Getting Started

Getting Started with our Design Build Process:

1. One of our project designers meets with you in your home for a complimentary consultation to discuss the scope of your home project. Once we determine the scope of your project and budget, we will get back to you with a schematic design contract to begin the design process.

2. After the schematic design contract is signed, one of our residential architects will be assigned to your project based upon the compatibility of their expertise and the needs of your home project. In addition, there will be a construction coordinator, who is familiar in both design and construction costs, assigned to your home project. This will be your home project’s design team, who will work with you through design as well as construction.

3. There will then be a meeting in your home with your project design team. The design team will take note of your needs and priorities and ask you specific questions and provide feedback about your project scope. After the meeting, the team will leave you with our ‘New Client Questionnaire.’ This questionnaire will be filled out by you and returned to the project design team. This questionnaire will help the design team gain additional details about the way you and your family live in your home and ultimately assist us in not forgetting important details, which could otherwise be overlooked. This, in combination with the information from the meetings and as-built measurements of your home, will be used to put together your schematic designs.

4. Your design team will then present you with various schematic design options, which will result in a construction cost within your budget, for your home project. After a discussion and review meeting with your design team, the design you choose will then be selected as the conceptual design, for which the construction plans will be based upon.

5. When you are comfortable in your selection and would like to move forward with the conceptual plan design, a design and intent to build contract will be signed. After signing, the team will begin working on your conceptual plan and turning it into a complete set of permit drawings.

6. At 30% drawing completion, there will be a pricing exercise, which is meant to confirm that the drawings are on target to not exceed the budget. During this meeting, one of the benefits of having design working closely with construction is that if the drawings are starting to head into a different direction where they cannot maintain our budget, we will be able to catch this and suggest value-engineering ideas to get back on target.
After this initial meeting, we will then resume plan development until 70% drawing completion. At this point, the same pricing review will transpire. Once everyone agrees that the design and the pricing are heading in the right direction, our architect will proceed to finalize the drawings.

7. At 100% drawing completion, there will be a final pricing put together, and this will be reviewed in our final pre-construction meeting, where we will discuss pricing and construction schedule as well as the presentation of the construction contract agreement.

8. After the construction agreement is signed, we will soon begin the construction process. We will work with you through the process and conduct regular progress meetings as we make your home design aspirations a reality.
In addition, you will also have access to HouseChronicle. This is a unique internet based tracking system, which will be used to keep you current on your homes project and also used as a perminant archive for you to hold onto. This lifetime memebership will be provided free of charge.

We look forward to working with you and your family!

To get more information about our other home design and construction services, please select from our “Services” menu on the left of the screen.