Need engineering plans before you can get a building permit, right?
If you want to do it cheap and have some drafting skills, draw up what you think you want, take it to construction/engineering firm, explain the materials you want, let them do the finish work to submit to building/planning of local govt of ok to proceed.
When we redid our front stairs, had to get engineering plans to latest building code/earthquake specs before anything else (should have taken plans and hired different contractors, but that aspect is water under the bridge).
Turns out the guy who did the plans for the permit used to work in SF Bldg/Planning...did this sort of work on the side as he was "retired".
Is an engineer same as architect? Do I still need an architect?
We hired a P.E. to write up the plans in order to obtain a building permit for the following:
1 Not add new square footage to existing structure (this language keeps permit cost down and stops property reassessment)
2 Retain existing design elements (removes ability for public to comment)
3 Upgrade foundation (for stairs only) to current seismic standards (acknowledges requirements)
4 Pour monolithic concrete for external stairs, landing, and footing to existing 2nd story front door (improvement over brick stairs)
What we got was that plus optional design elements, which I guess since the plans were approved, we could have done...but I just wanted new stairs, not fancy embellishments to the side of the house.
I guess what I am saying is that while architects and engineers are not the same thing, there is some overlap and maybe, just maybe, you can cut out the architect IF the engineer (or their company as a whole) is good enough.....though this is where you tend to get cookie-cutter homes or prefabs (not the worst thing in the world).