Please read through the following
information about our process.
We have taken the time to describe to you, our new client, the process of designing your own home.
You will see how the process works, what you need to know before hand, what you need to be doing during the process, and what to do after the home is designed.
We have taken the time to describe to you, our new client, the process of designing your own home.
You will see how the process works, what you need to know before hand, what you need to be doing during the process, and what to do after the home is designed.
We focus on
tailoring each design to our client’s lifestyle, rather
than confining ourselves to a particular style. Images Of... delivers on our promises and is committed to client satisfaction. We enjoy participating on the overall design team with the Builder, Interior Designer, HVAC contractor, and Home Performance Specialist, and our participation ensures the client’s needs and desires are understood and achieved.
We pride ourselves on the quality and accuracy of our construction documents and our highly efficient turnarounds.
In order to assist this, we hope
you have gone through our first step
of filling out (Project
Programming Questionnaire). Although some of these
questions may seem like details to you, every small detail of your
home, and the time in which you make the choices all affects the
outcome of your home and your time frame. Each appliance or room you
want integrated in to your home, we need to know about. The more we
know, the better we can come up with a design that will satisfy not
only your needs, but also your desire for the home of your dreams.
Do you want the option for an addition down the road? This can affect our design of not only the layout, but the way the design sits on the land. It will also affect the electrical and HVAC plans implemented by your contractor/builder.
Each room has components that, when truly thought out before we start, can lead to a better design, turn around time, and satisfaction. For example, something as simple as a ‘trash compactor’ may influence the shape or size of your kitchen or the island we can design for your ideal workspace. If you want built in cabinets or shelves in your bedroom, living room, family room, or dining room; these are all things we need to know. If you want a niche for a specific piece of furniture for a room, we need to know.
As you start the process of designing a home, you must be aware of the time factor. It takes time to design the perfect home; however we have found that it takes you the client, more time to decide what you want. You need to understand that you are the key factor in getting your home design completed and into the building phase. There must always be open communication between you and your partner. Too many times we have client meetings where things have not been discussed amongst the soon to be new homeowners, and arguments arise. Both you and your partner must make time available to discuss and compromise on your individual wants/needs.
Schematic Design
We will discuss the process a bit more. Now that you have filled out the project programming questionnaire we have a basic idea of what you are looking for, we can sit down for a meeting and have a discussion. Next we will take what we have discussed in the meeting (we, being us and you AND your partner), and sketch a basic design. Again, the more we know on the front end, the more likely the sketch will match what you are looking for.
Things to consider in the basic sketch phase: style of home, rooms (ie. living room, game room, butler pantry, kitchen etc.), size of rooms, fireplaces, number of bedrooms, number of baths, garages, stories, ceiling heights, openness of layout, and exterior features (patios, porches, balconies, decks, courtyard, portico, porte cochere).
Once we have given you a sketch, we want you to take it home and review it. Decide if you really like it, look at the room layout, is something in the wrong place? Does the front elevation sketch (the view of the form of your home) look the way you want it to? Do you want the Master Bedroom on the other side of the house? We need to know these things! Once you have reviewed it, thought it over, DISCUSSED it with your partner, we meet again. This is when we will start to discuss more details. For example, your kitchen, the size of the island, the placement of the sink and range or stovetop. How many ovens? Do you want a warming drawer? Do you want niches or built in cabinets. Do you want to incorporate certain family heirlooms, like a hutch or cabinet? Do you want a walk-in shower and/or garden tub in your master bath? Details, details, details…. We need them!
Once you have approved the sketch and we then lay it out on the computer any major changes past this point may result in additional hourly fees.
Design Development
Now we move to the computer this time around and turn those sketches you looked at and all the things we discussed into plans. We take everything you have told us and make it a working design. If you don’t tell us something you want, it won’t be in there. We are not mind readers!
Once we have put your plan into the computer and have them at the next stage, we will have another meeting to give you these plans which will include; the first and second plan, and the front elevation, and how the plan lays out on the site.
We are going to ask you to take these and really look at them, study them, know them! This is when we need to know if there are any changes, because any changes from here out will affect all of the drawings. At this stage we want to know if any windows or doors locations need to change, additional cabinet, etc.
Construction Documents
Once we have gotten your feedback on the first go of the computer we continue to move forward, we do the other exterior elevations, the electrical plans and interior elevations. We return this to you to get additional feedback. Things to review on each plan:
Floor plan:
* Dimensions
* Location of doors/openings to other rooms or to the exterior
* Ceiling heights
* Closets (more shelves or rods?)
* Kitchen appliance to be added if not there
* Material of flooring
* Look at where the symbols for interior elevations are located, these are places we are going to draw view of the interior cabinetry and shelving
* Ceiling details (tray or vaulted or exposed rafters details)
Exterior Elevations:
* Doors
* Windows (placement, size, the divided lite pattern, fixed glass (inoperable) vs. casement (operable) vs. double-hung (dependent upon style of home)
* Arches (height and shape)
* Railings
* Overall roof heights
* Materials + Details (exposed rafters, clay pipes, etc.)
Electrical Plans:
* Location and type of lights
* More or less lighting
* Location of television and phone jacks
* Fans
Interior Elevations:
* Do you like the cabinetry? (more or less?) (wider or narrower?)
* Fireplace style
* Niche height/locations (if applicable)
* Bathroom mirrors/cabinets
* Built in shelves
Once you have done this, we take your feedback and now it is time for us to finish the plans. This is where we complete the foundation plan since you are done with the layout, we finish the roof plan and the structure for the roof, we add details, labeling, changes, site plan, add the topographical lines to your elevations and a draw a section (where we cut through the house and look at the attic space, roof lines and a few interior spaces).
Once we have completed these, your plans are done!
