design process

What to Expect from the Design Process

It is always very exciting for me to be a part of the process in which thoughts and ideas becoming realized in a truly impactful way.  I am always committed to seeing that each home I design is a true reflection of its owners, their tastes, and their preferences; and I find it best for my clients to utilize me and my design experience to fine-tune those aspects and filter them into a cohesive whole with the unique details and finesse that are reflective of great Traditional Architecture and Design. 

Below is a brief general synopsis of the full spectrum of services that I can provide to you in the design of your new home. 

Conceptual Design:

This is the first, and most important part of the home design. These hand drawings will include a conceptual site plan, floor plans of each level, along with exterior elevations of the front and rear of the home. The drawings will be rendered and water colored, then formatted into a comprehensive design document. It is really this series of drawings that will synthesize all the programming components, dreams and physical site information into a two dimensional scaled design for your home. I will include written overviews of the important design criteria for you to review and study.  Following conceptual design, it is not uncommon for a skilled contractor to be able to begin to provide some preliminary feedback on pricing.

Design Development:

This is an optional phase, in which I interpret the conceptual design drawings that we created. After the presentation of the conceptual design, and after I have received your feedback, I will begin to refine the drawings both in hand drawn formats as well as in the form of computer drawings. This phase is also a good time to begin talking with your contractors to get their input and early estimates regarding construction cost.

Interior Millwork:

Toward the end of the Design Development phase, I begin laying out the interior millwork of the home. This includes elevations of all the key rooms, as well as some interior three dimensional drawings, in order to extend the character and attitude of the exterior of the home into the interior trim so that the house flows in a seamless way. Once the basic drawings are done, I can then create large scale sections and call outs of the millwork, including cornices, casings, doors, and stair parts. Cabinets will also begin to be defined in this phase as well as mantles and fireplace treatments.

Cabinet & Built-In Design:

It is typical for me to design all of the cabinetry and built-ins for a home “in place” in the room, so that they are of the same architectural character as the rest of the home. This also allows us to understand the framing conditions needed to accept the various cabinets. Once these drawings are done, it is typical for owners to work directly with cabinet companies who can take my drawings and refine them into shop drawings and production samples..

Hardscape Design:

As a follow up to the conceptual site design created during the Conceptual Design Phase, I will prepare drawings needed to coordinate the hard scape elements of the site; this is a critical component of the overall design and is essential to create a site environment that is in harmony with the home. This will include driveways, walls, patios, walkways, railings, etc. Outbuildings such as gazebos, fire pits, docks, etc. would typically fall under this phase of design.  Other aspects of hardscape typically include garden walls, fencing, gates, pergolas, mailboxes, etc.

Construction Documents:

This required phase of the design process captures all of our design efforts into a set of drawings from which your contractor will build the house. These technical drawings include fully dimensioned, noted, and detailed drawings, indicating placement of walls, cabinets, plumbing, electrical, and other key elements that sub-contractors and tradespeople will need to know. There will be one or two stopping points at both 40% and 80% completion of these drawings which will allow a contractor to prepare preliminary bids to again verify the cost prior to the drawings being released for construction.

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