The process our office uses to design a renovation for an existing home is really quite simple. The following is an outline of the process and the drawings provided in each phase.
Step One;
First Greg will want to meet with you at your home and discuss the elements you want to incorporate into the renovation. He will discuss how he can assist you in achieving a design that will incorporate those elements. This meeting is a home design review and a design session rolled into one. At the end of this meeting, he will have a schematic design which will give you a good idea of what the design of the renovation is going to be. From this schematic design we can establish the scope of the design work and estimate a design fee. If the Scope of work changes during the course of the design work then we will need to revise the fee to correspond to the new scope of the project.
Before we can proceed with the initial meeting, you will need to obtain a current survey of the property showing property lines, driveway and location of the existing house. This can usually be found with the information from your last mortgage closing. We will also need to know what the current zoning setbacks are for your property. We can obtain this information from your local zoning board. This often requires a trip to your local courthouse to obtain correct information.
This first meeting will require several hours of Greg’s time in order to look at the existing home and the site, come up with a scheme for the design and determine the feasibility of the project. Therefore, we do charge a minimum fee of $500.00 for the first four hours of this initial meeting. We charge each additional hour at a rate of $150.00 per hour. At the end of this meeting Greg will discuss fees with you. If you decide to go forward with the project, the fee for the initial meeting is rolled into the overall fee. The payment for this initial meeting will be due at the end of this meeting.
Step Two;
After establishing a fee with you and receiving a retainer of one third of the entire fee, Greg will measure the existing home. These measurements are used to construct a diagram of your existing home in our CAD program. He will then begin working with you until you are satisfied with the preliminary design. We will keep you abreast of the progress with computer printouts faxed to you directly. At this stage we believe it is a good idea to include your builder in the design process. This helps with cost control and avoids construction conflicts. Preliminary drawings, constructed on CAD, at this point are the site plan, first floor plan, second floor plan, front elevation, and the roof plan. This stage represents about two thirds (2/3) of the work. When you are satisfied with the design, we will ask for approval of the preliminary drawings. We request the second third of the fee at this time before we proceed with the final construction drawings.
Step Three;
At this stage we continue to refine the design while working on the construction drawings. Again we will keep you abreast of the progress by faxed computer printouts. Final construction drawings,
24" x 36" blue lines, include the site plan, floor plans, foundation plan, roof plan, all four elevations, necessary details, and wall a section. At the completion of the construction drawings the final payment of the fee is due. Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing are usually not required but, are available as an additional service.
Construction Supervision;
The site visits to review the progress of construction and provide written reports are done as an additional service. These are done as requested by the client.
New Neo-Classical Renovation Project; Atlanta, Georgia:
Before Pictures:
