The Beginning of the Home Design Layout Process
When you decide to remodel your house or add onto it, you have to plan ahead very carefully. I suggest that you get ideas by looking through magazines and books to make sure you know what you are looking for. Once you know how much room you want to add or remodel, not in terms of square footage but in terms of areas or rooms you want to add or remodel like: you might want to add a new family room or a new guest bedroom and bath, or you might want to just remodel the kitchen, or add a small breakfast nook. Whatever it is you want, needs to be clear in your mind. Once you achieve that, look for a professional who specializes in residential design in your area. 
Licensed architects charge high fees and their designs are not necessarily better that those of a residential designer. The truth is, if the architect specializes in commercial or institutional for example or if he/she works in construction litigation cases only, you are better off hiring a college student to prepare your drawings.
Those who specialize in residential design usually have a degree in architecture and years of training in the field, plus the same and sometimes even more experience than a licensed architect. The only reason why residential designers do not call themselves architects is the fact that they did not care to get the architectural license. But I will be talking about that on a later article.
In any case, it is your choice to hire whoever you feel comfortable with but just so you know, to do any kind of building design you do not need a license no matter what kind of building you are designing. For residential projects in San Diego specifically, you don’t need a license to design, prepare plans or even get projects approved by the city or county building departments.
You can find residential designers out there who are very talented, very professional and very affordable and the best part is, residential design is all they do which gives them a huge advantage over the typical licensed architect who usually only works on one specific type of project: hotels, schools, hospitals, etc.
Once you hire a residential designer or an architect, whichever you prefer, sit down with that person and discuss with him or her what you have in mind. Make sure you make a list of the things you want to accomplish and share everything you want for your house with that person. It is very important that the designer knows exactly what you envision for your home. Try to collect photos of rooms and interior/exteriors shots of what you like, so you can give to the designer a clear idea about what you have in mind.
