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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Plan that you will exceed every allowance the contractor quotes you and possibly by many thousands for cabinets, granite, lighting, etc. Look carefully at allowances. [/quote]

This is one of the primary reasons to have a good architect...they will counsel up front on realistic materials allowances.[/quote]
I beg to differ...Builder here - just last week when I mentioned to a high end architect in the middle of "value engineering" some plans that did not price out that it would ultimately be cheaper for the client to build as designed/priced then for client to pay archi to redesign and rebid he looked at me like the cat that ate the canary...oohh,,or the other architect who told me a couple of months back that I could a job I was bidding on if I did some work on his house for free...both architects design multi million dollar residences...and after they are through apprising you how they will protect you from the nefarious builders - who protects you from the architect ?

or the knuckleheads that spec 11 inches of foam insulation @ .45 an inch when a) there are active class action lawsuits regarding foam off gassing and b) insulation reaches 97 percent efficiency at about 5 inches...why - its not their money. Or the kickbacks they solicit from contractors and the material vendors they spec...I could go on and on....

Don't be so naive...[/quote]

yes & no  ... we did not exceed most of our allowances on a major project because things were spec'd well/right up front, so few or no changes and we still got what we wanted.  Went slightly over on lighting and on target or below on plumbing, appliances, countertops, flooring, etc.  OTOH to be fair, builders, too, can try for an alternative to this or that spec'd by architect and that may or may not be OK.  Some were fine, in a couple of cases for good reason the original spec was required/kept.  Neither builders nor architects have a monopoly on honor or integrity, you have to deal with each as people.  Some are good, some are less so ...  :idea: [/quote]

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