Process

As a full-service studio, we will guide you during each phase from the early sketches through the construction process—staying hands-on from the first conversation to the final detail. We’re driven by your goals, respectful of your time, mindful of your budget, and guided throughout by an eye for sustainability.

Cozy beach house with warm windows on rocky shore at twilight

Our team personally receives and responds to everyone who contacts the studio. It starts with a brief call to understand your project, goals, and budget. From there, we meet at your property, prepare a complimentary design proposal, bring in our interior designers, and help you find the right builder for your project—so cost, construction, and the life inside your home are all part of the plan from day one.

  1. Schematic Design & Design Development
  2. Construction Documents
  3. Construction Administration

1

Schematic Design & Design Development

In a nutshell, this is the discovery phase. We pull together all the information from you in order to get the best sense of your wants, needs, and expectations for your project. We ask a lot of questions, hone in on key features, and dig into your inspirations. We want to know how you would define every desire on your wishlist, from room to room, so that we can design the most practical—and inspiring—program for your everyday life.

We will meet with you on your site and collect the information we need to begin to develop initial sketches, defining the layout of the home, as well as the overall massing of the house (how it looks on the outside). Some common drawings we provide at this part are: concept floor plans, energy modeling, concept 3-D vignettes, and building elevations showing materials and window design.

From here, we present these thoughts and encourage as much of your feedback. We want to hear everything you think and feel because we want to design the house for you.

As we move along the process we develop more realistic presentations of the home, developing 3-D models that help to give you a better understanding of the spaces, rooflines, windows, and overall feel of the structure.

We look forward to a continuation of more feedback. We’re here to collaborate, and most importantly, we’re here for you. At the end of this first phase, we will have developed as set of pricing drawings for the builder to develop early costs to ensure that what we design with you stays in line with your expected investment.

A general list of services for this phase:

  • Site analysis-Zoning, Solar Orientation, Key view, Features
  • Energy Modeling
  • Concept Floor Plans
  • Concept 3-d Vignettes
  • Inspiration Images Latter (Part of Phase- Pricing Set)
  • Site Plan
  • Zoning/Planning, Board Meeting Preparation & Presentation
  • Building Floor Plans (With Overall Dimensions)
  • Building Elevations, Showing Materials and Window Design
  • Building Sections
  • Preliminary Structural Drawings
  • Typical Wall Detail, Showing the Building Shell Construction
  • Window & Door Schedule
  • Outline Specification
  • Review Construction Budget
2

Construction Documents

All of our progress from the “discovery” phase comes to life in our second step of the process. We begin preparing the drawings necessary for executing the construction. These steps can only begin once the design is mostly complete, approved, and ready for detailed drawings which will then be used by the General Contractor and all subcontractors who will execute the design into physical form. These drawings encompass architectural, interior design, structural (by an engineer under separate contract), interior elevations of the home. Common drawings provided at this point are: cross sections, interior elevations, electrical/lighting plans, room finishes, and schedules.

Architectural elevation drawings of a multi-level house with stone and shingle exterior

A general list of services for this phase:

In addition to services from previous phase
  • Additional Building Sections
  • Primary Interior Elevations
  • Lighting Plan and Fixture selections
  • Room Finish and Fixture selections
  • Coordination with HVAC
  • Coordination with Structural Engineer and any other consultants (Landscape Architect, Interior Designer, etc)
3

Construction Administration

Moving along, as the physical building takes shape, we are active on and off the job site, providing clarifications and supplemental details as needed to ensure the quality and progress of the project. We value our relationships with the trades and craftspeople we collaborate with as they bring their own unique expertise to the table and enable us to capitalize on their skills to make the project the best it can be. Everyday we learn something new, finding innovative ways to move the project forward. We work closely with the General Contractor and their subcontractors in order to ensure all construction documents are interpreted and executed in accordance with the architectural design concepts. Performing shop drawing review is also an important step in this phase. We can review applications for payment and change orders that have been authorized.

A general list of services for this phase:

In addition to services from previous phase
  • Bi-weekly Site Meetings
  • SK Drawings for Any Design Clarifications
  • Submittal Review & Shop Drawing review
  • Review Applications for Payment Between Client & Builder
  • Field Reports & Meeting Minutes
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