Our process

As a firm specializing in residential architecture, we are very aware of how important a home is to its owners, what enormous emotional energy is lavished upon it, and how unnerving it is to be at the mercy of others in the shaping of that home. We have developed our services to eliminate as much of that stress as possible. Building or remodeling your home should be a fun, exciting, romantic experience. As you look through our portfolio, you are looking at the work of the people you will be dealing with, partners Dale and Elizabeth Smith.

We are not only trained in architecture, we love houses and have chosen to spend our lives creating residential projects. We understand the importance of communication in that process.

Through our schooling most architects are introduced to a process that, over the last hundred years or so, has been the industry standard. There are several phases within this process; Programming, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, and Construction Administration. Though these phases sometimes overlap or are combined, depending upon the nature of the project, an understanding of each is important in order to grasp the full scope of the architectural design process. While we maintain this standard, we’ve modified our approach, & provide varying levels of services tailored for each client.

The first phase, called Programming, is a time for information gathering. It is our time to listen, question and explore possibilities. It is vital for your architect to understand your tastes and preferences. Many people like to gather relevant pictures from magazines and books. This is your opportunity to indulge in a little creative daydreaming. The goal isn’t simply to list elements or features that are appealing, but to understand the reasons behind those choices.

Many other methods are available to help describe your dreams. You may list the activities you do in your home, or prepare wishlists and ‘must-haves’. You might fill out questionnaires we provide describing your family’s daily life. You might find it an interesting exercise to walk through your existing home noting your likes and dislikes, which areas you use frequently and which you hardly ever use. The point is to utilize whatever works best for you, realizing that the more you can tell us about what you like and need, the closer and sooner we can come to fulfilling your architectural dreams.

In addition to gathering personal information for your home, we’ll help you organize & obtain a number of other consultants that most projects require. Those include;

• Property survey
• Soils investigation report
• Possible hazardous materials testing for remodels of existing homes
• Energy consultant
• Structural engineering

While you’re working on the program, we’ll visit the site. We make note of the topography, the vegetation, the prevalent winds, views, site features such as rock outcroppings, etc. We’ll walk the site with you, likely numerous times, at varying times of day and seasons of the year, to understand how your site works. The site analysis and your program will then work together, as one, to aid us in beginning to put pen to paper.

Once you have decided what to build, the architectural design begins with a series of rough sketches known as schematic design. These sketches show the general arrangement of rooms and placement of the building on the site. Ideas are explored and evaluated with you through the use of drawings and cardboard models or 3-D computer models until a direction for the design is set.

It is vital the schematic designs capture the essence of what your project will be and that you and your architect are in agreement about the design direction. It is much easier to make changes at this stage when your project is in sketch form than later when a great many hours have been spent working on construction documents or even further in the process when foundations have been poured and walls erected.

This step, called design development, is when the architect prepares more detailed floor plans, elevations, and cross sections to illustrate other aspects of the design. All decisions that are to be documented in the construction drawings are made. These include decisions about interior and exterior materials and finishes, lighting, windows and cabinets. Other technical matters such as the type and placement of insulation, the structural system and heating and cooling systems must also be determined. Many of these decisions impact other decisions. For instance, the depth of a structural member can affect the ceiling height in a roof, the light fixtures, and the amount of insulation in ceiling.

During this process we’ll continue to provide you with easily-read floor plans, and both interior and exterior perspective drawings, aiding in making the spatial and finishes decisions. We’ve modified this phase by beginning to combine with the following Construction Documents phase, expediting the process.

Construction documents consist of both drawings and specifications that will be required to obtain a building permit, and from which the contractor will build your home. The drawings are detailed and illustrate the quantities and relationships of all work required to build the project. The specifications are a comprehensive written documentation outlining the levels of quality to be met in materials and workmanship. For most residential projects, the specifications are noted on the construction drawings. The contractor will use these documents to establish the actual construction cost, and to build the project.

The more complete documentation the more accurate the bid price can be and the fewer problems and delays during construction will occur, since most decisions have been made before construction begins.

Some clients often start their home-building process by speaking to a contractor – builders – first, or may have someone in mind to build their home. It is more typical to begin with finding an architect, as the process as a whole begins with the design. For those folks who do not have a builder, we will typically introduce you to 2 or 3. We typically start this process fairly early on, towards the end of the Schematic Design phase.

We like to get a builder on board early for a number of reasons. We generate a “preliminary pricing” package, and have the contractor provide some preliminary pricing. While this exercise helps assure we’re designing a project within your budget, it ends up being a very thorough general contractor interview process, allowing you to get a sense of their personality, their professionalism, their methodologies, their level of interest in your project, and their availability. While, as your architect, we may suggest potential contractors and assist in the selection process, the final choice is up to you.

Our involvement normally does not stop with the preparation of construction documents. We act as your representative by monitoring the contractor’s work for conformance with the working drawings and contract. Even the best two dimensional documents cannot fully convey all aspects of a three-dimensional building without being open to interpretation. Having been intimately involved from the beginning, we are best qualified. to provide assistance to ensure your finished home is built as intended.

This assistance to the contractor usually consists of answering questions by phone, providing regular site visits to observe the work, providing supplemental drawings as requested by the contractor, reviewing shop drawings, materials and product samples, and reviewing requests for design changes. We also provide other services that look out for your interests. These included reviewing and approving the contractors’ applications for payment and keeping you apprised of the project’s progress.

When you hire us, you’re hiring a highly trained imagination, a person skilled in thinking three-dimensionally to envision the best possible solution to your needs. You’re paying for professional construction documents to address them, coordinating with the contractor and making sure that the residence is built as specified by the plans.

We are your advocate in the fascinating and complex process of turning dreams into reality. Several factors will impact the decision regarding the appropriate level of architectural services for your project; its size and complexity, the location, and the budget as well as your own experience and involvement. Each project is unique and is treated as such.

There are a number of ways to determine the fee for your project. Of course, the fee is dependent upon the level of service. Our common method is to pay a percentage of construction costs. The percent charged is determined by the scope of the project and the level of the architect’s involvement in the various phases. Another common method is hourly compensation for actual time spent on the project by the project architect and other who are involved. This method is most commonly used when it is a small project, a simple consultation, or in a particularly complicated project where the full scope may not be known in advance, for example, the remodeling of an old home. It is also possible to create a combination of approaches to the fee.

While there are standards, as most of those noted above, there is also the exception. We treat each project as we treat each client – individually.