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The Old Method: Typically in the past homeowners would seek out an architect or designer and work with them to create their kitchen/bathroom/room addition design that suits their needs. While architects and designers are typically very good at what they do they are notoriously bad at estimating the costs involved for a project. Sadly, what ends up happening more often than not is that you end up with a fantastic design that you can't afford to build. So you go back to the architect and spend even more money to scale back and sacrifice your dream project. Oddly enough, we have had customers upset at us that we are unable to build something for the price that their architect quoted.
The Design-Build Method: The modern design/build method is handled in a
more collaborative fashion. Your builder now works interactively with the designer or
architect to bring your dreams to reality. When you work with a design-build contractor
your budget is established in the conceptual design phase and then the budget is used as a guideline in establishing the direction of the final design. The goal is to prevent you from ending up with a $60,000 bathroom design when your intended budget was only $25,000. This system works best if you select your contractor early in the process and develop an honest relationship with them. Yes, that means you will have to tell them what your budget is (at least a range). You can always reduce that number by 15-20 percent before you provide it to your contractor in order to keep yourself in a comfort zone and allow for upgrades later.
Once your design-build contractor understands the budget then several conceptual designs are created. Through the use of modern 3d perspective design methods we are now able to provide you with realistic views of what your project will look like. You select one of several options from the initial concepts and then move towards the final design stages. Depending in how many details you want to see we can show you every light switch, tile layouts and spatial functionality (by showing 3d people using the space). For most smaller projects the 3d designs we create are suitable for construction, thus saving you money over traditional drawing methods. For larger projects we team up with certified kitchen and bath designers and for additions we only used registered architects or certified building designers (certified by American Institute of Building Design).
The Real Advantage:
The real advantage to design-build comes into play during the construction phase. I remember when I personally started in carpentry and frequently spent the first few days of a project trying to figure out what someone else had drawn. There are suddenly a million questions that need to be answered by the designer and it can create friction between the carpenter and the designer. With our method of design-build we are so intimately connected to the design process that the plans become almost secondary because we created them so we already have every detail of the design burned into our heads so it becomes a natural extension of our work.
I certainly hope this has sold you on the importance of design-build. If you have any more questions about design-build there is some more info on Our Process page. I would also be happy to answer any questions you have if you submit them on our contact form.
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