PROCESS

PRE-DESIGN

We would love to meet and discuss your project. You will likely have a lot of ideas as well as a lot of questions. The building process can seem complex and daunting, particularly if you haven’t built before. One aspect of our role is to be your guide throughout the construction journey, to answer those questions and ensure you have the confidence and the clarity to build something outstanding.

In these initial meetings, we will have a number of conversations where we can tease out the practicalities of your project as well as some of the harder-to-define things like how you want your home to feel.

Working together, we’ll develop a brief which gives clarity and structure to these ideas and will become a touchpoint to assess the scheme as the design progresses. We will also pull together the required information about the site. For a renovation this will likely require a site measure of the existing home. For almost all projects this will include a survey to accurately define contours and boundaries, which we will help to facilitate.

During this pre-design stage we will also visit your site to better understand the site conditions, views, neighbouring buildings and landforms, sun and light. A small number of sites may require additional topographical or geotechnical reports.

Pre-design deliverables:

• Project brief (developed collaboratively)

• Compiled existing site documents (e.g. certificate of title, drainage plans and zoning and town planning information)

• Survey (facilitated through a surveyor)

• Site plan (shows the position of the house in relationship to the site, views and contours)

• Plans of the existing house (for renovations, if measure-up was required)

• Additional site reports (if required)

PRELIMINARY DESIGN (+ CONCEPT DESIGN)

CONCEPT DESIGN

With the projects parameters established, we will begin developing concepts, the first part of preliminary design. A concept is a proposed solution to the problem set out in the brief.

While you will undoubtedly have ideas of how your house could be arranged, we bring both our deep expertise in optimising spaces for a great home but also fresh eyes to the site and the brief, allowing us to generate ideas that deliver to the potential outlined in your brief but may be different to your expectations. The real value that an architect brings to a project is this ability to see a spatial problem in a new way and offer a design that delivers more than you envisaged. While this stage is often the most exciting, it can also feel uncomfortable. Candid discussions about what does and does not resonate is essential and we love the robust and thoughtful conversations that inevitably result.

While we present sketch plans, at this concept stage, we often find diagrams to be a useful way to illustrate how a house might work without getting too fixated on detail that will be refined later. These diagrams can showcase the intent of how a house opens up, how one moves through the spaces, or how it connects to surrounding views or spaces. This allows for good discussions about the big moves of the house as well as the potential opportunities or constraints that this approach would produce.

Concept Deliverables

• Diagrams and drawings explaining the design intent.

• Bulk and location

• Loose floor plans

• Concept floor plans, elevations

PRELIMINARY DESIGN

While this agreed concept will still feel rudimentary, its approach – how the form will sit on the site, connect to the surrounding yards and street, and arrange the spaces – will be well-defined. This becomes a strong foundation for the second phase of this stage – preliminary design - where we start to craft a house.

Preliminary design is where we begin to give real form to the house. Spatial arrangements are refined to series of rooms, thresholds, decks and overhangs. The rough conceptual form is refined to outline the height and shape of elements including stairs, windows, and doors. Buildability, structure, and materiality are considered and give shape to a recognisable house.

This stage will include further consultation with the Council as we refine what is possible. Also at this stage we would start to work with external consultants like a structural engineer.

As part of this concept refinement, we would confirm if a resource consent is required. A rough estimate of costs will be discussed, but only based on square metre rates.

Preliminary design deliverables:

• CAD drawings of floor plans, elevations and basic cross sections and

• 3D model (computer model, possibly also a physical model)

DEVELOPED DESIGN/RESOURCE CONSENT

Once the preliminary design is approved, the design is developed in more detail in consultation with external consultants including a structural engineer. A further level of accuracy and detail is added. Building elements are given accurate sizing, depth and clearances which allows for proportions to be finalised and may also identify clashes or constraints that would require the design to be adjusted. This is a key stage in the process because not only is it the last opportunity for you to make significant changes, it is also when the architect is able to investigate the design to a level of detail that may also require adjustments. Budget will play a large role here and discussions about priorities, value and substitutions will occur as the design is refined and we better gauge the costs.

