Imagine going to a surgeon, telling him what to do and expecting him just put you on the operating table and follow orders. Sounds crazy? It happens every day, but not here.

Our collaboration begins by working to understand your goals and aspirations for your project. We talk about how we can achieve those ambitions through design and within your budgetary requirements. We research zoning, building code, and site conditions to understand the pitfalls and opportunities specific to your project site and needs.

Even clients well seasoned with construction experience have found this to be an essential and confidence building step.

What can you build on your property?

Where can you build it?

How much will it cost?

What is the highest and best use of your land?

Can we divide the lot?

Can you build an ADU on this lot?

What does my HOA allow?

What does my local code and zoning allow?

Most importantly, can you build what YOU want to build on the property? Because maybe you can do a lot of things, but if you can’t do what you want, then it is better to know early.

Great design is redesign. Especially since architectural and interior design is a service for others, it takes redesign to get a deep understanding of your needs and values, and clarify all the project requirements to form an “e=Mc2” simplicity. In between is a state of ferment: sketching radically different ideas, design meetings, product selections, and technical detailing.

While you go about your day, we’re working on imagining the possibilities of your new home; testing ideas and exploring the space in 3 dimensional models, visualizing and walking through your project in our imaginations till we get it right. When it comes to design meetings, you see the best ideas come to life step by step. Each meeting is an opportunity to explore potentials, virtually ‘try on’ the space, and correct course. Material samples, 3d renderings, and 2d drawings are standard with every project.

Where the rubber meets the road. Construction drawings are the output of our design process. Builders price the jobs from them and building departments review them for permits. A quality set of construction documents is essential to getting the project built as intended.

What people call blueprints* are now regular paper printouts of construction documents. If you like details, seeing how materials come together, and all the nitty gritty of what it takes to build, you will enjoy looking at construction documents. If you prefer big picture ideas, you may be content to look at the renderings. You get both, either way, as part of our process. The construction documents are what we submit to your town for permits and what we present to contractors to provide bids.

*They used to be blue. As an intern, I ran enough paper through those blueprint machines to turn my hands blue.

Everyone wants to get through permitting as fast as possible. No one knows the design better than the architect who created it. We often take the lead as your design professional to do all we can to speed this up with proactive engagement. Clearing misunderstandings, pointing out the obvious, and adjusting to meet plan examiner demands is all in a day’s work.

There’s always questions that arise and surprises that await us. We are available to answer the call. Regularly scheduled meetings with your builder on site will serve to face challenges head on and early.

In this call you will:

• Gain clarity on how to move forward with your project with confidence.

• Understand the journey of our process at a high level.

• Get an action plan of your next steps based on your objectives and current situation.