FAQs

Below you'll find commonly asked questions and answers to those questions.  If you have a question that isn't listed here, please feel free to ask.  Our preferred method of communication is e-mail.  If you've read all through this site and still have a question that hasn't been answered, please don't hesitate to send an e-mail and ask.

When we are finished will I have plans that I need to build?

This is a question commonly asked regarding new construction projects.
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Yes.  When you finish your project with Building 313 you will have a complete set of construction documents adequate for the construction process.  The level of detail and amount of information will vary depending on what service you have selected, but you will have plans that can be built from and that will satisfy most banks requirements for plans.

Do you do commercial work?

No.  We only do residential work.  We are architectural designers/drafters.  For any commercial work you will need to work with a licensed architect.

Can you tell me how much it will cost per square foot to build my house?

No.  We have a general idea for our area.  But as far as specific cost for your house and level of finishes, you'll have to talk to your builder.  We do not work directly with your financial budget.  Our budget is your square footage.  To find out exactly how much house you can build for your budget, you'll need to talk with a builder and discuss intended finishes and other specifics to get a more firm idea.  If you live in another area of the state or country, builder costs could vary greatly.  It is your responsibility to give us a square footage limit that falls within your budget.  

Do we have to have a builder prior to working with you?

No.  But it sure is nice when you do!  Depending on the complexity of your project, for most homes this isn't an issue.  We have many clients who do not yet have a builder when working on their new construction plans.  It's probably more common for clients to come to us already having a designer when doing an addition or remodel.  This is because many people will have had a builder (or multiple) come look at their project and discuss what is feasible or not and also discuss costs.  The builder will very often tell then they're going to need some plans for their project and that's when they call us.  With new construction projects, if you already have a builder it can be really helpful for us to have someone to call directly with questions regarding how they'd like to handle certain areas.  Any time we have a question with something structural it is very comforting to us to be able to talk to the builder and know that what we're designing is something they will easily be able to build or figure out or if we need to take another approach.  This isn't an issue we have on every project, but sometimes we come across things we would love to be able to ask about.  If you are building in our area, I do know several builders around here if you need recommendations.

How long does it take?

Project times vary depending on the type of project and the responsiveness and decisiveness of the client.  But below you'll find general estimated times considering ideal conditions:

Basic Plans - Ideally 2-3 weeks
Detailed Custom Plans - Ideally 3-6 months
Full Custom Plans - Generally 6+ months
Remodels and Additions - Completely depends on the scope of work for the project

Projects can take a considerably longer time due to several factors including slow responses by clients, indecisiveness by clients, or because of the time of year (we have specific breaks built into our calendar).  

What's the actual process to get started?

The very first step is to read everything on this website and learn as much as possible about how we do things!  If you've made it to this point, you probably already have.  Why is this so important?  Well, when we talk on the phone it's very easy to spend an hour or more educating you on how we do things, why we do it that way, and answering questions.  If it's during business hours then that is most likely taking time away from project work on projects currently in.  If it's after business hours, it might be taking time away from family time.  That absolutely doesn't mean we don't want to talk on the phone.  It just means that because of this I've taken time to explain our processes in as much detail here as I possibly can.  Everything you're reading here basically covers all the topics we usually discuss on the phone.  It's listed here to help save some time talking on the phone, so you can familiarize yourself with our ways prior to talking, and so when we do talk on the phone we can discuss the particulars of YOUR project and just be more efficient overall.

If you've read everything here and it all sounds fabulous and you're seriously interested in working with Building 313, then head over to our Contact Us page and fill out the info and submit.  I'll get an e-mail and will get back with you.  We might e-mail back and forth a few times for me to gather some more information.  If it looks like your project might be a good fit for us and we can help you out and that you might want to work with us, we'll usually set up a phone call to discuss further.

If after that correspondence you definitely want to work with us, we'll either add you to the waitlist or we'll schedule an office meeting, depending on the type of project and our load at the time.  If you go on the waitlist, regardless of for what type of project, we'll stay in touch with you over time and when you reach the top and we have an opening we'll schedule that office meeting.

At the office meeting we'll look at what you've got as far as where to start from, discuss some details, and often make a few decisions.  I'll gather even more information and then after the meeting I'll prepare your program.  A program is basically a list of things saying we're going to do a home for you that has this, this, and this.  I send the program to you for review and it just helps clarify that we're on the same page.  It also helps to clarify the scope of work.  All the important info needs to go on there, so we don't work on your home and get very far along and then you say, oh hey I really wanted a floor plan that includes this type of feature that isn't on this one.  Well, we need to know certain things up front.  We will help you with those things.  We don't need to know what color cabinets you want at the initial meeting, but we will generally tell you to start picking out appliances if you haven't already.  Why?  Before too long we're going to need to know if you're going to use a standard fridge or large separates, because it's going to affect the layout and the amount of space we allow.

So at the meeting, you will typically pay your retainer fee and sign your contract.  If we don't have an office meeting you may mail those or scan and e-mail and pay by card.  We won't actually start your project until we have those.

After that we are starting your project and work on designing the perfect home for you!

It sounds like you don't want to talk on the phone? Why?

Well, it's not that I don't want to talk on the phone.  It's simply that I firmly believe in working smarter, not harder.  Sometimes, Building 313 gets a large influx of calls and e-mails.  If I spend and hour or two talking on the phone with everyone, I literally might not get any project work done.  The priority with our time is always going to be on the project work in.  While it's important to talk to new potential clients, we also have to have a balance.  Since we can handle a lot of the discussion right here by keeping this website full of most of the information you need, it helps eliminate having to say the same thing over and over again.  

I also use this tactic with projects in.  There are certain topics I explain to almost every single client.  Awhile back, I realized it would be smart to simply write blog posts for these topics.  There are things I have typed in e-mails to clients probably dozens and dozens of times over the years.  I finally wised up and started taking the most common of those things and making them into blog posts.  This way, when that topic comes up, I can simply send a link and say hey, this comes up all the time so I've written this.  Read it, then let me know if you have questions.  I'm really just trying to be as efficient with my time long term as is possible.

While I know that might come across as rude, I hope you don't take it that way, as it's not intended to be.  I hope you'll look at it as thankful that when we are working on YOUR project, we are staying as focused on that as possible.  If we have 2 hours allotted for your project on any given day you'll probably be pleased that we handled correspondence with potential clients in as efficient a manner as possible and didn't cut you short on time.

It's also important to know that 99% of the time it's just me (Megan) around here.  I'm mostly a one woman show.  I handle everything from this website, new client inquiries, bookkeeping, social media, all paperwork, printing, supplies . . to project work.  So it's a juggle to find the right balance.  I like to keep things running as efficiently as I possibly can to allow as much work time for project work.  I'm also a mom, so I do have a family life as well.  Balance is everything! 

Sometimes you say I and sometimes you say we. What's up with that?!

Well, I (Megan) spent over nine years with it being just me.  I have in the past brought on another drafter for a period of time.  At the time of this writing it is currently just "me", but sometimes it has been a "we".  There's always the potential it could be a "we" again in the future, so for some things I just let them be.  So while it's just me at the moment, some things I discuss on this site are from my standpoint and some are from a more collective "we" standpoint.  On one hand I could be proper and go through and make everything super consistent with one or the other, but sometimes I just like to go with the flow . . .so the things that feel we are we and the things that feel I are I.  Simple as that.

Do you have examples of what your construction documents look like?

Yes.  And no.  I don't have a sample plan for sharing on here.  Not yet anyway.  That's something I'd like to add in the future when I can get to it.  However, while almost all of our clients are ok with us sharing images from their projects, we don't share floor plans.  It's a bit of a privacy thing.  What we CAN do if you really want to see some is to show you some in person, or possibly e-mail you a PDF of a completed set to give you an example of what you can expect to see.  However, I know that as soon as I post a sample plan on here someone is going to find it and copy it.  It's what happens in this industry.  So I need to ensure that when I do that it's a design that doesn't belong to anyone else.  Unfortunately, that means spending time working up a home that I'm not getting paid for and that's something that can be difficult to squeeze in time to work on.  So it's on my wishlist, but until it actually happens we'll just have to go old school.  I don't send these to just anyone, I will only send them to people I feel they can be trusted with.  It would be unthinkable to me that I might e-mail someone a set of prints just to review and then they would steal them and go build a house with them (not to mention illegal).  But there are plenty of dishonest folks out there and it could happen.  I would hate for one person to spend a large sum of money on custom plans and then another just run with them.  So I am VERY judicious with this.  I hope you'll understand and I also hope it won't be too awfully long before I have some examples that are ready for sharing!

Do you offer stock plans?

No, not at this time.  However, it's something that's in the works.  Hopefully we will have our first flight ready to launch early 2020.  Fingers crossed we can make it happen before then!