is a great economical choice that will save you money and contribute to less waste going to the landfills.

Thrifting High-End Items

Whether you're shopping in brick-and-mortar secondhand shops or online, a few tips hold true for building a killer designer wardrobe.

Know Your Brands

Familiarize yourself with brands that you like and their signature designs (as well as, if possible, your size in that brand). That way, you'll be more likely to recognize them in a store, and it'll be easy to search for them online.

Focus on Quality

Often you can tell a designer piece from the quality of the fabric. Disregard clothes that are pilling or worn out. And don't fall into the trap of buying something just because of the brand when it's too worn out, stained, or just won't work for you.

Know What You Want

Have an idea of what specific pieces you are looking for. For example, I knew I wanted a light gray cardigan, and therefore searched specifically in the light gray sweater area at my local thrift store. I found several pieces that would work before I settled on my favorite. When I go into a thrift store with specific pieces on my mind, I have a much higher success rate than when I go in without a goal (which makes it much easier to get overwhelmed).

Go Outside Your Comfort Zone

The great thing about thrifting is that you're paying so much less than retail! So if you've always had the urge to wear hot pink pants, but have never had the guts, go for it! This is your opportunity to expand your style.

Check the Cleaning Label

I try to buy clothes that don't have to be dry cleaned (unless it's special occasion wear), as I'll end up paying more in drycleaning than I spent on the dress.

Don't Buy Stuff You Don't Need

It can be tempting to buy several pairs of 7 for All Mankind jeans when they're $9.99 a pop, but do you need more than one or two? Money spent thrifting is still money wasted if you never end up using the item.

Where to Buy Secondhand Clothing

Now that you know what — and how — to look for used pieces, here's where to shop.

Thrift Stores

I've found that the key with thrift stores is finding one with high volume and high turnover, to maximize your chances of finding something new and on-trend. Thrift stores are crammed full of both high and low-end clothing, so you'll have to sift through a lot of poor quality pieces to find the treasures. Usually though, you get a good price on it. Going to a thrift store in a fancier part of town might increase your chances of finding designer items.

Resale and Consignment Stores

Resale and consignment stores differ from thrift stores in that they buy or consign their inventory (instead of getting it through donations) and thus filter out a lot of the lesser-quality stuff. You will usually pay more, but you won't have to search as hard. Consignment stores are great if you don't have a lot of time to dig through racks of clothing, but still want to get a decent price on secondhand goods. Often, a consignment store might cater to a specific style — so don't go to the hipster consignment store if you're really preppy at heart!

Online Resellers

Online is where the resale and consignment trend is booming. Websites like thredUP buy new or almost-new brand-name clothing and sell them for very reasonable prices. I've bought from thredUP before and have been very satisfied with the quality of the items I bought (they also offer free returns for store credit, a rarity in the resale market). thredUP's main strengths are the sheer number of great items they have, and the excellent search functions that allow you to filter your search by size, color, brand, etc.

Other resellers include SnobSwap and TheRealReal, but I continue to patronize thredUP for its ease of use and low prices.

You can also buy direct from sellers through sites like Poshmark, which has a social media aspect to it (you can follow favorite sellers, participate in virtual "parties," etc.). If there is a problem with the item received, the selling website protects you and can offer you a refund. And of course, you can always search on eBay (be sure to check the "pre-owned" search filter to narrow down your choices).

Have you punched up your wardrobe with great thrift or secondhand finds? What'd you get?

This article is from Camilla Cheung of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Best Money Tips: Saving on Designer Wear

Ashley Jacobs — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 19:00:06 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on saving on designer wear, cleaning without cleaning, and re-evaluating financial priorities.

Best Money Tips: Saving on Designer Wear and Apparel

Ashley Jacobs — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 19:00:05 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some wonderful articles on saving on food costs this summer, tips to stick to your budget, and saving on designer wear and apparel.

Decked out in... dog? More reasons to boycott Chinese goods

Andrea Karim — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:16:56 +0000

Thinking of boycotting Chinese goods? I know I've been pondering it for a while, but I'm definitely struggling with the idea, knowing how hard it will be.

But Chinese exporters keep giving me more reasons to take my frustation with their products to the next logical level... a boycott. Here's something that might just push me over the edge into a China-free zone: the dog and cat fur trade is alive and well in the Middle Kingdom, and animal pelts that are banned in the US still often make it over here attached to coats, hats, and boots.

The EU recently decided to ban the import of dog and cat fur. You'd think that such a ban might have been imposed a while back, but apparently the big impetus here is to outlow mislabeling of fur. That's right - that fox-trimmed coat you bought at Neiman Marcus might contain the pelts of a few long-haired kitties.

