Roadblocks to my hostel

My dads an arcitect in Ottawa, hes very good, designed out house, maybee he can freelance it for you... if nothing else he can give you an unbiased opinion...

[email][email protected][/email]

Send me an email and I'll forward it to him.

Hey everyone,

Except...

I just had a visit with some architects and they seem to think that for me to build/move 10 walls (office floor anchored walls, add 6 toilets and 6 showers as well as add fire sprinklers (fire regulations) it will cost roughly $500,000 CAD + $50,000 in architect fees....and it will take 6 months to do the construction.

Personally, I think they are mad as I told them I plan on doing as much work as I can myself (erecting walls, installing toilets) and obviously buy the materials (showers, toilets, studs, etc) myself to save on the mark-up of contractors. As far as I know, I need a Master Electrician and Master Plumber to pull the permits for those trades.

Has anyone else run into this? I had done a budget of $100,000 for the renos. Am I insanely low in my budget or are they just out to lunch?

Toss the architect in terms of being the foreman. Get the architect of your choice to do the plan you want (depends on supporting walls, plumbing lines, etc). Our architectural cost was less than $10K but that was to make sure it worked with planning and development. Sprinkler is probably a must do since it sounds like you are changing an office into a hostel. Get multiple bids on the sprinkler as you can probably make a sizable savings as contractors seem a little hungrier these days. Most important is make sure the building is zoned correctly and you can get it or else be prepared to spend lots of legal fees and lots of time in front of city council and committees and employees.

Your $100,000 is possibly good if that is all it is for. Do you have a separate budget building the front desk, new computer system and software, locks (keycard etc), beds, lockers, linen. What about a kitchen, dining area? A good plumber and electrician are great to have because they can save you lots later on. They do the inside walls and below floors stuff and you can add the toilets, light fixtures, etc saving yourself money.

What firm did you get for your plans? I'd be interested in using them especially being that they have hostel experience - I've talked to a few architects and they either think hotel-style or homeless shelter. :(

There are no architects with hostel experience. You have to tell them exactly what you want. Make sketches of the floor plans for them and tell them all they have to do is to turn them into a proper plan. No own ideas, please. Stay away from "artists". Look for a cheap architect without ambitions.

I agree with Santa Claus in terms of the architects. Just use them to draw to the local bylaws. My architects are Wolski Design and the two designers that I dealt with actually hostelled lots which aided the understanding. With removing walls you may need a structural engineer in case one of them is a load bearing wall.

For our architects they only did the redesign for the common areas although it did involve taking down 7 walls (sledge hammer work is fun). We did need a structural engineer for drawings for one wall which was a load bearing wall.

Our renovations are going well. Done all the big expensive stuff and now it is finishing work. Doing our official grand opening Oct 15th. Got some politicians coming for ribbon cutting and have a number of tourism government officials coming. (good way to advance the low knowledge of hostels) Already have over 40 confirmations so will be a good time. But any time you want to come just email me. Jeff if you want to PM me and I will send you my email address and you can ask any questions as we have just gone through the zoning and all that jazz.