Overview of Pippin's Renovation Services

Thank you for your interest in our Design Services for the home renovation/addition project you are considering. The information below describes how we work with our clients on a renovation project.  

Every renovation project is as unique as the homeowners living in it.  

​The first step required is to schedule a time for me (Jenny Pippin) to visit your home and meet with you and your prospective Builder, if you’ve selected one, to compile a ‘Scope of the Project’.  This is our first opportunity to begin assembling the Team of experts that will work cohesively together to design and build your dream home.
 
During this initial site visit consultation, we focus on what makes you and your property unique.  We look for ways to transform your home into a sanctuary that will feel fully supportive of your life for years to come.  When considering the support you want from your home, we look at many factors including the life you want to be living, who you plan to share it with, and the memories you look forward to creating.  We consider your land and how your home can be tailor made for your specific lot with the absolute BEST views possible.  Your health and wellness are brought to center stage as we discuss ways your home can enhance your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.  We will also discuss elements of Accessible and Universal Design as ways to bring more ease into your everyday life.  And, of course, we’ll discuss your needs, desires, goals, and budget.  
 
While listening to all that makes you and your desired home life special, I offer possibilities that I envision, which will give you a fresh perspective on the potential new layout and look for your project. Our fee for this initial ‘Site Visit Consultation’ is $600), which includes the Site Visit, the project overview Consultation and a discussion of potential Design Concepts and suggestions. This initial meeting typically takes 2 hours.  The Site Visit fee is required to be paid in full in order to schedule your site visit.

Why do we charge a site visit fee?
​Our expertise brings great value to helping you know what is possible for your home. The ideas and insights shared will prove valuable to you even before starting the design.

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During the Site Visit, I will take extensive notes, which will become the Scope of the project. Once I’ve completed the Site Visit, the scope of each project is written individually into the form of a Design Proposal, which becomes part of the Design Agreement when signed.  

​The Proposal will outline FOUR phases in the process to create Renovation/Addition Construction Plans.
 
These 4 phases are outlined below:  

PHASE I: As-Built Drawings 

​We create a set of As-Built drawings, which is a set of Floor Plans, Exterior Elevations, and a Roof Plan, of the existing home as it is currently built.  The As-Built drawing is the most critical part of getting a Renovation project started on the right footing.  
 
We use a laser scanning device to capture the exact measurements of every interior and exterior space of the existing structure.  These measurement data-points are what we use to re-create drawings of the entire house using our Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.  
 
These As-Built drawings are the foundation on which we design the renovation, in a way that accurately works and ties in with the existing structure.  The As-Built drawings are also used in each of the 3 remaining phases: Programming and Schematic Design Phase, Design Development Phase, and Construction Drawings (CD’s) Phase.
 
This phase is done in 2 parts: the laser scanning portion and the CAD drawing portion.

Note: If you have an existing set of plans for your current home, we still need to do a laser scan to confirm that your home was built according to the plans you have and we still need to re-create those plans on CAD.

Why an As-Built is Essential for Renovation

PHASE II: Site Assessment and Conceptual Design

Phase II is where we begin to assemble all the parts of the puzzle; where your ideas, dreams, desires and wishes intersect with my expertise and the vision I see for your new remodel.  We hand draw sketches of the Preliminary Design Concepts, including sketches of the initial Floor Plans and a Site Plan concept. 

This is an organic and creative discovery process, an exploration of concepts, in which I intuit and interpret potential design solutions for your home. Through this process I develop a personal connection to your project unbound by the confines of a computer program. These sketches also forge the bond for your emotional connection to your future new home. 

You will review Floor and Site Plans after each draft.  We allow time in our schedule for one revision of the Floor and Site Plans at this stage.  Additional revisions will be provided as needed during phase III.
 
After feedback is received from the Floor and Site Plans, one Exterior Elevation will also be hand drawn and provided for further review.

PHASE III: Design Development

In this phase we enter the preliminary Design Concepts into CAD to create more comprehensive drawings for the proposed renovation.  These CAD drawings include Floor Plans, Exterior Elevations, a Roof Plan, and a Site Plan.  During this phase we include a review of interior and exterior finish materials, and a few 3D Exterior Elevation Perspective Views.  It’s anticipated that no more than 2 reviews take place during this phase.
 
The designs in this phase depict the overall picture of the project and may be used to obtain preliminary cost estimates from Builders.  However, these are not the final Construction Drawings to build from.

Phase IV: Construction Drawings 

Based on the final approved Design Drawings, we create detailed Construction Drawings that provide coherence amongst your entire build team.  Collaboration with your chosen team during this final stage is the most supportive way to fill out all remaining details. These construction drawings are used to obtain structural engineering details from the engineer, builder pricing and permits, and are the drawings used to officially begin building from. 
 
These drawings will contain: the Demolition Plan, the Site Plan (a recent survey will be required for this), the Foundation Plan, the Floor Plan(s) with dimensions and notes, 3-4 Exterior Elevation drawings with notes as required per the Design, a few 3D Exterior Elevation perspective views, the Electrical Plan(s), Typical Wall Section(s) and Building Section(s) as required by the Design, a Window and Door Schedule and any additional information which may be required to complete your project. Additional 3D views of the Interior may be created if requested, for an additional fee, based on the requested number of views. A separate estimate for these additional 3D drawings will be provided, upon request.

Note: Clients may sometimes decide to change the Scope of their project (typically determined in the Site Visit Consultation) by changing their minds about a Design Concept in a later phase.  Be aware that making Scope changes during the Construction Drawing Phase will often result in additional charges, as there are many more elements included in the set of plans that will be impacted at this stage.

​Structural Engineering Drawings are highly recommended.  This is not a service we at Pippin Home Designs provide, however we work together with Structural Engineers as part of a Team and will coordinate getting this service done upon homeowners approval.  A structural Engineer will provide the Structural Engineering drawings separately and they will provide a separate estimate for their services, based on the Construction Drawings we provide to them. 

The structural Engineer’s fee will be in addition
to our fees and is paid directly to the Engineer.

Our Renovation Design Services Proposal will outline these 4 phases and our fees for each step of the process. The structural Engineer’s fee will be in addition to our fee and is paid directly to the Engineer. Once you have a chance to review our Proposal and decide to move forward with your project, we will schedule a time to laser scan your current home to begin creating the As-Built drawings and move forward from there.

Thank you for considering our Renovation Design Services for your dream home.  We look forward to learning more about your project! 

Our Award-Winning Homes with a View are designed to fully support your life and those you love! Give us a call or email us today!

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