Dogs and cats are regularly killed for food and medicine in China (not every part of China, mind you, but still, in enough parts that it matters) and the fur is sold overseas.

The Humane Society has documented a number of cases in which imported Chinese fur from dogs and cats is used in clothing sold in the US. It's mislabeled, of course, to circumvent a ban on the import of such fur already in place in the US.

Think you're not contributing to the problem because you only wear faux fur? Turns out that much of the 'fake' fur is mislabeled, too - it's might be a mix of racoon and dog.

Mislabeling seems to be a fairly common practice for Chinese exporters. China is still in full-fledged 'Make us rich' mode, so honesty is not considered the best policy when it comes to letting people know what they are buying, especially if tainted or illegal ingredients are a part of the product.

Me, I find all fur-wearing abhorrent, but then, I'm a veganish liberal who feels bad about killing a spider. But as someone with two Chinese dogs (including one that I'm afraid to say would have made a lovely hat), I feel a personal and moral obligation to speak out about this practice.

This article is from Andrea Karim of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Using WordPress for Blogging and More

Ed O'Reilly — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:35:44 +0000

This article provides some instructions for anyone who would like to set up a basic website for themselves, but who does not have much experience with HTML, CSS, PHP, etc.

Much to the chagrin of some designers and programmers, there’s a variety of easy-to-use software available that makes building and publishing a blog or website easy for anyone, regardless of experience, to do. With a few clicks, you can make your own attractive and easy-to-maintain website for personal or business use.

It’s a drag-'n-drop, cut-'n-paste WYSIWYG world, folks.

While everyone has a preference, this article will focus on WordPress.

WordPress is one of many blogging platforms available and it’s free, easy to install, has an intuitive interface and has a lot of extensibility with a growing number of design themes and plugins available. Many people use it for blogging, but it can be used to build a website that allows the site owner(s) a great deal of flexibility, as far as creating new sections, adding functionality and features (with the free plugins), and adding and editing content without having to update all the other pages in the site.

Start Me Up

To get started, you need to have a domain name on a server that supports PHP and MySQL. Before you sign up for a plan, ask your hosting company if you can install WordPress on their servers, just to make sure they can support it. Then choose a plan that specifies Linux (as opposed to Windows) for PHP support.

Some hosts, like GoDaddy , offer WordPress as part of a number of tools you can use with your account, and you can install with just a few steps right thru their site. If you plan on using WordPress as the ‘engine’ to run your site, you want to install it in the root (i.e. main) directory; if you plan on using it as a blog as an addition to your site which has its own separate HTML pages, you would install it into its own directory (e.g. www.yoursite.com/blog, where ‘blog’ is the directory where you install WordPress).

If you decide to install it on your own, but aren’t 100% sure if you’re doing it correctly, follow WordPress’s ‘Famous 5-Minute Install’ instructions and you should be up and running in… well, about 5 minutes. Or you could try and have someone install it for you.

Make It Look Cool

Your new site looks like a generic blog, but now you can look for a new design theme. You can choose from a variety of styles based on parameters you choose, like 1 column, 2 column, green, red, left sidebar, right sidebar, etc. You can even choose a few and download them if you want to change your theme after you’ve installed it.

If you don't have one already, you’ll need an FTP client to install and apply your theme. Depending on your computer platform, you can search a site like VersionTracker for the software. Some are free, some are commercial or shareware; you can choose based on your needs, rating, cost, etc. If you are using a program like Dreamweaver, you just create a new site and you can use the interface and FTP function to manage your files and uploads.

Login to your server and upload your theme (in its folder) to the folder ‘themes’ located inside the ‘wp-content’ folder. When you login to your Dashboard thru your browser, go to “Presentation” and you’ll see the theme(s) you’ve installed. Choose one and you’re all set… for now.

One of the keys to making the site more than just one page with entries on it is to create Pages. WordPress sums up pages best (of course!):

Pages in a Nutshell
What Pages Are
• Pages are for content that is less time-dependent than Posts.
• Pages can be organized into pages and SubPages.
• Pages can use different Page Templates which can include Template Files, Template Tags and other PHP code.

What Pages are Not
• Pages are not Posts nor are they excerpted from larger works of fiction. They do not cycle through your blog's main page, nor can they be associated with Categories.
• Pages are not files. They are stored in your database just like Posts are.
• Although you can put Template Tags and PHP code into a Page Template, you cannot put these into the content of a Page and expect them to run. (Note: You can achieve this by using a PHP evaluating Plugin such as RunPHP (http://dev.wp-plugins.org/wiki/RunPHP). See also the list of Posts Formatting Plugins.)

