Canadians may be spending more than necessary when renovating their home or building a new one if they don't have an architect on their construction team.

Whether you want to create a new building, renovate or just "fix the place up," an architect can add value at all stages from initial concept, through design and budgeting, and during the permit and construction process. Property owners who have resale in mind will gain by ensuring design flaws won't later raise buyer objections and lower perceived value.

"I think you need an architect for everything," said Ontario Architect Larry May OAA , B.Es., B.Arch., who is also President of May Design & Construction Incorporated, which he operates with his brother and sister. "Even if you spend the same amount of construction dollars, you could have had something with design in it. Design is the value-added product that requires thinking about what you want and how to achieve it before building begins."

Provincial Building Codes define which building classifications must be designed and reviewed by an architect. These codes do not usually require an architect for buildings under 6000 square feet, so you are free to plan your own home or have a builder take over for you. However, you may end up settling for less than the best design when you cut an architect out of the equation. If you want to improve interior traffic flow, optimize layout and pull the look together in the process, you may find an architect can save you money while creating living space with vastly improved functionality that feels "right" from the beginning.

"A lot of homeowners, because they know which end of the hammer to hold, think they can design a new home or renovation, but it is not that simple," said May. "The architect will look at your house from very far away -- the neighbourhood, the block, the street, the site. The building is always in this context and then we think of weather, sun and shade and what kind of sun you get. And then [we] start with a blank page and that's the designing challenge. "

One of May's clients had a renovation and large addition planned. A reputable contractor priced the project at about C$300,000. After May worked through the client's goals and evaluated the current layout, he developed a design that improved the functionality of the home, increased available square footage and only required a small supplementary addition. The best news? The budget was slashed in half.

"Architects are often maligned inappropriately -- all we do is add cost to the project and ego," said May. "There may be instances of this, but by and large an architect added to a project is adding value."

But don't confuse style and redecorating with design. If you're going to redo bathrooms or kitchens by replacing fixtures, tiles, flooring and cabinetry, but not moving anything around, hiring an architect would be over kill as they'd be quick to tell you. However, if you do plan significant alterations or new construction, architects are particularly adept at anticipating issues which, left unaddressed in the design phase, could lead to unnecessarily expensive changes during construction.

May explains the next phase of the design process like this: "You start with a blank sheet of paper and clients who are waving their hands in the air and saying 'This is what it is going to look like!' An architect shakes the tree and asks 'What do you want?' over a series of meetings. You get to know the owners and then draw up a design, and [finally] they say, 'We never thought of that!' The fee you'd have spend up front on the architect you'll spend five times over if you go direct to a builder. Add a C$3000 skylight after construction starts and the cost is C$6,000."

In each of Canada's 10 provinces, architectural licensing is self-regulated by professional associations in accordance with legislative statutes enacted by the provincial government. The public can locate a local member through provincial websites. For instance, find a BC architect through the Architectural Institute of British Columbia .

How much will hiring an architect set you back? There are no industry-set fixed fees or percentages, so cost depends on how much of the work you want the architect to do. Create a design yourself and ask an architect to evaluate it and you'll spend less than if you hire them to take you through the complete design process and produce a unique customized plan. The important question to ask is "How much will not having an architect cost in second-guessing during construction and in poor design later?"