Dreaming of designing a new custom home? Although the process can feel overwhelming, most new home construction projects can be broken down into six simple phases of architectural design. Let’s go over what to expect during your custom home design process.
Phase 0: Pre-Design
Before the typical six-step design process can begin, the architecture firm you’ve chosen should invest in a pre-design phase. This phase allows you and the designer to establish a solid, professional, mutually respectful partnership.
Pre-design should start with at least one client meeting where you and the designer get to know each other. Your designer will learn about what you want and don’t want in your new home, what spaces inspire you, and what you ultimately envision in your next space.
At 42 North, we find it best to start with a more casual meeting that encourages connection. We often meet our clients for drinks or coffee to get to know each other. Your home should be designed by a firm that knows you as a person, not just as a client.
Phase 1: Discussing Your Vision
We want to hear every single detail of what you want in your new home. Our team will take additional time before we start putting pen to paper. At a glance, some of the things we’ll do to understand more about your lifestyle vision include:
- Detailed questionnaires about your life and your current home
- Asking about what you hate about your current home
- Even more questions about what you love about your current home, other homes you’ve visited, and even hotels you’ve visited that have caught your eye
All of these questions may seem like a lot, but they’ll help us design the perfect home that fits your exact lifestyle, down to where you set your phone and keys when you come home from work.
A designer who is truly listening to your wants and needs will likely hold off on putting pen to paper to sketch any designs. Though your designer may jot down notes about you and what you like, be wary of any that create an on-the-spot design—at this early of a phase, such a performance has no value to you or the designer.
Phase 2: Touring Your Current Home
A tour of your current home helps your designer learn from what isn’t working. They’ll be able to see for themselves which spaces are heavily used or underutilized and determine ways to optimize the layout of your future home to fit your lifestyle.
At 42 North, this tour is optional depending on how comfortable you are with showing us your current home. However, we’ve discovered that touring your home can tell us a lot about your lifestyle—more than you might realize. This can help us contextualize our conversations with you and make it easier to design the home of your dreams.
Together, we’ll walk through your home to learn about the ergonomic and spatial relations so we can make your new home even better.
Phase 3: Design Development
Clients often get most excited when they reach the design development architectural design phase. This phase is the most exciting—and with the right architecture firm, it can be a stress-free process.
This is where the custom pieces come into play and where the unique elements of your particular home are implemented into the design. This is where you’ll find out what works—and, unfortunately, what doesn’t. The designer will create a final CAD (computer-aided draft) design that will show exactly how the house will look.
Major changes in this stage can add up, both in added time and money. Your designer should incorporate your desires from the earlier phases to avoid wasting your resources on extraneous edits during development. However, expect to share some minor feedback at this stage to tweak the designs into perfection.
At 42 North, we’re dedicated to the details during design and development. Expect to see landscaping, texture, siding, and more in your 3D model.
Phase 4: Bidding and Negotiation
Most architecture firms go straight from design development to drawing up construction documents, only considering price after the fact. At 42 North, we do things a little differently. We help our clients get pricing and expectations from a builder before the construction drawings are completed. This helps save time and money, allowing clients to determine and stay on budget from the get-go.
Many architectural design firms have solid relationships with local companies, so they can help you select the company that will provide quality craftsmanship within the budget you have available for the project. They can also help your construction crew decipher what’s most accurate and help them stay on budget.
You’ll want to choose a company that is familiar with local construction codes to help with the administrative and regulatory needs of the project, such as acquiring permits.
Phase 5: Drawing Up Construction Documents
With the design complete and the builder chosen, the next step is the finalization of the construction documents. There shouldn’t be any big changes at this stage as any major changes should be tackled previously.
The construction documents are a final rendering, so this is the stage at which the final blueprints are created and technical information is conveyed in the plans. You’ll likely need to sign off on the plans in order to move to the next stage.
Phase 6: Construction Administration
When you choose an architecture design firm, you’ll want to select a company that is going to be there for you through each of the architectural design phases. This means you’ll want your designer to be a partner, making frequent site visits to ensure the plans are being put into action according to their expertly designed blueprints.
The architectural designer will not function as a general contractor; instead, they will work closely with the general contractor to ensure the plans are being followed and that the design is coming to fruition the way it was designed.
At 42 North, we’re with you at every step of the construction process. We’re happy to give recommendations for interior designers, landscapers, home technology, and more.
