HOW A GREAT DESIGN SERVICE TURNS A HOUSE INTO A HOME
You’ve worked hard. You’ve achieved a lot, and been rewarded for your hard work. You’ve carved out a respected spot in the life of the community, and enjoy the admiration of your friends.
Now it’s time to settle down and you’ve been keeping an eye out for that perfect lot on which to build your family’s home, in just the right neighbourhood. Not the cookie-cutter packages you’ve seen in numerous developments, but your very own, custom-made piece of heaven in which to grow your family.
Now as you sit in the clubhouse, listening to your friends talk about their building experiences, you cringe. Tales of pain and anguish. Your wife reminds you that she is sick of renting, and you know she has been reading architectural magazines and watching HGTV for months now. You'd like to build, but every time you think about it, your knees buckle.
You’re not alone, my friend.
More than half of all construction projects go wrong:
Cost over-runs that cause budget and banking problems
Poor quality workmanship
Long delays in completion
Discovering that the design doesn't really fit your lifestyle
High utility and maintenance bills because of poor climatic design
Low market value due to all of the above.
How can you avoid these pitfalls? Here are three things you need to know that just might mean the difference between building a dream house project and losing your wife.
1. WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?
As strange as it may sound, most people have never really sat back and looked at our own lifestyle. We unconsciously borrow one from TV or the movies or from our successful friends. We plan a house built up of pre-determined room names and sizes, with a certain style or appearance for the building, and perhaps that feature everybody’s talking about these days. We forget the Friday night prayer group that needs a quiet space, away from the TV, or somewhere besides the driveway for the kids to ride, or somewhere to store the fishing gear. And when we remember them, we quietly hope they will fit somewhere.
But your family is unique, and it is attention to the unique needs of your family that transforms your house into a home. A Project Foundations Review workshop walks you through the compiling of a set of requirements for your particular project, including the development of a Budget, so that when you begin to design, your unique needs are the foundations on which that design is built.
2. WHAT DO ARCHITECTS DO?
Remember when you were a kid, and your Mom or Dad walked you to school? They knew exactly what you needed to have before leaving home, and made sure you had your school books, your lunch box and your favorite red pencil. They chose the safest route with the most interesting things for you to see to get you to school. And when they said goodbye at the door, they assured you that they would be there when it was time for you to go back home. You felt safe, and you could put all your attention on having fun at school.
Architects hold your hand, remind you what you need to have before you start your project for it to be successful, and are there whenever you need assurance that the world is not out to get you. Of course, they do a lot of other technical stuff, but holding your hand is their main job. (Our free ebook “What Architects Do” gives a little more detail about the rest of that stuff.)
3. CAN I AFFORD IT?
Yes.....!
Now instead of listening to your friends and squirming, you could be joking about where to put the flat screens and bar-b-q. Our user-friendly design service, from our patented “Project Foundation Review” workshop through the creation of a concept, design and construction documents and finally through the construction, is our way of removing the threat of nightmares from the building process. Dreams are just so much more fun!
As a kid, your mom and dad held your hand through those frightening times. We hold your hand through the building process. Fill in the form above to find out more about “What Architects Do”. It’s FREE.
We’re looking forward to getting to know you.
The Team at Patrick Rahming & Associates
P.S. Remember that design is about getting what you want. To make sure we know what you want, we strongly suggest our Project Foundations Review workshop. This low cost, low commitment service gives you a complete overview of your project requirements BEFORE YOU START THE DESIGN PROCESS. Contact us to arrange a meeting.
P.P.S Don’t forget to Fill in the form above to download our FREE e-book “How Architects Work”.