October 2023
In this edition: The benefits of outdoor living areas, a Halloween (design) horror story, and the quote of the month- some timeless wisdom from one of the most well know architects.
Return on Design: Making the Case for Integrated Interior-Exterior Living Spaces.
Imagine that you’re going to build a new home or renovate an existing one. Which area(s) or feature(s) of the home do you think about first: Is it the number, type, and size of rooms? The interior finishes? The Kitchen or Bathrooms? Are functional outdoor spaces an afterthought that do not contribute much to the overall design of the home?
A Construction Cost survey, completed in the Fall of 2022 by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicates that outdoor spaces are more the afterthought. The NAHB surveyed 3,891 home builders and 14.1% of their construction costs in 2022 went toward interior trim and doors, lighting, cabinets, countertops, appliances, flooring, and a fireplace. Outdoor structures (deck, patio, porches) amounted to 0.6%. On average, a fireplace accounted for almost as much as outdoor structures.
Why should we incorporate more functional exterior spaces in the design of our homes? Here are a few reasons:
-A design that seamlessly integrates functional exterior areas with interior spaces effectively expands the useable area of your home.
-Indoor/Outdoor living spaces are good for your health. Studies by the National Institute of Health (NIH) indicate that interacting with nature improves cognition and memory, reduce stress by decreasing cortisol levels in the body, and reduce anxiety by increasing your body’s exposure to natural Vitamin D from the sunlight.
-Add value to your home. A Homelight study found that adding exterior spaces provide a 109% return on investment for those spaces.
With obvious health and financial benefits, functional outdoor living areas should account for more than 0.6% of our homes’ construction costs. Are you considering building a new home and want outdoor living areas integrated into the design? Contact me to discuss your goals.
A Halloween (Design) Horror Story: A tale of Choose the Best Value, Not the Cheapest Price.
Potential clients had contacted me to discuss a new home that they wanted to build. They had drawings for a house, but wanted to just make some modifications to the plans. They sent me the plans they had and we discussed the changes that they wanted to make and items such as number of rooms and square footage.
After our discussion, the potential clients asked me for a proposal to make the changes. I could see that the plans they had didn’t really match their overall goals. I would be almost starting over in order to design a home that matched their requirements and my proposal was based on that.
I did not hear back from them and I just figured that it was simply the situation that you don’t win every proposal you put out there.
However, two years later they contacted me again, asking if I was interested in providing design services for a home they wanted to build. Nah, it couldn’t be the same home they asked about two years earlier…why yes, yes it was that same exact home!
After meeting with the clients again, they informed me of the ordeal they had endured. They hired another design professional based on lower fees for design services. Design drawings and construction documents were completed for the proposed home and a building permit was obtained.
It was at this point they realized the issues with the design. The proposed home was twice the square footage they wanted to build, the architectural drawings did not match the structural drawings, and the finished grade on one side of the home would have been above the bottom of the wood framed walls.
Besides receiving construction estimates for twice their budget, contractors bidding on the work also pointed out the corrections that needed to be made on the drawings in order for construction to begin. On top of this, the design professional they hired was not responding to the clients’ efforts to contact him.
That was when they called me again. Unfortunately, I had to start the design from the beginning, and at the point where they would have started with me two years prior. All of that time and effort were lost.
After starting over, I designed a home for my new clients that achieved the vision they had in mind for their new home. Permits have been obtained and the home is under construction.
The morale of the story: not all architects share the same approach or deliver the same value.
Before the design is started on your home, the question of “Why are we doing this?” has to be answered. On the surface, this question may seem to have an obvious answer. However, if you dig below the surface, the answer is not so clear-cut. Truly determining the “why” and being able to articulate it can make the difference between a successful design and one of frustration. Yet so many people, and their architects, rush into design without a clearly defined answer.
I have developed a design process that focuses on clearly defining the “why” and articulating your vision. Once this is done, the “why” serves as the North Star by which design and construction decisions are made. The process continues steadily as you can make more informed decisions. Ultimately, you end up with a more successful design while saving time and money.
-Frank Lloyd Wright
Nothing will blow your budget quicker than making design changes during the construction documents phase or during actual construction. The further into the process you go, the more expensive it is to make changes. Get the design set first, then build!
This is why I have created a pre-design phase in my design process. You might be thinking that an additional step means more time, however, the opposite is true. The pre-design phase is tailored to your project. We focus on such aspects as your available options, the feasibility of your ideas, and establish a ballpark construction budget with a builder specializing in your project type.
This allows you to make quicker and more informed design and construction, and your goals established during the pre-design phase serve as the guide to which all design decisions are made. The end result is a home that meets your vision all while saving you time and money.