What drives us…
We love families.
When we (Chris and Janice) met in our sophomore year of architecture school, our dream was for our family to serve other families. We had visions of bread baking in our oven and the smell filling the room while we had meetings to discuss the design of other family’s homes…Kids are playing…Parents are actively engaged in the design process…Warm bread is being consumed by happy people. We are blessed to say that this vision has played out through the past 15 years. Our families have grown up and in number together. Our kids enjoy playing with your kids. We enjoy being with you. We are literally living our dream.
We love getting to know you.
These homes that we design for you must reflect your family—your hopes, your goals, your loves. It brings us great pleasure and satisfaction to seek out your deep desires, as well as to intently listen to your basic needs, as we go to the drawing board to begin the process of making your “forever home” a reality.
We are realists.
We don’t want to just converse enough to scrape out a design that is your style, we want to know you enough to be able to help make those seemingly big, scary decisions a little less intimidating.
We believe that home is where your story begins, unfolds, comes to life… is lived out.
How do we approach the design process?
Why is Design Important?
If scale, balance, order, function, and proportion are in harmony, your home will express a unique style while staying grounded in familiarity. That is the importance of design. We believe design isn’t just about style. Just as there is comfort in familiarity, there is freshness in taking something from the past and using it in a different way.
The fruition of design does not begin at construction, rather it starts when ideas are first expressed in the process. Design is the thread that holds the whole process together. We will be there for you throughout your journey.
We will work to know you and your family and how you want to live in your home before we ever put pencil to paper. This will ensure that the end result is a unique expression of you.
How Important is Timing?
We all know that you want to be own your new home asaypc! (as soon as you possibly can). Who could blame you? We sure don’t, but we need to be fair and let you know ahead of time that the design process never goes as fast as you imagine it will, or – let’s face it – as fast as you hope it will. As most good things in life do, materializing your dream home will take time.
Understanding time is very important. Each project has its own timing factors: when to design, when to build, and when to move in. Each of these factors needs to be carefully considered with realistic expectations. It is wise to add extra room in you time budget. There are often matters that appear during the process that take up more time than you would have liked.
What do Relationships Have to do with the Design Process?
Relationships are of the utmost importance while you are navigating through the process. Our relationship with you will help us understand your priorities and personalities when it comes time to put pencil to paper. The additional time spent with your designer and builder in the early stages of a project will allow you more time for that relationship to evolve. It’s important to know how each decision affects the overall pricing of your home, so with your builder involved early you will have a better idea of the costs. This creates a smoother process for you with fewer “budget surprises” at the end.
Leave Room in the Budget:
It is a good idea to set aside 5%-10% of your budget for further design challenges during construction. This allows you to upgrade your ideas and allow for cost overruns in the “must have” details.
Leave Room in Time Budget
Through our years of working with various situations and different timeframes, we have learned to think of the various facets of the design process in three general sections: time, quality, and finance. If you are patient and choose not to rush the process (time), then all three sections can be in balance: the time it takes to build will remain within good sense, you can keep to a reasonable budget, and build a high quality home. However, if your eagerness for “move in” day gets the best of you and you find yourself trying to rush decisions, then your choice will be narrowed. In other words, you can only pick two of the three factors. If you aren’t willing to be patient and take your time, then pick any of the two… having all three just won’t happen.
Our design process isn’t for everyone
The truth is that there is absolutely no comparison between the cost of building a custom home and buying through the real estate market. This applies even if the home is modest in size.
People build homes because they either just want to or they can’t find what they are looking for in the real estate market. Unless you are willing to live in your home at least 15 to 20 years then you shouldn’t build if market value is a concern. We went through this dilemma about 4 years ago…
Now you know our philosophy… but more importantly,
what is yours?