Process

Our efficient design process has been organized to develop your desires, both in terms of functional needs and aesthetic concepts, from our first meetings until you move into your Dream Home, with the following factors kept in mind throughout:

  • Develop a cohesive site plan that integrates the house into its natural environmental context, employing energy efficiency with the latest technological innovations and sustainable materials

  • Find creative solutions within your budget that result in a comfortable flow of spaces that accommodates your lifestyle, functional needs, and design preferences

  • Provide a timeless Architectural design that will remain attractive to you as long as you live there and have high resale value should you ever have to ‘tear yourself away’ from it

You will be made aware of our design decisions throughout so that we are working together towards a common goal: to bring your Dream Home vision to life. This process goes through the following phases:

  1. Pre-Design Phase: In our initial meetings, we listen carefully to determine the essence of your conceptual vision and develop a program listing all your functional needs and ideas. We will carefully examine your site context, its solar relationship, and best views. Each site is unique, and your house will be designed to take advantage of it. We realize that building a new home or an addition is a big investment, so we will work within your construction budget.

  2. Design Phase: With your preferences in mind, we will present schematic options to you from which you can select the aspects from each that you like. We then weave your choices into one consolidated design based on your vision and needs, not on our style preferences. Only until we gain your complete approval of our design will we proceed into our next phase.

  3. Construction Documents: The approved design drawings expand into detailed technical drawings and specifications. We will work closely with you to specify high-quality doors, windows, interior and exterior finishes; all tailored to your tastes and within your budget. We will provide extensive mechanical, electrical, and plumbing plans with fixture schedules for each. We will coordinate the work of any consultants required to be involved with your project, such as a structural engineer.

    Our extensive construction documents are executed while keeping two goals in mind:

    • Be efficient in producing the minimal package of drawings and documents that will qualify for your building permit

    • Be drawn with dimensions, details, specifications, and notes to the extent that they will result in quality construction by your building contractor

  4. Permitting: After the review of our Construction Documents by the municipal building department, they usually will issue a list of comments that have to be addressed. It varies for every project, due to the extent of their building codes and their interpretations of them. We will make whatever changes or add any information they require until they issue your building permit.

  5. Construction Administration: We can assist you with finding a good contractor if you haven’t already selected one. If you want to put it out for bids, we can review bids, make recommendations, and review your owner/contractor agreement before signatures. We will work with your contractor from the pre-construction meeting through regular field inspections to make sure their work complies with our drawings, review and approve any requests for changes, and finally determine when construction has reached substantial completion.

When you can move into your Dream Home totally satisfied, we have achieved our goal.