SD & D Addition process

Addition Process

Communication, Creativity and Ideas create good design.

THE ADDITION PROCESS:

What to expect:

When you call us, we will review the project with you over the phone. Once we understand the scope of the work we will give you an estimated range of cost for our design services. This fee is approximate and cannot be finalized until we make a jobsite visit.

We charge a flat fee for the jobsite visit and consultation as described below. This fee will be quoted to you over the phone based on the distance to the home and the extent of work to be performed. 95% of our field visit fees are $350.00 - $450.00.

Unlike most firms that do little to no onsite design, you and we, as a team will produce a rough design during our field visit. We have found that this interactive team approach to the design achieves the best results.

Our unique interactive process starts by having two certified professional building designers attend the 1st and subsequent meetings. We will listen to your needs/wants/dreams and both of us may have a different interpretation of what those are. This allows either of us to clarify when needed to keep the design on track. In many cases the final design may not be what your original thoughts were, but due to the many obstacles, utilities, setbacks, etc, it will still incorporate your true needs.

Our 1st appointment at your home is the most important of any of our meetings. This is the basis for the entire design process. We strongly suggest that all of the decision makers for the project attend this meeting. This is typically the husband and wife but may include other family members living in the home. In addition, any documentation you may already have such as original plans, septic layouts, plats as well as pictures of things you want can greatly facilitate the process.

This meeting generally starts around 8:00am and last from 3 to 6 hours. When we arrive at your home we will take a quick tour of the area(s) to be added or remodeled and begin the discussion of why here vs. there. This first step is to get up to speed on where your thoughts are and begin the determination of what the scope of project will be. The next step is everyone sitting down and explaining to us what they would like in the addition and how the space is to be used. You need not have drawn any sketches. However if you have tried to design any portion of the project even if it did not pan out we are able use your sketches to pickup on your thoughts. We are trying to get a general feel of how the space will be used, so we will be taking plenty of notes and asking questions.

Once we have a good concept of what you are looking for we will start measuring and sketching the floor plans for the addition/remodel. This is the core of our process, which will develop and be improved upon each step of the way. We will have discussions about each area throughout the design process. The sketches are to approximate scale in a rough form at this point. As this process continues we will have several recommendations based on past jobs we have done, as well as describing why or why not something can be done due to codes or setbacks and what an alternative could be. IE: We may have designed a bath area 3 different ways to achieve a pleasing and functional space. Once we have finished our initial design we will be able to give you a firm flat fee for our complete design services, not including engineering fees, which we will discuss if we think they may be required. There are very few times where an engineer will have to be involved, mostly related to code requirements, which are outside our control. Our design fee is separate from the flat fee for the field visit.

Payments: We require a 50% of our total fee to start the working drawings. When the job is completed we would be paid the balance of our fee.

The next step is to get full measurements of the home allowing us to start the actual working drawings. This may be on the initial trip or scheduled for another day.

All other meetings will take place at our office where we have full access to our resources. There is no charge for our meetings or revisions to the drawings. The exception would be if there was a major change in the scope of the project. IE: the addition changes from the right side of the home to the left side. This is a very unusual.

Typically there are from 2 to 5 meetings in our office to complete the working drawings. We are able to send PDF files of the drawing to you via e-mail for your review or to show you an alternate design that we think feel is a better.

Our designers are up to date on the latest International Residential Code as adopted by Virginia allowing us to guarantee that your working plans will meet the current codes and structural requirements to receive a building permit from your local building inspections department. If you are out of state, we will contact your local building official and find out what their requirements may be. Most states around Virginia use some version of the International Residential Code, but may have local exceptions or additions. We are also members of VBCOA (Virginia Building and Code Officials Association) and have been to many of their code training classes.

The foundation of SD & D is our staff members that are responsive and approachable creating quality customer service.