Thought I'd post here as this is closest to home. May also post on the general page.

My wife and I have lived in San Clemente (SC) for 6+ years now and are planning a modernist remodel. For those not familiar with SC, like most of SoCal, it's filled with spanish tile roofs, cookie cutter tract homes, blah, blah... We'd like to take our 1,750sf ranch-style (built in 1970) and add space (about 1,000sf), reconfigure the common-areas of the interior (to be more usable), and give the whole exterior a modern look.

Like most others on this site, we don't want to spend a fortune but have a reasonable budget (I think) of ~$150k. We've got a fairly small lot, so we might (I suspect) need to go up to make this happen. I've been thinking/playing with design programs for a while, but need some professional eyes to help me work through this.

My first question is, in So Cal, is this even reasonable for this budget if we were required to build up? Second, are there any designers/architects out there with a modern sensibility that might be willing to take on this project? My only requirements are that they have experience with modern design and are familiar with So.Cal. building codes. Someone located in OC or No. San Diego county would be perfect but not necessary. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks. I'll try to post an exterior photos later this evening.

I am an architect in LA. To be realistic, you should budget $200/sf for a quality modern project, so 200k would be a better budget. In addition to the construction costs, there are permit fees, engineering fees. You may need a survey and some as-builts as well. If you choose to hire an architect, the architect's fees are exclusive of construction costs.