Whether you are looking for a full custom home for your family, a major addition or remodel to give your existing home new life, or you want to add a new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) to your property, each project begins with research to determine what is allowed and build a familiarity with the existing conditions.
Pre-Design is the first step we undertake for each project. We work closely with you and your family to establish the goals of the project, understand the various codes and regulations, research the challenges and opportunities, and document the existing conditions. This background research creates the framework for all future design work.
Specific tasks that we undertake during PreDesign includes site analysis, zoning research, project budgeting, programming, we discuss the timeline, and assemble the project team. The more information gathered during the predesign phase, the more accurate all future work can be. It is vital to dedicate the time and resources needed to thoroughly research all the various forces that affect a project as it can help avoid costly mistakes or changes further along in the design and construction process.
Site Analysis
The main goal during this phase is to gather information. During the Pre-Design phase, we will research and document your property to understand the context in which we will be designing. This starts with us measuring existing conditions, locating any features on the site that could affect the design, and documenting the property with photos for future reference. We also ask that clients engage a licensed surveyor to survey the property during this stage.
Along with analyzing the site we also research what the zoning allows for your property and any other codes and regulations that will affect the design. Sometimes things like Homeowner Associations, or district overlays can add complications to the base zoning allowed by the city, town, county, or state. We aim to identify all the various regulations that will affect the project during this research.
Programming
Next in the research phase is understanding your goals for the project, your ideas, your aesthetic values and style, and defining what a successful project looks like from your perspective. To accomplish this we meet with you to discuss what you value in a home, identify all of the spaces you require, what functionality is important, and define styles that inspire you. We have specific questions we go over and also create spreadsheets to document the specific metrics to consider while designing - things like square footage, specific rooms you want, sizes, budget considerations, and other elements of the project we need to consider when beginning the design process. This provides a foundation on which we build our architectural design ideas.
Budget
Although it is still very early in the overall timeline of design and construction, it is important to define the target budget for the project. Typically we start these conversations much earlier, as part of our proposal process, but we revisit this conversation here to verify what you are looking to invest in the project. I’d like to emphasize how important it is for clients to have an open and honest conversation about what they can afford to invest in the project. If we don’t know what you want to spend we can’t make design decisions and offer advice to meet your expectations. The more accurate of a budget we can develop, the more we can guide you through the hundreds of decisions needed along the way. It will also give us a framework to work within while we discover the ideal design solution for your needs.
Timeline
As with the budget, we give a rough overview of the project schedule during the early discussions with each new client and within our proposal. However, once we begin the work and start learning about all the various aspects of your project through our research, we can better understand how long the project may take. We thus create a more accurate project schedule at this point and identify key dates, milestones, and meetings. Once the key meeting dates are defined we build a Gantt chart schedule to outline the scope of work. We also send out calendar events for those meetings so they are on everyone’s calendar and we can keep the project on schedule.
As for this phase itself, we typically suggest budgeting 1-2 months for Predesign, depending on the type of project. Detached ADUs maybe be on the shorter end of this range, while major remodels or full custom homes can take 2 months or even longer to gather all the required information to move forward into the design phases.
Project Team
There are a range of professions that need to come together to deliver a great project. Predesign is the time to start identifying the various consultants that will work with us to define the project and craft a beautiful design. This includes professionals that will assist with the research in this phase, like surveyors, geotechnical engineers, arborists, and sometimes civil engineers. We also begin to identify and contract with the professionals we will work with later on in the design process. Knowing that people are busy we want to get your project on their schedule to enable us to keep the project on schedule. Typically we identify a structural engineer, landscape designer, and other consultants that may be needed depending on the scope of work.
We also recommend identifying and interviewing General Contractors this early in the process. Having a great GC as part of the team early on, allows us to get feedback as we embark on the design process regarding cost, constructibility, and other information that could affect the design and budget.
Conclusion
Although Predesign isn’t what people think of when they hire a designer or architect for their custom home or ADU project, it is a vital part of the design process. Investing time and effort in this initial phase can save headaches and money later on in the process. It is important to be thorough and truly understand all the variables that will affect the design work to come.
To learn more about our design process or to kickstart your project please get in touch. We would love to learn about your project’s goals and ideas and help you craft a beautiful design.