Five Star Custom Home Design
Architecture is far more than a mere arrangement of rooms, combination of finishes, and creative display of exterior cladding. Our manmade environments influence our mood, our creativity, our resilience. No architecture is more important than that which we call “home”. More than mere shelter, it is your sanctuary, the focal point for your family, and the environment in which you execute the tasks of your daily life. The more your home responds to your unique individual needs and the more it echoes your personality and tastes, the more it can enhance your live. So a home that is properly designed for and around you will better elevate your life. And while sizing and arranging rooms onto a floorplan is important, creating spaces that evoke a sense of peace, tranquility, and empowerment will make your house your home. That’s why we design homes, not houses. And because we build custom homes, we design them to be built… to minimize waste of time, material and labor. We take pride in achieving upscale design features at minimum costs, identifying finishes that look like a million bucks but don’t cost it.
Our Home Design Process
The Initial Interview
We start with an initial interview to identify the basic parameters of your goals. This interview includes a review of pictures, clippings, sketches, etc. you are encouraged to compile so we can begin to understand your preferences. Thereafter, we have you measure each and every room in the home you’re currently living in - even if you don’t like your home. This will give us a point of reference from which to properly program your new home - identifying each room and its size that’s proper for YOU. This program will also begin to define how rooms and spaces relate to each other.
The Deep Dive Interview
We then take a deep dive into how you live. For example, to design your kitchen we learn from you what you like to cook, if and how you entertain, and what your holiday gatherings are like. After all, this is your CUSTOM home, not some “off the rack” tract house. It will be designed around how you live and become an extension of yourself. Upon the completion of this process, we add gross-up factors to account for the area of wall thicknesses and circulation space so we can compile a very accurate square footage total of your new home.
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A completed program of your home will allow us to establish the core budget. If you are outside our construction territory or if you already have your own builder, we will consult with them as their pricing input, construction practices, etc. are critical in the establishment of an accurate, maintainable budget. This begins the “value engineering” phase of your home’s design - exploring with you the various options of interior and exterior features and finishes, assessing the cost impacts of each and prioritizing them to achieve a budget that’s engineered to achieve your maximum value… all the house you can achieve for the budget you have determined.
Preliminary Design / Construction Drawing Phases
With the completion of the programming of your home, we will review your homesite and then begin the Preliminary Design Phase. This allows us to customize the home’s design to fit the lot, amplifying its positive attributes and minimizing its negatives. You will be provided a link to an online 3D model of the preliminary design which allows you to virtually tour your home. Your feedback will assist us in refining the design until you are completely satisfied with every aspect of your home. Only then will we start on the Construction Drawings which usually takes between two to four weeks.
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We will work with you to assemble the team of engineers required for the permitting of your home. Prior to the completion of the Construction Drawings, we will assist them in the completion of all required engineering. And finally, a permit set will be issued to your builder so they can submit for your building permit. If additional information, clarifications, and/or modifications are required by the municipal building authority, we will promptly respond and work with your builder to ensure compliance and ultimately the issuance of your building permit. We are with you all the way until the completion of construction and the issuance of your Certificate of Occupancy.
Optional Design Services
Take your design to an even higher level of beauty and sophistication by adding optional services such as Color Specification of all components, Fixture Specification for plumbing fixtures and / or decorative lighting fixtures, and Finished Flooring & Tile Specifications. These individual services are available via menu pricing.