DESIGN BUDGETS

For much of my career my focus was to build and design. In recent years my focus is to design, for others to build, for you. Early on I learned an important lesson that I am attentive to now. I estimated and bid on many projects designed by architects. Interestingly, for the majority of the homes, my bid and all the other bids were too high. Design flaw - too expensive. The projects never got built. What a waste. The owner's dreams dashed, their money wasted. The architect, though paid, wasted his or her time and everyone else's, including mine which also equals money.  So how I approach the design and costs is to be frank - what is your budget? Then I try to design accordingly, pushing the value, utility and aesthetic to maximize what you choose to spend.