Sometimes a homeowner doesn’t know what it takes to have an addition put on to their house, and why would they? Not only does it cost a lot of money to build an addition, but there is a lot of work that the homeowner needs to be before they hire a designer. Renovating your home can be a very stressful and emotional process for a homeowner and if you have never done it before, how would you know what to expect?

Making the Dream Come True

Even when I designed the addition to my house, I was very nervous. In fact, I had been doing this for homeowners for years, and this was the first time I did plans for my own house. Coming to the realization that I was going to spend thousands of dollars to renovate our home by tearing off the roof and adding a new room, was pretty terrifying. Once you break the project down into the necessary phases and steps, the process can be exciting for everyone involved as long as the homeowner knows what they want and how to get there.

What Do I Need To Know?

Multiple phases have to be completed before a design project can be built. There is an order to these phases and the steps within a phase all need to be completed. The design phases we use at CHD are listed below:

• Project Information

• Pre-Design

• Schematic Design

• Design Development

• Construction Documents

• Bidding & Negotiation

• Construction Administration

• Project Close Out

The project information and project close out phases are mostly about processing documents and information related to the project. Pre-design, schematic design, design development and construction documents, all focus on design and creating drawings that describe the project for the contractor to build. Bidding & negotiation and construction administration and the phases that take place when choosing a builder and observing the construction.

There is a lot of information that has to be documented, and the design process can feel overwhelming. Our job as the designer is to help the owner to visualize their dream, document the dream and guide the contractor so they can build it. Have you ever had construction work done on your house, or are you considering have work done? Please share below any comments that might help other homeowners with their future design project.