Architect vs. interior designer vs. general contractor

These are three different jobs. An architect is licensed to practice architecture. An interior designer may or may not be regulated where you live. A general contractor, where the state requires it, is the person licensed or registered to hire the trades and build. Hiring one of them does not hire the others. A set of drawings is not a construction contract.

Architect

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards says that to practice architecture in the United States you must earn a license from the board in the jurisdiction where you want to practice. NCARB's members are the licensing boards of 55 U.S. states and territories. Each board sets its own requirements. NCARB says they share education, experience, and an exam, and that a license is what lets someone use the title architect (NCARB).

On a remodel, an architect is the person you hire when the work needs drawings: a new layout, an addition, a wall that is doing structural work, or documents the building department will want stamped. Do not guess which of those your city requires. Ask the building department what drawings this project needs, and whose stamp, before you pay for a set. The permit questions are in what to confirm about a remodel permit.

Interior designer

Interior design is not licensed the same way in every state. The Council for Interior Design Qualification says twenty-nine U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have legislation regulating the profession. CIDQ sorts those laws into title acts, which limit who may use a professional title, and practice acts, which regulate specified services, such as submitting documents for a permit. Some places do both. Many states do not regulate the work (CIDQ).

So "interior designer" on a card does not, by itself, mean a license. Look up the rule where the house is if the person will specify work that needs a permit, or if you are relying on a protected title. A designer can still be the right person to choose finishes, fixtures, and a layout that does not move structure. Pay for that work under its own writing. A design fee is not the construction deposit. See design fees and preconstruction agreements.

General contractor

The contractor is the one who prices the build, hires the trades, and runs the site, if that is what the contract says. There is no single national license for that role. Some states register contractors. Some license only certain trades. The lookup, with California and Washington as examples, is in how to check a license and insurance. The hiring sequence is in how to hire a remodel contractor.

If you want to hire the trades yourself and pull the permits in your name, that is a different legal position. Read owner-builder vs. general contractor before you decide you are the contractor.

Who you need for this job

• New structure, an addition, or drawings the city must stamp. Ask the building department, then hire the licensed architect they require. The contractor prices those drawings. They are not a substitute for them.
• Finishes, fixtures, and a kitchen or bath layout that stays inside the existing walls. A designer, the contractor, or both can do that work. Get the deliverables in writing: what you receive if you do not build, and whether the fee is credited to construction.
• Someone to build it. Bids go to contractors, on one scope of work. The questions for that meeting are in questions to ask a remodel contractor.

You can hire all three. You can hire one. The contract with each of them should say what that person is doing and what they are not doing. A designer's drawing that the contractor did not price is not yet a bid.

RenoBinder keeps the scope and the construction bid together. It does not replace an architect or a contractor. One room is free.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; for a dispute, talk to a licensed attorney or your state contractor board.

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