Our Services
Custom Residential Design and Renovation
Designing a custom home in a lake and mountain community or renovating an existing home can be a daunting task. We offer complete design services and are dedicated to providing exceptional personal attention throughout the design process. We concentrate our work in Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, which allows us to be readily available to meet with you or your contractor on site as needed. We know that in most cases our clients do not live locally and have busy schedules limiting their time, which is why we are a vital, local link in communication and coordination.
Our services begin with an introductory meeting to discuss your lifestyle, design preferences, space and room requirements, budget, timeline and a tour of your property. This site visit is extremely important for us to review the land and discuss the house placement and orientation to take full advantage of views and natural features. Once we have a clear idea of your goals, objectives and the building site, we will prepare a detailed proposal outlining the scope of work, schedule and fee for our services.
Our typical design process involves several steps or phases outlined in the following sequence:
Pre-design
A three step process starting with the preparation of a Design and Planning Guide, which is designed to give you a way to express the home features that you want and describes the types and sizes of rooms as well as the preferred relationships between individual rooms and the outdoors. We also ask that you share any photographs, magazine clippings or lists you may have. Even the simplest detail can provide great insight. Next, we will review the Architectural Guidelines, property Covenants and Restrictions and the topographical/tree survey (if a topographical/tree survey is not available, we can order one for you). Finally, we will schedule a site visit to thoroughly review, photograph and document the existing site conditions. Similarly, developing a design for an addition to an existing home or a major or minor remodeling project, involves a tour of the home, taking photographs and measurements.
Conceptual Design
Prepare initial design concepts using site plans, floor plans and exterior elevations illustrating how the house will be situated on the site, how rooms work together and how the house will look from the exterior. During this time we work together exchanging ideas, discussing what is working and what needs to be adjusted. We will refine the design until you have approved the conceptual plans, at which time we stake the property indicating the house location and driveway for your review and approval.
Design Development
Refine the conceptual design into preliminary plans determining final room sizes, adding built-in items and general selection of materials and building methods. Prepare a comprehensive Finish Selection Guide for you or your Interior Designer to select the interior finishes, flooring, trim, hardware, appliances, plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, specialty systems and exterior finishes. We will also coordinate our preliminary work with your contractor to determine a construction budget and with your Landscape Architect/Designer to develop the conceptual landscape plans.
Construction Documentation
Once the design of the home has been thoroughly developed both inside and out, we will begin the construction drawings. All of our plans, details and specifications are clearly laid out to provide complete and comprehensive pricing. We also provide a full-color vignette of the building exterior in specified colors & finishes.
Construction Oversight
We stay involved throughout the construction process making ourselves available to address special details, questions and to resolve any issues that arise during construction. For more comprehensive observation and inspection we offer Construction Administration as an additional service.
Additional Services
Contractor Selection
Assist the Owner in selecting the Contractor and negotiating a construction contract through either a bidding or negotiation process. Whenever possible, we encourage you to select a contractor from the beginning of the design process, which allows for their input and to provide accurate estimates as the project develops.
Contract Administration
Administer the construction work for conformance to Construction Documents with scheduled construction inspections to review, document and photograph the progress. We will process the Contractor’s shop drawings, product data, samples and handle requests for changes during construction through completion. We understand the design of your home inside and out, so when changes occur they can be thoroughly considered and evaluated.
Neighborhood Planning and Design
Our interest in residential design extends to the master planning and design of neighborhoods. The 1997 “Parade of Homes” sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Greenville was held at “Chancellor’s Park”, a neighborhood planned and designed by us and features thirty-nine homes that we designed. We also have experience developing model home programs, patio homes, townhomes and have been involved in the land planning of the residential layout of several golf course communities.
- Site analysis, review and design
- Design and construction documentation of model home plans and specifications
- Review plan options and custom features with homebuyers
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Design entry monument or site features
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Develop architectural guidelines and standards
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Serve on Architectural Review Board
Sales and Marketing Artwork
We produce marketing artwork for builders, developers, realtors and individuals. Whether the need is a single rendering, streetscape elevation, alternative elevation studies, illustrated site plan, rendered floor plans or a full color exterior finish vignette, we can create the artwork.