[nluken]

I'm not sure if it applies to the original commenter's situation but in many places, especially in the US, you don't need an architect to build a new home beyond rubber stamping some documents on file with the town, and sometimes that's not even required.

It's one of the reasons a lot of residential development, especially suburban development of the last 40 years, looks as bad as it does. Little to no architectural thought goes into many new homes beyond what's easiest to build.

[mauvehaus]

I was kind of hoping that if you have an elliptical (or false elliptical) arch that there was an architect involved at some point.

I grew up in an area with a lot of corn field subdivisions and McMansions. They tend to have a lot of volume/floor space and incredibly poor detailing. On the one hand, I find it hard to believe that anyone building such a big, cheap (at least in the details sense) home on spec would include an elliptical arch. On the other hand, the kinds of contractors that put them up would likely be the kind that struggled to execute such a design element.

I say this having just been very humbled putting up crown in a bathroom. People tell me it looks great, and I reply that it had sure better considering the two weeks of evenings that went into putting it up!

[alabastervlog]

I've found that absurd, gibberish rooflines, and weird, uneven jutting-out bits everywhere, plus garages shoved way out in front (?WHY?) do make the houses look bigger, which may be desirable for a builder.

I've shopped for houses a lot, and after "training" mostly on typical '80s+ suburban houses, noticed that when looking at older houses with saner, calmer designs, I'd have to add 500-1,000(!)sqft to my first-impression guesses at their size to get close, while I'd gotten pretty good at guessing the "McMansion" and mini-McMansion style. The older designs don't look as big, at the same size.