Services

At the start of any renovation or construction project, we carefully listen to your vision for your home. We'll talk with you at length to understand your goals, scope and budget. Through a series of thoughtful questions and suggestions, together we'll develop a conceptual design that matches your vision. We'll help you to explore options and opportunities you might not have considered and guide you towards creative alternatives that both meet your needs and fit in your budget. We'll walk you through your intended usages of the new space to make sure we consider all of the possibilities.

You can help this part of the process by carefully thinking through what you must have, what you want, what would be nice to have and what you definitely don't want. Make a list of features, include everything you can think of and prioritize them into those categories. Gather images of houses and living spaces from magazines and the internet that inspire and excite you. Look for trends in the images you've collected and envision how those elements might look in your new space.

Also, spend some time thinking about how much you can afford to spend versus how much you want to spend, given your tastes and the likely resale value of your improvements. You can find out more about cost estimates, creating a budget and determining resale value in our resources section.

After we feel we understand the scope of the project, we'll prepare a preliminary cost estimate. Together with the conceptual plans, this estimate forms the basis for your decision to hire us to continue with the design phase of the project.

During the design phase, we'll sketch drawings of your new space and help you visualize what it could look like in various different configurations. We'll help you consider the implications of multiple uses of the space and draft floor layout options, window and door placement, and other considerations such as lighting and electrical outlet placement. We'll also ensure that the design meets all code requirements. At the end of the design phase, you'll have an exact bid for the build phase of the project, the bulk of the cost.

You'll be narrowing your vision down during this phase and determining how your budget influences your list of priorities. We want you to be as sure as you can that the final design is a realistic plan of what you want the most and can afford. Our goal is not just to design a space that works but one that you love. If you're anything less than excited and ready to move forward, then we will help to revise the design and budget until you're certain you're going to be happy with the results

Next comes the build phase, during which our expert craftsmen will create the space to match our new design.

Clear and timely communication is imperative during this phase. Because what seems like a small design change can actually have a big impact on the construction, we need to be clear with each other about changes that you want to make and the impact to the schedule and cost of the project they will entail. For any change with such an impact, we'll ask you to sign a change order so that we're in agreement about the details of the change and so that we both have a full history of the project as it progresses.

The build phase of the project is the most exciting and we recommend you take lots of pictures as the project progresses. It's also the most disruptive to you and your family, if you have chosen to live in the house that is being remodeled. We are very respectful and will clean up after ourselves at the end of each day but while we're working, we'll be using power tools, running extension cords, creating dust and doing a variety of other things that could pose safety hazards to small children and pets and could cause you some stress over time. You can help us by letting us know if there is anything else we can do to minimize our impact on your day to day life. We are very responsive to these requests as we know how hard it can be to be displaced in your own home. We also recommend that you take time away from the house to relax and rejuvenate. Now is a good time to plan a few weekends away to take breaks from the construction.

After we finish construction, we'll give you some time to enjoy your new space and come up with a punch list of last details for us to take care of. Anything that isn't quite right or not working the way you thought it would should go on this list.

At last the construction is complete and you can move in to and start enjoying living in your new space.

We warranty all of our work for a year after completion, so if you find any issues that you didn't immediately notice, don't hesitate to let us know. We want to know how your new space works out for you over time so please keep in touch.

Our business is based entirely on referrals and we take pride in the fact that our clients become clients for life.