As you can see, although we are the ones that design your home, and make your dream a reality, we are always in need of your constant feedback. We like to establish a very open communication with our clients from the beginning so it makes the process easier for everyone and smoother for you, the clients.
This should be considered a fun process however it can also be as strenuous as you make it. Open communication with your partner makes is easier. Both being at the meetings is a true must, since two brains are almost always better than one! Know ahead of time what is important to the other one.
We greatly look forward to going through each step with you and hope this is a very smooth process for us all! Just remember, we are helping you create your dream home, in both function and beauty, so with us all working together as one cohesive unit, it will be a great success!
Elliot H. Johnson, AIA
Do you want the option for an addition down the road? This can affect our design of not only the layout, but the way the design sits on the land. It will also affect the electrical and HVAC plans implemented by your contractor/builder.
Each room has components that, when truly thought out before we start, can lead to a better design, turn around time, and satisfaction. For example, something as simple as a ‘trash compactor’ may influence the shape or size of your kitchen or the island we can design for your ideal workspace. If you want built in cabinets or shelves in your bedroom, living room, family room, or dining room; these are all things we need to know. If you want a niche for a specific piece of furniture for a room, we need to know.
As you start the process of designing a home, you must be aware of the time factor. It takes time to design the perfect home; however we have found that it takes you the client, more time to decide what you want. You need to understand that you are the key factor in getting your home design completed and into the building phase. There must always be open communication between you and your partner. Too many times we have client meetings where things have not been discussed amongst the soon to be new homeowners, and arguments arise. Both you and your partner must make time available to discuss and compromise on your individual wants/needs.
Schematic Design
We will discuss the process a bit more. Now that you have filled out the project programming questionnaire we have a basic idea of what you are looking for, we can sit down for a meeting and have a discussion. Next we will take what we have discussed in the meeting (we, being us and you AND your partner), and sketch a basic design. Again, the more we know on the front end, the more likely the sketch will match what you are looking for.
Things to consider in the basic sketch phase: style of home, rooms (ie. living room, game room, butler pantry, kitchen etc.), size of rooms, fireplaces, number of bedrooms, number of baths, garages, stories, ceiling heights, openness of layout, and exterior features (patios, porches, balconies, decks, courtyard, portico, porte cochere).
Once we have given you a sketch, we want you to take it home and review it. Decide if you really like it, look at the room layout, is something in the wrong place? Does the front elevation sketch (the view of the form of your home) look the way you want it to? Do you want the Master Bedroom on the other side of the house? We need to know these things! Once you have reviewed it, thought it over, DISCUSSED it with your partner, we meet again. This is when we will start to discuss more details. For example, your kitchen, the size of the island, the placement of the sink and range or stovetop. How many ovens? Do you want a warming drawer? Do you want niches or built in cabinets. Do you want to incorporate certain family heirlooms, like a hutch or cabinet? Do you want a walk-in shower and/or garden tub in your master bath? Details, details, details…. We need them!
Once you have approved the sketch and we then lay it out on the computer any major changes past this point may result in additional hourly fees.
Design Development
Now we move to the computer this time around and turn those sketches you looked at and all the things we discussed into plans. We take everything you have told us and make it a working design. If you don’t tell us something you want, it won’t be in there. We are not mind readers!
Once we have put your plan into the computer and have them at the next stage, we will have another meeting to give you these plans which will include; the first and second plan, and the front elevation, and how the plan lays out on the site.
We are going to ask you to take these and really look at them, study them, know them! This is when we need to know if there are any changes, because any changes from here out will affect all of the drawings. At this stage we want to know if any windows or doors locations need to change, additional cabinet, etc.
Construction Documents
Once we have gotten your feedback on the first go of the computer we continue to move forward, we do the other exterior elevations, the electrical plans and interior elevations. We return this to you to get additional feedback. Things to review on each plan:
Floor plan:
* Dimensions
* Location of doors/openings to other rooms or to the exterior
* Ceiling heights
* Closets (more shelves or rods?)
* Kitchen appliance to be added if not there
* Material of flooring
* Look at where the symbols for interior elevations are located, these are places we are going to draw view of the interior cabinetry and shelving
* Ceiling details (tray or vaulted or exposed rafters details)
Exterior Elevations:
* Doors
* Windows (placement, size, the divided lite pattern, fixed glass (inoperable) vs. casement (operable) vs. double-hung (dependent upon style of home)
* Arches (height and shape)
* Railings
* Overall roof heights
* Materials + Details (exposed rafters, clay pipes, etc.)
Electrical Plans:
* Location and type of lights
* More or less lighting
* Location of television and phone jacks
* Fans
Interior Elevations:
* Do you like the cabinetry? (more or less?) (wider or narrower?)
* Fireplace style
* Niche height/locations (if applicable)
* Bathroom mirrors/cabinets
* Built in shelves
Once you have done this, we take your feedback and now it is time for us to finish the plans. This is where we complete the foundation plan since you are done with the layout, we finish the roof plan and the structure for the roof, we add details, labeling, changes, site plan, add the topographical lines to your elevations and a draw a section (where we cut through the house and look at the attic space, roof lines and a few interior spaces).
Once we have completed these, your plans are done!
As you can see, although we are the ones that design your home, and make your dream a reality, we are always in need of your constant feedback. We like to establish a very open communication with our clients from the beginning so it makes the process easier for everyone and smoother for you, the clients.
This should be considered a fun process however it can also be as strenuous as you make it. Open communication with your partner makes is easier. Both being at the meetings is a true must, since two brains are almost always better than one! Know ahead of time what is important to the other one.
We greatly look forward to going through each step with you and hope this is a very smooth process for us all! Just remember, we are helping you create your dream home, in both function and beauty, so with us all working together as one cohesive unit, it will be a great success!
Elliot H. Johnson, AIA