DesignWrightUS
Residential Design - It's not just a houseplan, it's your home.
Residential Design - It's not just a houseplan, it's your home.
Custom Services
Custom Services
The Design Process
The Design Process
Whether you are designing your home from creative ideas or customizing an existing plan, you should have an understanding of the process involved. The outline below describes the steps we follow to help make your dream home a reality.
Whether you are designing your home from creative ideas or customizing an existing plan, you should have an understanding of the process involved. The outline below describes the steps we follow to help make your dream home a reality.
Starting from scratch is a method of merging your ideas and ours to create a home plan tailored to your specific wants and needs. This can be a complex process, but with your input, our experience, and the aid of our design questionnaire, this task can be enjoyable and rewarding.
Phase I—Consultation:
The design process begins with our initial consultation and focuses on your ideas by using magazine clippings, sketches, photos, and, if necessary, a design questionnaire. If you have a piece of property that may be difficult to work with, a field consultation may be needed. The goal of the consultation process is to define the many ideas to be used in a preliminary design, which will then be used to produce a final set of construction documents. At this time we will discuss a design contract. A signed contract and deposit are required before work can begin on your plans. Preliminary design, drafting, and consultation time will be invoiced on an hourly basis and excludes the initial consultation.
Phase I—Consultation:
The design process begins with our initial consultation and focuses on your ideas by using magazine clippings, sketches, photos, and, if necessary, a design questionnaire. If you have a piece of property that may be difficult to work with, a field consultation may be needed. The goal of the consultation process is to define the many ideas to be used in a preliminary design, which will then be used to produce a final set of construction documents. At this time we will discuss a design contract. A signed contract and deposit are required before work can begin on your plans. Preliminary design, drafting, and consultation time will be invoiced on an hourly basis and excludes the initial consultation.
Phase II—Preliminary Design:
The preliminary documents will include all related floor plans showing the room names and sizes, square footages of each floor plan, ceiling heights, the overall dimensions of the ground floor, and the front, sides, and rear elevations. When you receive your preliminary plans, you should study them and note on your copy any comments and questions you may have. Preliminary design time will be invoiced on an hourly basis. These drawings usually take one to two weeks to complete, depending upon workload conditions.
Phase II—Preliminary Design:
The preliminary documents will include all related floor plans showing the room names and sizes, square footages of each floor plan, ceiling heights, the overall dimensions of the ground floor, and the front, sides, and rear elevations. When you receive your preliminary plans, you should study them and note on your copy any comments and questions you may have. Preliminary design time will be invoiced on an hourly basis. These drawings usually take one to two weeks to complete, depending upon workload conditions.
Phase III—Design Development:
We may need to schedule another appointment to go over your questions and/or revisions as marked on the preliminary plans. Additional sketches or redraws may be done at this time, and we also might explore alternate design concepts. If the revisions are extensive, we will make the changes and issue a second preliminary plan for your review. If the revisions are minor, we will make the necessary changes and proceed with the next phase of your design contract, construction documents. Revisions to the initial preliminary documents and any resulting consultation time will be invoiced on an hourly basis. Payment for design services is expected before work on the construction documents begins.
Phase III—Design Development:
We may need to schedule another appointment to go over your questions and/or revisions as marked on the preliminary plans. Additional sketches or redraws may be done at this time, and we also might explore alternate design concepts. If the revisions are extensive, we will make the changes and issue a second preliminary plan for your review. If the revisions are minor, we will make the necessary changes and proceed with the next phase of your design contract, construction documents. Revisions to the initial preliminary documents and any resulting consultation time will be invoiced on an hourly basis. Payment for design services is expected before work on the construction documents begins.
Phase IV—Construction Documents:
Once the construction documents are complete, you may choose to review them before they are checked and engineered*. Once the final drawings meet your satisfaction, we will review the plans for dimensional accuracy and correct detailing and then send them to a structural engineer, who will make the plans easier for the builder to use by laying out all framing members and sizing any beams that are required. When we get your plans back from the engineer, we will make the sets of your plans and you will be ready to begin the building process. At the end of this phase, we will have completed our responsibilities with your new home design. Payment in full is expected at this time.
Phase IV—Construction Documents:
Once the construction documents are complete, you may choose to review them before they are checked and engineered*. Once the final drawings meet your satisfaction, we will review the plans for dimensional accuracy and correct detailing and then send them to a structural engineer, who will make the plans easier for the builder to use by laying out all framing members and sizing any beams that are required. When we get your plans back from the engineer, we will make the sets of your plans and you will be ready to begin the building process. At the end of this phase, we will have completed our responsibilities with your new home design. Payment in full is expected at this time.
*Engineering fees are invoiced separately unless included in your design contract.
*Engineering fees are invoiced separately unless included in your design contract.