Basically, you create sections like “Who We Are” or “My Photography Portfolio” when you create pages. You add a post to a page that you’d like to be more static (as opposed to a page that will be constantly changing as new posts are added, like a news page).

If you want one of your pages (say, “What We Do”, for example) to always be your home page, but you’d like to add posts to another page (say, “News”) you set this up on the Dashboard > Options > Reading page in your admin area. Choose ‘Static Page’ where it says “Front Page Displays”, specify “What We Do” to be the front page and “News” to be the Posts page.

You can explore more areas of the Dashboard to customize your site more, and even edit the theme under Presentation > Theme Editor. Here you can change the color of the text, links, etc. A piece of advice, though: before you start messing with the code, copy and paste it to a text document so you have the original in case you need to start over.

Whew! So, that’s about it for basic setup. I know, I know… “simple” should be less wordy, right? But once you set up your hosting account, install WordPress correctly and upload your theme, you’ll get the hang of fine-tuning the site to make it look like exactly what you want.

Next time: some must-have plugins and adding your own search engine.

This article is from Ed O'Reilly of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Confessions of an eBay Shoe Addict

Andrea Karim — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:33:57 +0000

In addition to my myriad of other addictions, I am an eBay shoe addict. Oh, sure, I'll go to Target to get my fix every now and then. But with eBay, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to see anyone else wearing the same shoes as me.

And oh, lordy, the kinds of shoes that you can find on eBay!

Now, you might already know eBay is great for finding fancy-schmancy new stuff for a bargain, like finding sample sales on designer items. And there's also something to be said for purchasing gently used items if they come from a good label, if only for the warranty associated with them. I'm just a little queasy when it comes to shoes. I don't like to buy them used. Sure, you can disinfect them, but it just never feels right to me.

So I'm come to my own compromise — I buy cheap (new) shoes. And yes, I buy them at Target, and I buy them at JCPenney (when they have a sale, they REALLY have a sale), but eBay is increasingly becoming the place that I turn to to find cheap, unique, wild and crazy shoes for rock-bottom prices.

Quality Versus Quantity

Some people argue that you are better off buying quality shoes at high prices, caring for them, and keeping them for years. This is true for men, for sure. Quality men's shoes are really damn good shoes. My boyfriend is a shoe fanatic, but unlike me, he pays high prices for a few excellent Italian shoes. He polishes them regularly, and returns them if there is any problem.

That system won't work for me. For one thing, I don't wear socks (well, you wouldn't wear socks with heels, anyway unless you're Cindy Lauper) but even with nylons, my shoes just don't smell so great after a while. Maybe a year. I don't polish my shoes. I've tried — I almost died from the fumes. I'm also a klutz, so my shoes will look like hell within a few months. I trip over curbs, kick myself in the ankles, close doors on my feet, simply fall over with no warning at all. It's a miracle that I'm still alive, actually.

A couple of years ago, I bought two pairs of pumps at Nordstrom. Good, quality leather. High price. They lasted roughly two months each. I can't bear to throw them away, but there's no saving them, either. So I've simply come to the conclusion that for me, cheap disposable and crazy footwear is where it's at.

Cheapster

Case in point? I paid $1 for a pair of brown leather pumps with lots of detail and little bows. They were being sold as "damaged." The damage was a teeny, imperceptible scratch under one of the bows. I'll take damaged goods like that any day!

My other recent purchase was a pair of zebra pumps with metal heels. These shoes are too naughty for work, but not for drinks with my girlfriends. Oh, they are lovely indeed. They were $12 with $9 shipping — roughly the same as Target, but I doubt I'll ever run into anyone else who is wearing a pair.

My current lust is for polka dot shoes. Green polka dot shoes. Peep toe ones. I can barely contain my glee at the idea.

Some tips:

Cheap shoes are cheap. They are often from China, and some of them smell like a Chinese factory. If you've never smelled that before, let me assure you that it is very unique. The brown pair that I bought had to sit outside on my porch for three days before I could bring them in.
You're not guaranteed a perfect fit. So far, I've been lucky, and if I'm not, I can always add some Dr. Scholls inserts if they shoes are too big, or get them stretched if they are too small.
Look for sellers with cheap shipping ($10 or under) or that combine shipping.
Use the filters to limit your results. You can search by size, type, color, heel height, and more. There are lots of shoes out there, so the filters are your friends.