As a full service firm we provide complete guidance throughout all phases of our projects and pride ourselves on being careful listeners, open communicators, respectful collaborators, and responsive partners. Our team is detail-oriented and has a well-rounded understanding of construction along with the nuances that come with the process of building a home. We are motivated by our clients goals, respectful of our clients time, and mindful of their budget, and an eye of sustainability.
Our team personally receives and responds to all potential clients that contact our studio. For us, it’s important that every client finds the right fit and the best team to bring their project to life.
Our initial outreach begins with a brief phone call to get an overview from you about your project budget, and your goals. From there, we meet in person at your property, to discuss your project further. This helps us get a better sense of your future home, and how it relates to your lifestyle, design aesthetic, and your building values of energy and environmental sustainability. Finding ways to connect your home to the site is an important part of this conversation. We then develop a complimentary design proposal for services and look forward to our design process. Around this time we like to involve the builder, so they are part of this process from the beginning.
In a nutshell, this is the discovery phase. We pull together all the information from you in order to get the best sense of your wants, needs, and expectations for your project. We ask a lot of questions, hone in on key features, and dig into your inspirations. We want to know how you would define every desire on your wishlist, from room to room, so that we can design the most practical—and inspiring—program for your everyday life.
We will meet with you on your site and collect the information we need to begin to development initial sketches, defining the layout of the home, as well as the overall massing of the house (how it looks on the outside). Some common drawings we provide at this part are: concept floor plans, energy modeling, concept 3-D vignettes, and building elevations showing materials and window design.
From here, we present these thoughts and encourage as much of your feedback. We want to hear everything you think and feel because we want to design the house for you.
As we move along the process we develop more realistic presentations of the home, developing 3-D models that help to give you a better understanding of the spaces, rooflines, windows, and overall feel of the structure.
We look forward to a continuation of more feedback. We’re here to collaborate, and most importantly, we’re here for you. At the end of this first phase, we will have developed as set of pricing drawings for the builder to develop early costs to ensure that what we design with you stays in line with your expected investment.
All of our progress from the “discovery” phase comes to life in our second step of the process. We begin preparing the drawings necessary for executing the construction. These steps can only begin once the design is mostly complete, approved, and ready for detailed drawings which will then be used by the General Contractor and all subcontractors who will execute the design into physical form. These drawings encompass architectural, interior design, structural (by an engineer under separate contract), interior elevations of the home. Common drawings provided at this point are: cross sections, interior elevations, electrical/lighting plans, room finishes, and schedules.
Moving along, as the physical building takes shape, we are active on and off the job site, providing clarifications and supplemental details as needed to ensure the quality and progress of the project. We value our relationships with the trades and craftspeople we collaborate with as they bring their own unique expertise to the table and enable us to capitalize on their skills to make the project the best it can be. Everyday we learn something new, finding innovative ways to move the project forward. We work closely with the General Contractor and their subcontractors in order to ensure all construction documents are interpreted and executed in accordance with the architectural design concepts. Performing shop drawing review is also an important step in this phase. We can review applications for payment and change orders that have been authorized.