Time to Initiate the Renovation Process? Let's Talk Conceptual Design

Every renovation project is broken down into multiple phases: conceptual design, design development, construction documents, construction/execution, and project closure. If you haven’t worked with a design-build studio before, you may be unsure of what is entailed for each of these phases, as it is quite different when compared to working with a traditional general contractor. This post will lay out what to expect when working with us during the conceptual design phase.

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​Once a client has signed on to work with us, we start with our Home & Style Assessment. This is an in-home meeting where we learn all about our client – their needs, wants, concerns, and preferences. We also take detailed notes of the space to be renovated, such as measurements, what is in the room, and what items may affect our final design. We use these notes to create our initial design concept, as well as to get estimates from our trade partners. 

​As your design team, we start with space planning. If the room is furnished, this means creating a general layout of what furniture pieces will go where, and what size will fit the scale of the space. If the room has cabinetry, such as a kitchen, this means creating a layout of where cabinetry and appliances will go. Because a kitchen’s cabinetry layout can be complex, we start with a meeting where we just discuss cabinetry layout. By having a detailed layout already completed, it allows us to get a more accurate estimate from our cabinet manufacturer.

Once we have laid out the space, we create an initial design concept with preliminary finishes selected. We use this design concept to get budgetary estimates from each of our trade partners. If the renovation is simple, we can use the notes and pictures that were taken at the Home & Style Assessment in order to get these estimates. If the renovation is particularly complex, we may require a Trade Day, whereby we take a day to bring our trade partners through the space so they can provide a more accurate estimate for their work. Getting these initial numbers is important, as we pride ourselves on keeping our clients informed regarding their potential investment amount, and we want to ensure that our overall design concept will be within a satisfactory budget.

​Once we have completed this work, we present everything to you at our concept design meeting, and you will provide your feedback. Open and honest communication is very important at this point, as your feedback regarding the design concept and the budget needed in order to complete this concept will be what fuels the process going further. With your feedback, we then move on to the design development phase, where we dig even further into the details. More on this next month…

​So far we’ve given you a good description of what WE do in this phase, but what about what YOU need to do? There’s various small, yet vital tasks that we give our clients during the conceptual design phase so we can design a functional and beautiful space. You can download our free checklist to know exactly what to expect.

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​Have any questions or comments regarding the conceptual design phase? Just drop them below; we’d love to hear from you.