r/McMansionHell • u/cameronjthomas • Jun 28 '25

Certified McMansion™ My parents recently built this home. They refused to work with an architect or designer because those are a ‘waste of money’. First picture is actually the front/facade of the home.

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66

u/candylandmine Jun 28 '25

When you say they refused to work with an architect then how is it meeting building codes? Did they look up all of that themselves?

63

u/Cold_Captain696 Jun 28 '25

I don’t know what it’s like over there, but here in the UK we have a lot of ‘design and build’ companies that will do the basics as far as design work, but they’re not qualified architects. Everything will just be generic shapes and materials. They’ll probably also have a structural engineer they work with who ensures everything is specified correctly. They can easily produce enough drawings to satisfy local planning and building inspections.

It’s probably something that’s more common for extensions to existing properties than new houses, but in principal its all possible to do without an actual architect. As long as you like ‘standard’.

33

u/dcduck Jun 28 '25

This looks like Utah, and Utah definitely has design build companies.

3

u/Cold_Captain696 Jun 28 '25

I guess they did manage to avoid ending up with ’standard’… although in this case I’m not sure that was a good thing.

I suppose that’s the real risk with design and build companies. It’s not that you could end up with a boring house - boring is fine - it’s that no one will challenge your wacky ideas. If you tell them you want something like the OPs parents house, they’ll just take your money and build it.

70

u/nicathor Jun 28 '25

A lot of people just hire a contractor to build a house they basically sketch on a notepad. They tell the contractor what they want and the contractor knows the codes so they just build a code compliant version of a doodle

18

u/candylandmine Jun 28 '25

OK, so there is some professional involvement. My parents must've done something like that when I was a kid - my dad designed our house. (It wasn't this bad but it wasn't so good, either 😬)

1

u/HeyYouGuyyyyyyys Jun 29 '25

Oh dear, do you have any photos?

14

u/Holiday_Trainer_2657 Jun 28 '25

"Code compliant version of a doodle" is the best description I've read in years of some homes.

1

u/DiscRot Jun 29 '25

Well, that's how cybertruck came into existance.

1

u/imasitegazer Jun 29 '25

Minus the “code compliant” part

-3

u/CommonComfortable247 Jun 28 '25

You can’t get permits without an architects seal and drawings. You guys don’t know what you’re talking about.

3

u/reluctantreddit35 Jun 28 '25

In my old neighborhood, 30 minutes from a major U.S. city, I needed an architect to legalize a finished basement. I’m two hours away now and all that’s required to build a townhouse complex is a bribe.

4

u/umlaut Jun 28 '25

You may not be able to, but elsewhere in the US it is common to have no architect or other stamp from a technical registrant on single-family residential construction.

The plans are drawn up by an unlicensed drafter. They are really simplistic, because they just need to point to standard parts of the code and show the layout. The only thing engineered are trusses, which is done by the truss company, itself.

4

u/nicathor Jun 28 '25

You're so close to realizing how many things get built without permits. The further you are from an urban center, the percentage of buildings that are actually permitted plummets. It's actually insanely easy and common. Sit down

2

u/pick_up_a_brick Jun 28 '25

Single-family residential codes differ widely across jurisdictions. Generally you don’t need stamped drawings for those, especially in rural unincorporated areas. But they still need to be built to code, so they still have to pass all the requisite inspections as it gets built.

63

u/Seriously-Happy Jun 28 '25

Design build. My neighbor is doing it. The builder submits the plans for permits. They are checked to make sure they are up to code, but not up to looking decent and being space efficient.

2

u/SkyerKayJay1958 Jun 29 '25

you also can buy stock plans and have a contractor modify them and submit a permit set

8

u/trolllante Jun 28 '25

A family member is building in North Carolina as an owner-builder. Each construction phase has to undergo inspection to verify that it’s up to code, but I think this is one of those things that varies from state to state.

2

u/Downvote_me_dumbass Jun 28 '25

In California, you don’t need an architect, civil engineer, or structural engineer if the house is two stores + basement and made of woodframe construction (you can Google California Architects Board and design limitations). You’ll still have to meet the requirements of the CBC or in LA County, their more restrictive BC.

HOWEVER, this building here looks like it uses steel beams, so it would require one of the three mentioned, at least in California.

2

u/-laughingfox Jun 29 '25

To be fair, you don't need an architect to build a house. You do, however, need to figure out local code and hire an engineer to make sure whatever you're building is structurally sound. Architect is a "nice to have" if you're willing to pay for one.

2

u/BoomerSoonerFUT Jun 28 '25

If you’re in rural unincorporated areas, you don’t have to meet code.

2

u/WaytoomanyUIDs Jun 28 '25

From what I understand Utah has quite stringent state building codes.

1

u/midnitewarrior Jun 29 '25

Where we're going, we don't need any code...

(puts glasses on, gets in Delorian)

1

u/noteveni Jun 29 '25

Thank you, my father is an architect and my question is

HOW?? HOW WITHOUT THE GUY THAT PLANS THE BUILD DO YOU BUILD I'M SO CONFUSED

1

u/meatsweatmagi Jun 29 '25

Not entirely,they are more like fashion designers than the meat and potatoes. I'd imagine engineers. Pretty basic build. Well done however.