Our Design Process

Studio Z will meet with you in your home to discuss your needs, wants, and dreams for your project. This gives you an architect's or interior designer's expertise at a reasonable price, and can be a standalone service or can lead to more work with Studio Z. Read more about our in-home consultation.

Based on the initial meeting, Studio Z will prepare a contract proposal for your review. The proposal will include your project’s scope of work, a description of our professional services and deliverables, and our fees.

Before any design can begin, Studio Z will measure and extensively photograph your home and enter the existing plans and elevations into our computer software. This thorough documentation will serve as the basis for the design process.

Based on the scope of work in our contract, Studio Z will prepare rough designs, which we'll review with you. We'll revise those designs based on your feedback and will review the pros and cons of the changes with you. We'll repeat this process until you're satisfied.

After the schematic design phase, we recommend that you meet with up to three contractors to obtain preliminary cost estimates. We will provide drawings and a written description of the project including our assumptions about the structure, fixtures, and finishes. Once the estimates are ready, we can help you analyze them and decide on a contractor. Committing to a contractor early in the process allows us to tailor our details to their preferred construction methods and will potentially reserve you a slot on the contractor’s schedule.

Studio Z will continue to fine-tune the design, including developing structural systems, kitchen layouts, electrical plans, and other details.

We will work with you to select materials, finishes, and fixtures. This will take place with the design development phase.

Studio Z will finalize the drawings and specifications to form a set of construction documents that will be used to obtain a building permit and will serve as the basis for constructing the project. These are the drawings contractors will use for bidding your project.

Studio Z will assist you in negotiating a construction contract, including an on-site meeting/walk-through with the contractor and subcontractors, collecting and reviewing the bids (if needed), meeting with you and the contractor to refine the scope and budget as needed, and responding to the contractors’ or subcontractors’ questions.

Studio Z will visit the site on a regular basis in order to observe the progress and quality of the work completed by the Contractor to determine whether the work is proceeding in accordance with the construction documents. Based on these site visits, Studio Z will prepare field reports to keep you informed about the progress of the work and will advise you about any issues that might arise.