Everything You Need to Know About Our Exploratory Design Service
As interest rates remain consistently high and new home buying is at a new low, homeowners are deciding to stay and update their existing living spaces. Interviewing a general contractor may seem like the first step to planning the cost of your renovation. But without a plan in place, it’s like buying a car without doing any research. In our industry, we call this a WAG- Wild A** Guess (pardon the direct comment).
Jumping into a major project without a plan in place will become a huge financial mistake, guaranteed. Without a detailed plan, your renovation may look great on paper, with a great affordable labor and construction proposal, but often it’s too good to be true. Without details selected and a plan with contingency options, you set yourself up for lots of frustration and unexpected spending.
Our Signature Exploratory Design Service
This is why we offer an Exploratory Design Service. We "explore" the possibilities of your remodel before you make any financial commitments with a general contractor or builder.
After agreeing to our Exploratory Design Agreement, we become your partner in exploring, discussing, and detailing the projected plan so you can make an educated decision on how to spend your money. We guide you along the way before you make a major financial commitment.
Our Process
We begin with our initial meeting to understand your end goal and style. We strategically ask questions to understand how you live and who lives in the home. Once we gather the information, we take detailed measurements of your space. We then develop a floor plan, typically along with options to review with you.
After we have decided on a final plan, we produce an electrical plan. You may think this is unnecessary, but we must provide enough information for the general contractor to create a proposal to give accurate numbers. We then meet on-site with a general contractor (he may bring in subcontractors) to review the plan, and if needed, we ask the architect to meet with us as well.
After receiving the GC's proposal, we meet to review the labor and constriction proposals, the plan, and the material spreadsheet listing the ranges for materials. The material spreadsheet is based on our many conversations about your design direction. At this point, you have all the information you need to decide how you want to move forward.
In Action...
We work with homeowners like yourselves who may have never been through a remodel before to explore the possibilities. Once we proceed through all the steps, you may need to hold off and save a little more to produce a kitchen and living space that fits your family's lifestyle. On the other hand, we have started with this service with other homeowners so they could better understand the best place to invest before jumping in without a plan.
So before blindly making the financial commitment with a general contractor and builder, let's begin with exploring all the possibilities and costs. Knowing as much as possible from the start makes for a better experience for you and everyone involved. As your designer, we are your educated partner. We have the expertise to understand what you need and become the connecting thread with your contractor.
Our clients who start with our Exploratory Design Service better understand how the process works and how much it will cost. Homeowners deciding to explore with us may hold off starting their project while others adjust the overall budget to get the result they had imagined. So don't make the mistake of jumping right into a commitment of a remodel, whether small or large, without a plan in place. We are here to help you along the way.
Have a question about this service? Ready to begin? Contact us here, and let's get the party started!
Warmly,
Trisha