Our Design Process

What is our Design Process? The studio offers various phases of design and our clients can choose what they would like to have our studio do for them, so our clients are not obligated to do all the phases. If a client just wants schematic designs- that is fine. If our client wants the whole enchilada completed by our studio then that is fine too.

Our design process is made up of various phases of design and each phase builds on the previous phase- beginning with our Pre-Design Phases: initial site analysis and As-Built Drawings and then moving into our Design Phases: 1.schematic design, design development and construction/contract documents. We then can commence with our Post-Design Phases: Bidding and Construction Administration.

Below you will find detailed descriptions of what each of our phases entails. (Please note that not every client may need and/or desire all the phases that we offer. This is just a sample of what our studio can offer to each of our clients.) 

1. PRE-DESIGN PHASES:

• Phase I ~ Initial Site Analysis: through careful analysis of your area's zoning codes and your site's specific conditions we figure out what can be built on the site such as:How high can we build? How much square footage can we add to the site do we need to be aware of a flood plain are their historic regulations?

• Phase II~ As-Built Drawings: The on-site measurements of the existing building conditions are gathered and placed into drawings.

2. DESIGN PHASES:

• Phase III~ Schematic Design: Design ideas are produced for the client to review and compare.

• ·Phase IV~ Design Development: Drawings begin to take definition with the  addition of furniture plans, dimensions, + material selections.

• Phase V~ Construction/Contract Documents: The detailed drawing set is completed for bidding, permitting and construction.

3. POST DESIGN PHASES:

• Phase VI~ Bidding:  Project is presented and explained to the bidding general contractors by us, and their bids are then reviewed and placed on a spread sheet to see how the bids compare. We will act as an adviser for our clients choosing their project’s general contractor.

• Phase VII~ Construction Administration:  regular meetings between owner, general contractor & MSRD are scheduled along with site visits for construction observation + payment requests are reviewed by us.