it's interesting that I'm trying to do the opposite.

As am I... with almost zero luck.

You won't be happy in residential either for probably, oh, the next 5 years. Competition is so incredibly tight and the market is so overbuilt, fees are going to be entry-level for the foreseeable future. My old firm pays kids out of school so little they have no choice but to live with their parents. They layed off another 5 just before the holidays. Home construction has dropped now for 4 straight years. That means it still has yet to bottom, much less expand and hire. Employment is annually cyclical (layoffs around the holidays, in good times and bad) simply because homeowners are worried about the holidays. If you do happen to find a job, it will likely be taking care of the elite class (not that that isn't typical), but for middle-class fee base. Nearly all the commissions you will find currently will be remodels. Little new is going up. Tons of firms are going under and a huge proportion of architects are being forced to take their career into their own hands (sole practicioner) or not at all, taking on duties in other fields to pay the bills. I have a friend working 3-4 days per week. Most others are out completely. Business is on a much more personal level. And "persons" have a hard time getting money from the banks these days. The interest is there. It's just that, most calls are D.O.A. anyway because of it.

Seriously, it's career suicide right now. Try to find a multi-disciplinary firm that has a well-renowned residential side. Because almost nobody is making hay on the residential side of things these days without some seriously rich clients with repeat work. But hey, everyone's different, you could be the lucky one.

Oh, but how I did it? Res. is a bit difficult to break into if you haven't done it, just like any other clique. I started out in hospitality, then started consulting first before getting hired full-time.

I should also mention, don't forget that residential is heavily contractor influenced, probably more than any other area. This can create deep cuts in your fees when you're forced to compete with them.

res. architecture for the most part doesn't require being licensed, so there is competition from all directions. Not to mention all the dyi'ers who don't want to pay anything.

If you're licensed, I'd suggest a different approach.

Since you're already experienced in institutional and large-scale work, I'd actually target multi-residential as the basis for your work.

Generally anything with an elevator or more than 3 floors (2 floors in some locations) is outside of the realm of a GC. So, you have less competition to worry about. Multi-family residential is one of the only market segments that's actually building, actually getting financed and is growing.

With that all being said, this will more than likely lead to some spectacular single-family work.

Uber rich people don't become uber rich through 'investment' and 'stock trading.' They make their scrap and scratch from landlording. Rental properties (especially proper apartment buildings) are huge money makers. So, these wealthy landlords and slumlords need houses too.

So, if you can build cheap and make it look halfway decent, you'll be doin' good. Just stay away from anything themed, has the word "condo" in it, named after the animal it forced into extinction and anything that has a brise soliel on it.

I agree it would be career suicide right now...I'm interested in just beginning to set myself up to maybe go into this realm once things turn around...next year, 10 years, whenever. I think the idea of multi-family is excellent. Would it make sense to try and meet local developers now or is it likely they won't take meetings with any new architects given their backlog?

Switching to Residential has to be about the worst place you could go right now.

Why not healthcare??? If your licensed, start knocking on the doors of your local healthcare facilities and meet some people.

Actually, you'd probably end up making more as a home inspector or appraiser because everytime a house goes into foreclosure, either one of these professions is usually involved.

yeah, healthcare seems like a very smart area to get into, esp. with the boomers going into retirement

I have 25 years in residential architecture...single-family custom, multi-family, mixed-use and some commercial/retail projects. I have been unemployed for over 2 years. I finally am working contract on an international mixed-use project.

My goals is to transition into Senior Housing / Assisted Living projects. The boomers have to go somewhere. I also will continue working on affordable and market-rate residential projects as the economy improves. I do prefer urban infill projects. I would really like to work on educational projects, but that field is super hard to break into.

I would certainly hold off on making a transition into residential work until the economy is up and humming again. Keep working on institutional and commercial projects as you transition into residential projects. Those types of projects could keep you working during the next economic downturn.

All good thoughts/comments. Thanks.

On a slightly different note, I am being to design an upper addition to my own house. For SD level budgeting, can someone give me an idea of a price/sf for an addition that would most likely bear on new steel structure built around the lower older masonry wing of the house (I don't trust using it for support).
The exterior would likely be cedar siding, horizontal low-e glazed windows, asphalt shingle roof; on the inside a fair amount of wood for floors + ceilings, tile in bathroom, gwb elsewhere...

The addition itself would be around 800 sf.

Thoughts?

Construction costs vary per region, market conditions, site conditions and complexity of design. Have a local, reputable contractor review your design and the existing conditions so that they can give you a realistic rough estimate of construction costs. Square footage costs that are not based on reality usually turn out to be a costly mistake.

A very good point.