Architectural Design
Building your new house, or making a remodel or addition, is a huge investment for you! We’re here to help you get it right and create something not only beautiful and long lasting, but worth it to your bottom line. Our custom process has been refined to get you the best possible results. While trends can come and go, we always focus on the individual needs of the people who live and work in the spaces that we design.
Getting to know you
Your house’s design should be unique to you and your family’s specific needs. When we meet you for the first time, we’ll talk about property, value, and design ideas, but we also want to know things like:
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What is your get-ready-for-work routine like? Your breakfast routine? Weekends?
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Do you like being outdoors?
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Do you enjoy entertaining guests? Frequently or just on holidays?
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What do you do for hobbies?
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Do you have pets?
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What do you like to cook, how often?
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Are there kids in the family, what are their ages and interests?
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Any other notes on your family’s life, flow, desires, goals?
How we handle your projects
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We handle the entire design process in-house: concept, permits, construction and bid drawings
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Exceptions are local architects and engineers with intimate knowledge of your town’s unique building codes to review and stamp drawings and specifications
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Analyze design team costs
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Help client determine opportunities for cost savings
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Maintain schedule and identify long lead items such as material backlogs
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Coordination between architect and Building Data Labs team
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Handle project coordination meetings
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Obtain approvals from zoning and building departments
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Review and prepare payment recommendations for all invoices
Every bit of data that we collect in the previous stages helps us plan your project. So, for a remodel, we start right in the beginning with sophisticated technology to measure and make a 3D model of your existing building conditions - what your house looks like right now.
At the same time, we do a zoning study – this helps us understand what kinds of buildings the city allows for your neighborhood, and we make sure that your plans for your house fits inside those parameters. For projects of a bigger scale, like multifamily, we also calculate the cost-benefit ratio of what size building to build and other financial elements, in our feasibility study.
Next is the bid set, where we’ve added enough details for a contractor to know how much their portion of the job will cost. This includes full specifications, all interior elevations, cabinet design, floor layouts,
built-ins and detailing, trim, lighting, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, and all detailing.
From there, we create the concept plans for how you want the house to look. These are very minimal, just enough for you to understand room layouts and flow.
Next is the permit set, required by the city in order to obtain a construction permit. The set normally includes floor plans, elevations, sections, and a site plan.
We sometimes also put out a construction set, which is the most highly detailed set of plans, with all the smallest details about how to construct and install elements of the space. This is important for projects with a lot of millwork, complicated fixture installations, custom built-ins, structural idiosyncrasies, etc.
Now it’s time to build! Check out our info on
Owner’s Representative Services for more info on the
construction stage.