Our Process
How Long? How Much? How does this all work? These are all important questions for your project. As with most things, the answers depend on specifics. However, this page should help you understand in general how we approach most projects.
Site visit
We will come out and visit your project site, and get a general understanding of what it is that you want to do. Give us a call to set up this initial meeting.
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Depending on which option for CD's you choose, and the complexity of your project, the entire process can take anywhere from 12 to 26 weeks, or more. So please keep this in mind and allow ample time in your project timeline for us to work efficiently.
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Proposal and deposit
Based on our initial meeting, we will prepare a proposal for services. The proposal will be in several phases, with a price for each phase. The first phase, or maybe two, will be the deposit amount. Signing the proposal and paying the deposit gets your project on our schedule. We will bill you at the end of each phase, and this payment tells us that we can move on to the next phase. If there is a glitch in your project, you can stop us at any time, and not be obligated for any more of our time than we have put into it at that point.
field measuring and Schematic design (SD)
If your project is an addition, or something that requires us to field measure an existing structure, that will be the first phase. After that, we will prepare a Schematic Design set, which is typically a floor plan and one of the main elevations of the project, to give you an idea of where our design ideas are headed. Once you ok these drawings, we will move on to the next phase.
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Design Development (DD)
Next comes the Design Development phase. We will put together the rest of the project's elevations, and any basement or roof plans that are needed. At the end of this phase, we can work with you to get through any Architectural Board of Review, planning, or zoning meetings that your municipality might require. Now is also a good time to show the drawings to your contractor and make sure that your budget is in general alignment with the project scope.
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Contract documents (CD)
Once the design is set, we will get going on the Contract documents. These are the drawings that be included in your contract with your General Contractor. We usually offer a few options for this phase, and the time and cost involved can vary widely.
CD Option 1: Permit set
This set of drawings will be the minimum required to get your building permit. This set takes the least amount of time, and costs the least. However, it also requires you to have the most communication with your contractor during the building process. You will need to coordinate finishes, plumbing and lighting selections, equipment requirements, level of finish, and other details with your contractor during construction. For a 3,500 sf house, this set is typically about 8 sheets of drawings, and you should allow for about 2-4% of your total project budget for the drawings, but at least $6,000.
CD Option 2: Standard Set
In addition to the drawings in the permit set, this option includes a 3d virtual model of your project, with generic interior and exterior materials. We will put a couple of select views of this 3d model into the drawing set for further clarification of important areas, like the kitchen. We will include an electrical layout showing locations of outlets, light switches, and lighting locations, and will coordinate these locations with you. We will also include a schedule of these electrical items, summarizing the number and general type of each device. We will also include interior elevations of any new or renovated bathrooms. Finally, we will do an increased number of wall and building sections to further increase the contractor's understanding of the project. This option gives more information to your builder, giving a clearer picture and allowing for more accurate pricing and fewer coordination items to be discussed during construction. For a 3,500 sf house, this set is typically about 12 sheets of drawings, and you should allow for about 3-5% of your total project budget for the drawings, but at least $7,500.
CD Option 3: Expanded set
This is our most comprehensive option for a set of drawings. In addition to the drawings listed in the Standard Set, this option includes interior design help with selections for important items like plumbing fixtures, lighting, countertops, kitchen cabinetry layouts, and more. We will draw every interior elevation that includes cabinetry, and larger scale drawings of bathrooms that show down to the grout lines of the tile, to make it clear to your contractor what the aesthetic is that you desire. We will include full schedules of plumbing, electrical equipment, and builder supplied and installed appliances showing manufacturer and model number. We will show an increased number of details such as flooring transitions, interior and exterior trim, tile underlayment, etc. We will work with your HVAC installer, or our engineer and lay out the duct work in the house in our three dimensional virtual model to show all the duct runs, and discover possible conflicts with structural elements. For a 3,500 sf house, this set is typically about 35 sheets of drawings, and you should allow for about 10-13% of your total project budget for the drawings, but at least $25,000.