At this stage, we will also present a material palette and early specification of internal and external finishes and fixtures. These will set up the tone and texture for the look and feel of the house.

If a resource consent is required (either because of the site requirements – coastal sites often require resource consents, for instance, or due to the design) in this stage we put together the necessary documentation, write an assessment of environmental effects for neighbours to sign off, then lodge the consent with council. Expect a Resource Consent to take a minimum of four weeks to be processed and approved, but can often be longer.

At the conclusion of this phase, before proceeding with the full detailed drawings and specifications, we strongly recommend our clients engage a quantity surveyor to estimate a full breakdown of costs. Our architects coordinate these consultants and gather fee proposals for you.

Developed Design Deliverables:

• Plans, sections, elevations suitable for final design (and Resource Consent if required)

• Resource Consent documentation (as required, and may be completed with a

  planner or other consultants)

• Material pallet and specification of finishes and fittings

DETAILED DESIGN

This stage includes three parts: preparing documentation for Building Consent, preparing documentation for construction and tendering the project to select a builder.

At the end of Developed Design, the agreed design is locked in and we then translate the design into working drawings and specifications for the Building Consent application. As part of this process, we coordinate any other consultants’ documentation into the singular finished set. Detailed design is exactly that – detailed. The working drawings required for council are usually over 100 pages and is a significant piece of work that can take between 2 and 4 months for our firm to document.

It is our role to lodge the building consent. In our experience, a building consent for an architectural home (which tends to have more complexity) take about 2 months, but of course, this can vary depending on council workloads and the project.

The Building Consent drawings do not require some of the detailed information that the construction drawings will need so this stage then also includes the creation of additional drawings – kitchen cabinetry, and window schedules, for examples, that will be needed for the build.

Detailed design deliverables:

• Plans, elevations, sections (Including materials, finishes and manufacturers notes.)

• Details (clear intention for how a specific junction of element should be built)

• Specification. (This is a written document that outlines the specific materials, scope

  of work, workmanship and finishes of each element.)

• Additional fit out drawings for construction. (cabinetry and fixtures, electrical and

  lighting layouts, finishes schedules, window schedules, and additional construction

  detailing.)

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION AND OBSERVATION

There are a range of options of how to contract and pay for your home to be constructed. Together, we would discuss and agree preferred procurement method. Most often this is by tender, but there are other options. Once the house is documented to a level that a builder would be able to accurately price, we would create procurement documents including conditions of contract, consult with your lawyers, discuss insurance requirements. Once a contractor is chosen, we would prepare the contract documents for signing, notify the contractor and yourself of any consent conditions and obtain the builder’s projected cash flow.

The majority of this stage involves us carrying out general administration of the contract, preparing supplementary drawings and visiting the site as necessary to inspect the quality and progress of work, general checking of claims, issuing of payment certificates, and ensuring all guarantees and completion certificates within the contract are received.

This stage includes making site visits and maintaining contact with yourself and the builder. We would review each work procedure proposed and problem solve alongside the contractor when unforseen issues or changes may affect work. It includes checking selected materials and components supplied to the site for compliance with the contract documents.

Importantly, this stage allows us to handle any queries and clarifications regarding the construction or the contract. Houses are complex and it is never possible to document every issue in detailed design and clarifications will always be required. Any alterations or variations to the contract will be documented and any changes in the contract sum checked.

Note: we do not supervise the works. Supervision implies a much greater role than we provide and is done by the Contractor.

INTERIOR DESIGN AND; LANDSCAPING

We are able to provide additional services specifically for interior design and/or landscaping, or coordinate and collaborate with additional consultants. The interiors, including the furniture selection, and landscaping are key to great architecture and while they sit outside of the scope of designing a house, we are always interested in triangulating these three important aspects to make a project really sing.