“Improve Your Conversations With Builders By Having A Plan You Understand.”
Are you looking to build a home or addition soon, and you are you currently looking for someone to design a custom plan for you? I would love to speak with you about designing your project. With my years of experience and working with many builders who have won design awards, I understand excellent home design and what it takes to achieve this. I love the design phase of creating a custom home tailored to each customer’s needs. One thing that will help you tremendously is that I design in 3D so you can visualize every change that we make. This helps my clients see and understand their plans and elevations as we proceed.
One of the essential things that I offer is to keep designing and redesigning your plans until you love the design. I know that God blessed me with my talent, so if it takes me one or a hundred times, there is no additional charge for redesigning. A lot of my competition will give you three or four design revisions and then charge you extra. Design is a very creative process, and just when you think you have it, another idea comes about, so your plan keeps growing until you explore every idea. There are so many things to think about when planning your new home. First, I will not overwhelm you. We will go step by step and explore each step as we go. It is important to do a furniture plan as we design each space. How big does each space need to be? Is your dining table able to fit 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 people? Is there room for a buffet or hutch, and are you able to walk around the table without people having to move their chairs in as people walk by? When relaxing in your family room, you should be able to view the tv, fireplace, and outdoors simultaneously so your back is not against any of these items to make the room comfortable and flow better without getting glare on your tv. The kitchen design is so important – is there one person that typically cooks or two? You need space here so you are not getting in each other’s way. Your bedrooms should be laid out so you can rearrange your furniture at least two different ways. I try to eliminate hallways and have you walk through each space to take advantage of your square footage. You need focal points developed. When you walk into a foyer of a two-story home, you don’t want to look up and see the bathroom door opened with a view of the toilet. Where will you store your sweeper, extra blankets, sporting equipment, book bags, crafts, etc.?
I will develop your specifications as we proceed so you have everything in place to avoid having a lot of “extras”. When designing a project, it is typical for me to send the preliminary project out to get a quote from a lumber company, get a cabinet bid, and get bids for foundation work. Once this is all done, I send the project to a structural engineer. This way, my client has an idea of costs and can see if they’re being taken advantage of by the builder’s quote. It’s important for me to educate my private clients. The typical overcharge when building a new house is 30%. Most people already have their financing maxed out and don’t have the extra cash in order to upgrade to what they want. This happens when a builder is very vague with his specifications. For example, the builder will give you an allowance for your fixtures, but the client usually doesn’t understand that the allowances are very low until they select their items after the fact. For example, do you want a one-piece $300.00 toilet or a two-piece $100.00 toilet? The builder will say that you get builders grade carpeting, which usually means that this is the lowest quality of carpeting allowed in a home. It will show track marks where you walk much sooner than a higher grade of carpeting. I have seen so many ways that clients have been taken advantage of, such as one client had 35 windows in their new home and when they moved in, none of them had screens. Why? Because the screens were not in their specifications. This is how builders make money. I was set up at the Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show, and a carpenter stopped by and told me that he was in the middle of framing a house, and he couldn’t believe his ears. The builder was doing a walk-through with the new homeowner, and she said she wanted to add a plug for her Christmas tree that she forgot. The builder said ok, and that will be $125.00.
Meanwhile, before they were under contract, the builder said he does the electrical to code. The homeowner had no idea that means a plug every 12 feet except kitchens and agreed to this. Before they were under contract, the builder said he priced each plug at $17.00 apiece. Therefore, the builder just made an extra $108.00 profit. It would be different if the electrical rough-ins were already in place or they had to cut drywall to add another plug, but that was not the case.
I honestly lookout for my private clients. When a builder hires me to design a plan for his client, he dosen’t allow me to educate his client because the builder states that it costs him money and takes away from his profit. Not only am I a creative home designer, but I am an educator, and my job is to inform and teach my client as much as I can. Therefore it is essential to give yourself the proper amount of time to develop your design. I will send your kitchen out to bid while we are still in the design process, so you know exactly how much it costs before you go under contract with a builder. I typically save my clients around $10,000 because I send you directly to the man that will make your custom wood cabinets. This cuts out the builder and middleman from marking them up. For example, I’ve seen cabinet bids go from $32,000.00 for all wood cabinets at a big box store to $14,000.00 for the same layout and cabinet sizes. This allows my clients to upgrade to cheery wood cabinets instead of oak wood.
Please feel free to call me at your convenience if you want a smart floor plan that works well. I’m looking forward to speaking with you.