Step Two : Selecting a Floor Plan or Developing the Design of your new home

Designing you new home - This is where we begin to put the meat on the bones.  We take the information gathered during the Initial Interview and begin to put it onto paper.  Typically a letter of intent is initiated at this stage.  This is where we enter into a preliminary contract to define the house by the drawings, specifications, site plan and budget.  The fee for this stage is ultimately included in the cost of the house should you move forward with construction.

Here our design professionals begin to draw your new home.  Specifications are prepared to define the materials used and the budgets are created to refine the preliminary estimates.  This is where we review the plans in great detail to determine how your furniture will fit, where the light switches are located and how they work; the cabinet layout in the kitchen and many more items.  This is where we try to visually live in the home on two dimensional paper.  Once the floor plans are fine tuned we go vertically with the plans to formulate the elevations, sections and details required to properly define the home to the home site.  We can look at the house in a three dimensional way with computer generated views and elevations.

We preliminarily layout the house on the lot and determine how the house might sit vertically and horizontally on the property.  Is the orientation right?  How’s the driveway access? Are the views in the right direction?  Does the walk-out work?  Are there landscaping or terracing requirements? And there are many other items to review.  We can now balance these items, the materials, the size and the budget together to define a more accurate budget number. 

At this stage we are within 10% of the actual total costs.  You still have the opportunity to make changes that are more cost effective on paper, than in the field after construction starts. With your approval the final construction drawing and specifications are produced.  (Photo with people, plans etc)

Congratulations, we now have a completed set of drawings, a definitive set of specifications, a workable site plan and a budget.  Now we can begin to build your new dream home.