The Process for Designing Your Dream Home

Inspiration + Inital Consultation

When designing your custom log or timber frame home we first like to sit down with you in person, or in an online meeting, to discuss your future space. Our goal is to build your dream home just the way you envision it, which makes you the most important member of our design team. From overall home style to unique elements and features, we encourage you to bring your inspiration to the table throughout this phase. We will guide you through a series of questions to determine what your design will require in order to meet your practical living needs, while ensuring it fits your personality and lifestyle. During this phase, we will also discuss site or bylaw considerations, budget matters, and all other objectives that may apply to your project.

• Discovery Meeting: Begin your journey with an in-depth consultation to understand your project’s goals, vision, and requirements. We explore your aspirations for a custom home, whether it’s a timber frame, log cabin, or modern West Coast style.
• Project Scope & Vision: Define the scope, budget, and timeline, ensuring alignment with your lifestyle and design aspirations.
• Personal Needs: Identify your specific preferences and needs. Share inspiration through photos, preferred materials, sketches, and potential layout examples.
• Site Evaluation: Assess the site’s unique characteristics, including topography, views, and environmental factors, to inform the design direction.

Conceptual Design & Vision Exploration

Following our first meeting, our designers will present you with a preliminary concept based on your objectives regarding style and functionality, as well as site and budgetary considerations. Complete floor plans and high-quality 3D renderings will be provided in order to help you visualize your new home. Proposed roof lines and structural elements of your home, including any timber work, are also included during this phase.

• Concept Development: Generate preliminary design concepts incorporating elements of mountain modern, mass timber, or other desired architectural styles, capturing the essence of your vision.
• Floor Plan Exploration: Create schematic floor plans to explore various spatial arrangements and layouts, ensuring they meet your functional needs and preferences.
• Visual Representation: Utilize 3D renderings to visualize proposed design concepts, allowing you to envision your dream home.
• Regulatory Considerations: Review zoning regulations and local or regional building codes to ensure compliance.

Design Development & Refinement

This is the most important stage of the design process. After you have had time to contemplate the initial drawings for your log or timber frame home, we then revise and refine them to meet your needs and wishes exactly. It is imperative that you carefully review all aspects of the design to ensure your expectations have been met, for now and for the future lifespan of your home. We encourage you to be specific and compile a list of changes, questions and comments about the design that you wish to be addressed. In addition, we will provide you with 3D renderings and take you on a guided virtual walk-through to help answer any remaining questions, and enable you to fully visualize your new home.

• Client Collaboration: Refine the chosen concept with detailed architectural components and structural requirements. Provide two revision stages to analyze and give feedback on aesthetics and lifestyle preferences, ensuring open communication and tailored design.
• Timber Frame Development: Develop the 3D timber frame structure to align with your home’s style and budget.
• Personalized Touch: Incorporate preferred finishing materials, colors, and custom design elements to reflect your unique style and personality.
• Subconsultants Coordination: Initial coordination with sub-consultants such as structural engineers, energy advisors, geotech, septic engineers, and environmental consultants.

Permit & Construction Documentation

During this phase, a final set of drawings for construction will be completed. If your design requires engineering, we can provide this for you using our own engineer, allowing construction directives and changes to be made in-house in order to avoid the additional costs of hiring a third party engineering firm.

Once engineering is complete, the plans are then printed, stamped by our engineer, and ready to begin the permitting process through your local building department.

• Construction-Ready Drawings: Produce permit and construction-ready drawings, including all necessary notes, construction details, and calculations required by local and regional building codes.
• Permit Coordination: Work with local authorities to address deficiencies and assist in permit approval as needed.
• Further Subconsultant Coordination: Continued coordination with sub-consultants and issuance of CAD files to support their work and ensure accuracy.

Support During Construction

We are committed to ensuring your design is executed during the building phase with as much precision and diligence as was put into the design process itself, and are available to assist your building team with last minute ideas or changes as they arise. We offer a wide range of additional detailing to help the build phase proceed as smoothly as possible.

• Contractor Selection: Assist in selecting a qualified contractor or builder capable of realizing the design vision and executing the construction process.
• Ongoing Support: Provide ongoing support during construction, offering guidance, clarification, and problem-solving to ensure the successful realization of your custom home.
• Project Completion: Celebrate the culmination of our collaborative efforts as you witness your dream home come to life, from construction to the finished masterpiece.

Through our systematic approach, we bring your ideas to the forefront, ensuring that your luxury custom home – whether a Mountain modern, log cabin, timber frame, or West Coast contemporary-inspired design – becomes a reality. Take the first step towards your dream home and contact us today for a free consultation.