#Home designer architectural comparison License number#
#Home designer architectural comparison professional#

And, there are many more engineering disciplines, such as aeronautical, naval, acoustical, traffic, geotechnical, electronic, etc., however these are not as closely associated with the engineering disciplines of building design as the others I have mentioned. “Electrical engineering” can be the design of the electrical systems in a building or a city, or the complex electrical design of a computer. “Mechanical engineering” is a very broad discipline that might be the heating, air conditioning, and plumbing design for a building, or the design of a machine to make better widgets, or it might be the microscopic design of a tiny metal device used in medical procedures. “Structural engineering” involves the design of structures for buildings and for bridges (beams, columns, slabs, walls, etc.). “Civil engineering” involves roads, bridges, drainage, underground utilities, and other surface elements. There are many different engineering disciplines. A person who is not a licensed engineer is not permitted by state law to call himself an engineer since using the term implies to the public that the person does hold a state-recognized license.

#Home designer architectural comparison professional#

They do have a membership certification process that uses building design experience, knowledge, and continuing education to establish a credibility factor for its members to distinguish themselves from anyone who says he or she is a designer.Īn “engineer” is also a licensed professional who has the education, training, and experience necessary to satisfy state laws and who has passed a state licensing exam. The most notable designer organization is the American Institute of Building Design (AIBD). Designers go by the terms “designer,” “residential designer,” or “building designer.” There are building designer trade associations that have a strong membership base and they have established minimum training and skill requirements in order to become and remain a member. The term “designer” has no legally defined boundaries or education or training requirements to help guide the public in their decision making process of selecting someone to design their house or building. You or your neighbor can call yourselves designers and no laws will have been broken. It simply means that they are a member of the AIA trade group.Ī “designer” can quite frankly be anyone. An architect having the initials “AIA” following his or her name simply means that they are members of the trade group for architects called the “American Institute of Architects.” Someone having the AIA initials after his or her name does not necessarily mean that they are a licensed architect.

#Home designer architectural comparison License number#

An architect is issued a license number from each state in which he or she holds a license, and that number is required to appear on all correspondence, advertising, and on all of the architect’s drawings. In every facet that you can think about when in or around a building, the architect has put thought into all of those same elements to create that building and the spaces surrounding that building. A person cannot legally call him or herself an architect without having passed the licensing exams in that state.Īn architect’s education, training, and experience focuses on the aesthetic design of buildings and spaces, structures, mechanical systems, acoustics, sustainability, and all of the other attributes necessary to make buildings useful and enjoyed by people. I will first explain the differences between these professions and what the laws in most states say when one is required to use, or not to use, one of these specialists for the design of a house.Īn “architect” is one who has a college degree in the design of buildings and the built environment has been trained in the design of buildings mainly used for human occupancy and who has passed stringent state-conducted licensing exams (usually two or three days of licensing exams that are not all passed the first time around). Since I am a licensed architect, I would be remiss if my answer wasn’t just, “of course, you need only an architect.” But, nah, for your use in designing a house, that isn’t necessarily so. By David Porter AIA – consulting architect to the Garlinghouse Company since 1989