A Concept Design starts your custom home project off right

Are you stuck getting started on your custom home project because you don’t know what you can build with the budget you have? Or don’t know what to budget for the dream home you’ve envisioned because you don’t know what’s architecturally possible on your site? If you are like me, you want to know what you are getting into on a large investment before you start signing large contracts with a builder. The concept design provides you with answers and drawings on a compressed timeline that will then be used for the larger contract you’ll sign to design and build your home. It is one very important part of a long journey and for a comprehensive overview of the entire process, check out our in-depth guide to building your dream home.

Let’s break down what a concept design is and how it will help you. We’ll answer:

What is a concept design?
What does a concept design look like?
What does a concept design cost?
Is a concept design right for you?

WHAT IS A CONCEPT DESIGN?

When building a custom home, doing large modifications or additions to your property a concept design is used to answer two main questions:

What can we build here?
What budget do we need?

The concept design will provide you with options for your project at a macro scale with pricing ranges to help narrow in on a way forward. It shows you what you can build with rough massing models and basic floor plans. At the end of the concept design, you’ll know what square footage, type of foundation, general massing on the site, and number of bedrooms, and bathrooms. We think of it as a very educated sketch. If there is more than one option we can help you decide which way to move forward based on our knowledge of construction cost and timing.

Let’s break down the two parts of a concept design:

Part 1: Design Options “What can we build here?” To answer this question we conduct research and look at the constraints on your project:

Site characteristics: Using a preliminary title report, topographic survey, geotechnical survey, and walkthroughs we will get to know the conditions of your site. Some examples of information we look for include: What is the slope? What is the soil composition? Are there any protected trees in the proposed area for future construction? What other structures, roads, and utilities exist? Are there any easements?
Zoning requirements: Every municipality has its own rules about how properties can be developed and we will research your specific zoning requirements. For example, some areas have a 30’ max building height while others have deep front setbacks, both of which will shape the possibilities of what can be built on your property. Some zoning requirements are variable based on the site conditions which is why we also need to research those (above).
Existing property conditions: In the case of modifications and additions we will look at the existing property by performing an as-built survey. The survey will be documented in 2D drawings as well as a 3D model. We look at the whole house including as some examples: Foundation, framing, roofing, floor levels, access and more.
Your dream home wish list. The most important piece of research is of course understanding what you hope to build. We document your ideas and wishes so we can work them into the design options. For example, you may want a custom home in the mid-century style with 5 bedrooms, a great room, and a pool but don’t yet know how it will be configured on your lot. Or maybe you want to add 1,000 square feet to your home but don’t know where to add it and how it will affect the rest of your home. For whatever your unique project requires, we will first gather all the information about what you hope to create so we can incorporate it into the design concepts.

Part 2: Costing “What budget do we need?” Now that we have the foundation of design concepts and options we can use our experience in general contracting to put ballpark cost ranges on each option.

If you have ever met with a general contractor early on in your journey they probably gave you a price per square foot for the work and said “We don’t know what this will cost until we have plans.” That is very true. For any general contractor, they won’t know the cost of the work until they have a set of permitted drawings to build off of.

So for the concept design, how do we get past this hurdle? First off, we do not just give a flat price per square foot cost as it is not helpful to anyone. We look at the main costing components of each design option like the site, foundation, framing etc. While we cannot provide a quote until construction drawings are complete we can distinguish relative costs between the design options. This is what is helpful in the concept design. We will be able to see how each design option affects costs and explain it to you to help you decide.

Here are some examples:

If you build a 2,000 sqft home on a flat lot it will cost you significantly less than if that same home is built into a slope. The costs of excavation, grading, and a more substantial foundation do not exist on a flat site. Depending on the slope, it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just to prepare the site for construction.
If you are adding onto an existing home the existing foundation might need significant work depending on where the addition is sited.
For modifications and additions, certain construction work might trigger costly code-required upgrades to the home.

WHAT DOES A CONCEPT DESIGN LOOK LIKE?

A concept design is a package of research and drawings. The research will include zoning, surveys, and other property legal documents. The drawings will depict any number of options for the design of how the project is oriented on the site, massing, and layout. The drawings are in 2D and 3D formats and may include a rendering. The purpose of the drawings is to help you decide which direction you want to pursue for moving forward with your project. Every project is unique and your concept design may have some but not necessarily all of these surveys and drawings. If you want to go over an example that fits your project please contact us. Some examples of models are below:

Hillside custom home, basic massing model

Multi-unit development, basic floor plan model

Multi-unit development, concept rendering

WHAT DOES A CONCEPT DESIGN COST?

The concept design is the first step in the process of architectural work for your custom home and therefore it is a percentage of the total work done by the Architect plus the fees required to conduct the research necessary. Let’s look at these two factors;

Design fees: Each concept design is a little different but generally the design fees are between 5-10% of the total architectural fee. This is not in addition to the architectural fees because the concept design is the first step in the process.
Research fees: Most custom home projects will need a number of surveys completed prior to design. These include boundary surveys, topographic surveys, requesting preliminary title reports, soil surveys, and as-built plans (if there is an existing structure on site that is to be modified). Some or all of these may be needed to complete the concept design.

Considering the overall financial investment you’ll make to build your dream home, the concept design is a great way to get off on the right foot.

WHY IS THE CONCEPT DESIGN VALUABLE?

The concept design is valuable because it gives you clarity on how to move forward. At the end of the concept design phase, you will have everything you need to move into the next design phase of your project. Your surveys will be completed, basic floor plans drawn, and a clear sense of cost for the design option you chose. You will feel confident that you explored various options for your project and landed on the best one for you without a big commitment to a builder. You can become unstuck from wondering about what’s possible and focus on ideas for your dream home project that you know you can build.

With our team, a concept design will give you access to cost modeling because we have experience in the construction side of the process.

IS A CONCEPT DESIGN RIGHT FOR YOU?

The concept design is always right for you since it is always the first step in your journey to building a custom home. It is a quick way to get answers about how to move your project forward and can be executed without the commitment of a design-build contract. Whether it’s a la carte or part of a larger contract, your design concept phase will narrow down your options and illuminate the path forward to build your dream home.

IN CONCLUSION

In summary, the concept design is:

A collaborative process between you and our team of architects, designers, and engineering partners
Using what we know about the site’s conditions and zoning constraints to design a few options that show the mass and location of your dream home on your site
Preliminary designs to show how the vision of your dream home can be realized on your specific site and within your budget range

We wrote this post because many clients we meet have the same puzzle to solve and they ask us this: What can we build here and for how much? From their perspective, this is a chicken-and-egg scenario…How do we know what our budget is if we don’t know what we can build? Or maybe they have a set budget and want to know what they can build with it? A concept design solves this puzzle and provides much clarity on the journey to building a custom home. If you are a developer you can check out our post on feasibility studies which takes the concept design one step further to provide investment values on various iterations of the design to help investors understand the best way to develop a property for their portfolio.

We hope this was helpful information. If you want to discuss your project please contact us.

Stuck wondering what you can build? Try a Concept Design.