The Bright Spot Design-Build Process

Goal: To determine if we’re an appropriate match for your home improvement project.

Steps:

• If you’re interested in working with us after looking through our website, please submit an inquiry form on our contact page.

• Depending on our availability and the nature of your project, we will respond to your inquiry with an offer to schedule either a short call or site visit to explore our potential compatibility.

• After a site visit, we can typically provide a free, very rough ballpark estimate range of costs for your project based on our past experience and gut sense only. If that range looks good to you, we can follow it up with a customized Design Agreement proposal.

• Signing the Design Agreement and submitting a deposit ($500-$1000 depending on project scope) will get you into our design queue, and we will begin the process outlined below when your turn comes.

Time and Materials ≈ 20% of Total Project Budget

The following is a full menu of the design services we offer. For larger jobs, they function best all together and in this sequence as a comprehensive package, but they can also be performed as needed on an à la carte basis as is often the case for smaller jobs. The percentage listed next to each phase refers to the relative proportion of billable time it typically takes within a comprehensive design process.

Phase 1 - Conceptual Design (~30% of D & P)

Goal: To determine a viable scheme for the project that is worth developing.

Steps:

• Discuss your fundamental needs and desires for the project through meetings, emails, and other means of communication as appropriate.

• Survey the site to document existing conditions. Take notes, photos, and measurements and translate data into an as-built 3D model in Sketchup Pro.

• Assess the feasibility of the potential project scope by conducting research and consulting specialists as needed. Hazardous materials sampling and testing are often required here.

• Create conceptual proposals for spatial solutions via digital modeling and present associated sketches for your review. Repeat as necessary until a viable scheme is determined.

• Roughly estimate realistic budgets for proposed solutions and share via itemized Rough Estimate documents in JobTread. Repeat as necessary until a viable scheme is determined.

Phase 2 - Design Development (~60% of D & P)

Goal: To refine the chosen concept into a detailed, construction-ready plan.

Steps:

• Explore your preferences on design specifics (e.g. product color/finish, composition, source, quality, dimension, location, etc.) through verbal and written discussion as needed.

• Record and expand on the design details discussion within a shared google document, where ideas will evolve toward final product selection.

• Enable your selection of specific products by researching/shopping, making suggestions, and providing and working with samples as needed.

• Collaborate with subcontractors to plan and price out the details of their services. This often involves at least one on-site meeting with each sub.

• Develop the digital 3D model with proposed design details and present associated drawings for your review. Repeat as necessary until a final, desirable design is achieved.

• Continue to refine the project budget to reflect design developments and share with you via revised, itemized estimates for review until a final budget is approved.

• From the developed 3D model, create Construction Documents as needed. Depending on the nature and scope of your project, the set of drawings required is widely variable.

• PERMITS: If required, submit applications and/or facilitate the acquisition of all relevant permits. If approved, move on to the next step in this list. If not, revise the design accordingly, repeating the steps listed above as needed, until an approved permit is acquired.

• From the final, permitted design, create and issue a fixed-price Construction Contract. Your signature and a deposit payment initiate the Construction Phase.*

*Note: The Construction Phase of a project typically starts before its Design & Planning Phase is fully complete. However, we will describe the Construction Phase after describing the next and final phase of Design & Planning.

Phase 3 - Construction Administration (~10% of D & P)

Goal: To support, and adapt as needed, the design through to its full manifestation.

Steps:

• Continue the relevant steps from Phase 2 of Design & Planning in areas of the scope where the design wasn’t finalized prior to the onset of construction (ie. where allowances were put into the budget rather than specifications).

• Revisit and/or revise the design, even where finalized, if actual conditions are different enough from what was predicted, or if your needs or desires evolve.

• Facilitate the return of unwanted products and purchase of replacements as per design revisions.

Construction

Goal: To physically bring the project vision to full fruition, in the spirit of its Why.

Process:

• The signed Construction Contract yielded by the design process contains all of the specifications of the project according to categories such as “Plumbing” and “Finish Carpentry” but not necessarily in order of process. A gantt chart created in JobTread is used in-house to organize the construction schedule and can be shared with you upon request. (Note: construction schedules are always subject to change rather than being fixed.)

• A Construction Contract may have have some line items priced as an “allowance,” meaning a specific product has not been chosen but a realistic average price has been plugged into the budget as a placeholder. Once a final product is chosen, the balance between its actual cost and “allowed” cost will be either credited or charged to you.

• Significant changes to the scope as defined in the Construction Contract will be accounted for in a Change Order, which is essentially a revision to the original contract in the form of a separate contract with similar terms.

• Construction payments are broken down into a series of chunks, from an initial deposit to a final payment, due according to completion of certain phases of the project. Typical larger projects might see a 35/30/30/5 division or something similar.

• Before breaking any ground, we will converse with you on how to best minimize disturbance to your life during the remodel and set up a work plan accordingly. Topics include such factors as our working hours and access to the house, workstation and material staging locations, dust and surface protection needs and preferences, and temporary setups for decommissioned aspects.

• We pride ourselves on having open, compassionate communication with our remodel clients. Ultimately, we are working in service to your well-being, so we aim to be approachable and available to anything that comes up for you around the construction process and to tend to your needs with care.