The Designer Level Services are Warren’s most popular services for obtaining house plans. Warren’s Designer services have a very high value per dollar spent and are what he recommends for most single family home construction projects. Service Level D is intended for one of the following two situations:
1) The client has or wants to design the basic floor plan layout themselves but would like assistance with the exterior elevations, would like Warren to review the plan for recommended improvements, and desire a quality set of plans that have an appropriate amount of detail to depict the wants and needs of the client to the contractor.
2) This service level is also for those who may have designed the floor plan and exterior elevations themselves but have generated a design that is complex enough that it requires detail beyond that of a drafting service and/or needs structural coordination to be properly documented and resolved.
There are many features that set the Designer Level Services apart from a Drafting Service. The Designer Services begin with a startup meeting where Warren utilizes a detailed 15 page questionnaire to extract the wants and needs of the client. This questionnaire, created by Warren, brings up many topics the client has not thought of previously and sparks many questions. During this meeting Warren also reviews with the client anything that the client has collected to assist in communicating their wants and needs. Beyond the design requirements, during this meeting Warren reviews the service contract in detail, discuses the design process, and answers any questions that the Client may have. After the startup meeting, Warren visits the site that the home is to be built on. This site visit allows Warren to have an understanding of the homes surroundings, context, neighboring homes, tree locations, ground slope, and more which all helps with determining where the home should be located on the property, what the best orientation is, and if there are any other special considerations that should be considered.
During the design of the home, with the Designer Level Services, Warren places furniture into the homes floor plan which is an asset to the design process in many ways. Placing furniture in the homes floor plan allows the client to have a better understanding of the sizing of each room or space and how circulation will flow through the home. The furniture layout also greatly aids in the placement of doors, windows, light fixtures, and electrical outlets.
Once the floor plan has been approved by the client, Warren designs the exterior elevations to suite the approved floor plan and the client’s desired exterior design style. With the Designer level services, the exterior elevations curb appeal and on site perception is given great consideration. This aids greatly in the homes resale value and ease of sale. Once the exterior elevations are approved, Warren adds all the remaining detail that will be utilized in the final construction documents so that the client can do a complete review prior to beginning structural coordination (structural coordination will be discussed later). Information added at this point in the design process includes, but is not limited to, a ceiling plan with details, an exterior wall section, elevations of all interior and exterior doors and windows with general specifications, a detailed schematic electrical plan designed to provide quality lighting (not to simply meet code, unless that is desired), a foundation plan with details, and miscellaneous text, tags, and dimensions.
It is important to note that the fee for the Designer Level Services include client requested revisions until the structural coordination has begun as long as the revisions are requested at the appropriate time in the process, are within reason, and are not circular in nature. With the Designer Level Services, it is very rare that additional fees are required to be added on top of the price per square foot under roof for basic services due to changes (or for any other reason).
Once the final review set (Design Development Review Drawings) have been approved, Warren begins the structural coordination process with the truss company and structural engineer. Warren has preferred truss companies and structural engineers that have proven to do quality work at a reasonable price but can work with those selected by the client if the client has a qualified and experienced person/company they would like Warren to work with. The larger and more complicated a project becomes, the more important, and at times critical, this phase of the project becomes. Warren reviews the truss package provided by the truss company in detail to check for compliance with the architectural design and to coordinate the location of interior bearing walls and columns. Warren also verifies with the truss layout that light fixtures, HVAC ductwork, and plumbing can be installed as desired and needed. If conflicts are found, Warren coordinates with the truss company to resolve such issues. Once the truss package is finalized, it is forwarded along with the architectural drawings to the structural engineer. The structural engineer provides structural specifications such as the sizing of beams, steel reinforcement in the foundations, spacing of roof sheathing nails, hurricane straps, and more. Once this package is complete, Warren checks the structural specifications with the architectural plans to assure that all documents are consistent and to resolve any conflicts that may exist. This structural coordination process (when provided by an individual with the construction knowledge to do it properly) makes the construction process go very smoothly.
In summary, this service provides a set of house plans that are based on the clients floor plan, are well thought out, have construction issues resolved, and have an amount of detail that is appropriate for a semi-custom home. This service level typically results in 10 to 15 pages of construction documents for a single story house.
The disadvantage of Designer Service Level D is that it is based on a floor plan designed by the client. This causes the visual appeal and functionality of the home to be somewhat limited by the design abilities of the person who prepared the original floor plan. Although Warren typically provides recommended improvements to the floor plan, the plan is not drastically redesigned. For this reason, if the design budget will allow, Warren recommends considering Service Level C over Level D (Level C is the same as Level D with the exception of the floor plan being custom designed from scratch, by Warren, instead of being designed by the client). However, Warren is happy to provide whichever service level you prefer.