I am looking into a career in interior design, and was curious whether or not an interior designer would be qualified to do things such as gut renovations. i.e.- a barn conversion from a barn to a fully functioning home, old warehouses that are renovated into loft apartments, etc... Would this be within an interior designer's qualifications? This is the type of work I would really be interested in doing as a designer, but I want to hear from those actually in the field if this would be within the realm of my career path or if this would actually fall under the jurisdiction of an architect.
They can't do structural changes without an architect and I guess engineer if needed. No load bearing walls but partitions and decorative are generally fine.
Don't know what extent of gutting you have in mind but the above should be a guiding point. Depending on where you work, the daily roles might be more involved or less but from a legal standpoint, interior designers can't stamp structural.
My entire career to this point has involved doing messy gut renovations to the point that doing a new building out of the ground bores me. Gut renovations are not for the faint of heart and certainly require more than the skillset of an interior designer. Besides the usual suspects, like asbestos and lead paint, which sound scary, but are less your problem and more the owner's problem, you encounter things in your purview like ungrounded electrical systems; ductwork and piping everywhere - like where you least expect it - like right where you were going to put in that new stair; old-timey construction methods and materials that have no modern counterpart, etc. Not to mention the code issues you'll have to deal with.
If this is the type of work you'd like to do, I'd strongly suggest taking the path towards becoming a licensed architect.
Don't forget that change of use / occupancy is it's own can of worms. In other words, you're not renovating a warehouse into apartments, you are also changing a business or storage occupancy into a residential occupancy. That's more than interior design.
(I do a lot of projects that interior designers start, and eventually have to abandon because they are not qualified...)
what chigurh said. For example, in MA, an unlicensed person can do 35,000 CUBIC feet of space. That includes the basement, the area above the ceiling, etc. It actually allows a lot of stuff, but nothing like a warehouse conversion to apartments. In practice, it's very small commercial, 1 and 2 family residential. I've picked up several good clients who have originally started with unlicensed people (interior designers and also architectural interns). The clients were VERY surprised that when they'd paid someone, they were not able to get a building permit.
I have a new home that time i was needing an expert interior decoration team or company. i live in Australia that time my close friend suggest me a company "Home Builders Gold Coast" is company have many years of experience in this field. After decoration my home, I invite my friends and some relatives they were surprised to see my home decoration everybody to just appreciate my home..............
if you want to give a nice modern and stylish look to your home so i suggest you that you contact with them.............
Medusa has good advice here, take it to heart. If you do choose an interior design path consider creating collaboration with a team that you can do these projects with.
Jul 18, 14 2:16 pm ·
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Is an interior designer qualified to do a gut renovation?
Hi, all!
I am looking into a career in interior design, and was curious whether or not an interior designer would be qualified to do things such as gut renovations. i.e.- a barn conversion from a barn to a fully functioning home, old warehouses that are renovated into loft apartments, etc... Would this be within an interior designer's qualifications? This is the type of work I would really be interested in doing as a designer, but I want to hear from those actually in the field if this would be within the realm of my career path or if this would actually fall under the jurisdiction of an architect.
Thanks!
-G
They can't do structural changes without an architect and I guess engineer if needed. No load bearing walls but partitions and decorative are generally fine.
Don't know what extent of gutting you have in mind but the above should be a guiding point. Depending on where you work, the daily roles might be more involved or less but from a legal standpoint, interior designers can't stamp structural.
My entire career to this point has involved doing messy gut renovations to the point that doing a new building out of the ground bores me. Gut renovations are not for the faint of heart and certainly require more than the skillset of an interior designer. Besides the usual suspects, like asbestos and lead paint, which sound scary, but are less your problem and more the owner's problem, you encounter things in your purview like ungrounded electrical systems; ductwork and piping everywhere - like where you least expect it - like right where you were going to put in that new stair; old-timey construction methods and materials that have no modern counterpart, etc. Not to mention the code issues you'll have to deal with.
If this is the type of work you'd like to do, I'd strongly suggest taking the path towards becoming a licensed architect.
Don't forget that change of use / occupancy is it's own can of worms. In other words, you're not renovating a warehouse into apartments, you are also changing a business or storage occupancy into a residential occupancy. That's more than interior design.
(I do a lot of projects that interior designers start, and eventually have to abandon because they are not qualified...)
gruen, I cannot give your second point enough thumbs up.
state boards are pretty specific on what interior or residential designers can and can not work on under their responsible control...
look it up, or call your local board.
what chigurh said. For example, in MA, an unlicensed person can do 35,000 CUBIC feet of space. That includes the basement, the area above the ceiling, etc. It actually allows a lot of stuff, but nothing like a warehouse conversion to apartments. In practice, it's very small commercial, 1 and 2 family residential. I've picked up several good clients who have originally started with unlicensed people (interior designers and also architectural interns). The clients were VERY surprised that when they'd paid someone, they were not able to get a building permit.
I have a new home that time i was needing an expert interior decoration team or company. i live in Australia that time my close friend suggest me a company "Home Builders Gold Coast" is company have many years of experience in this field. After decoration my home, I invite my friends and some relatives they were surprised to see my home decoration everybody to just appreciate my home..............
if you want to give a nice modern and stylish look to your home so i suggest you that you contact with them.............
Medusa has good advice here, take it to heart. If you do choose an interior design path consider creating collaboration with a team that you can do these projects with.
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