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For design teams

You have the drawings. We build what is on them

  1. All services
  2. /Architect-Led Construction

Where an architect is already engaged, our job is narrower and more specific: price the design honestly, say early where it will be difficult to build, and deliver it without turning the relationship adversarial.

An architect's set, priced line by line

01

What's included

  • Preconstruction pricing against the design at whatever stage it has reached.

  • Buildability and constructability review, issued as comments rather than objections.

  • Value engineering options that name what each one costs the design.

  • Permitting, procurement and full construction delivery.

  • Direct coordination with the design team throughout, without the client relaying.

Fig. 01 — Full preconstruction against the issued drawings
Fig. 02 — Value engineering that names what it removes
Fig. 03 — Site management with the design team in the loop
02

What the work involves

Fig. 04 — The drawing set marked with every priced assumption

We prefer to be engaged during design development rather than at the end. Pricing a finished set is a number; pricing a developing set is a conversation, and the conversation is where the savings are.

Our comments go to the architect, not around them. A builder who negotiates the design with the client behind the architect's back is a builder who will do the same to you.

Fig. 05 — Site meeting with the architect present, not copied in

Requests for information get answered rather than accumulated. Shop drawings and submittals are reviewed on a published schedule so the design team can plan around them.

Where a detail cannot be built as drawn, we propose an alternative that preserves the intent and say plainly what it changes.

03

What drives the cost

How long it takes

Set by the design programme

Our preconstruction typically runs six to twelve weeks alongside design development, then construction to the agreed schedule.

We do not publish a range for this work, because it is set by someone else's design rather than by our scope. What we will do is price it honestly at whatever stage the drawings have reached, and tell you early if the design and the budget are not in the same place.

Preconstruction engagement
$6,000 – $30,000

Scaled to design stage and complexity. Credited against the contract if we proceed to build.

Design complexity
10% – 40% above a conventional build

Bespoke joinery, concealed fixings, unusual glazing and tight tolerances all cost labour rather than material.

Structural and specialist engineering
$5,000 – $40,000

Where not already carried by the design team.

Contract type
Fixed price, or cost-plus with a guaranteed maximum

Fixed price suits a complete set. Cost-plus with a cap suits a design still developing, and shows you the actual costs.

04

How it runs

  1. 01

    Introduction

    A conversation with the design team, not a homeowner qualification form.

  2. 02

    Preconstruction

    Pricing, buildability review and procurement strategy.

  3. 03

    Contract

    Fixed price or cost-plus with a guaranteed maximum, as suits the job.

  4. 04

    Construction

    Delivery, with the design team in the loop rather than informed afterwards.

  5. 05

    Close-out

    Punch list run with the architect, then warranty.

05

Living through it

Usually not applicable — architect-led work on this scale is normally done vacant, and the programme assumes it.

Where the client is staying, the containment and protection are the same as any occupied job, and the sequence is planned around it from preconstruction.

Fig. 06 — Coordination between three parties on one programme
Fig. 07 — RFIs answered on site rather than by email
Fig. 08 — Handover with the design team walking it too

Work like this

↔
West University
Kitchen opened to the back of the house
↔
Bellaire
Second-storey addition over an existing slab

The things people worry about

  1. 01How change orders work
  2. 02What happens when something is wrong behind a wall
  3. 03The full process

Common questions

Yes, though we will tell you what we think of the set while we do it. A tender return with no comments is a builder who has either not read the drawings or has priced the gaps as extras. We would rather be involved earlier, but we are not precious about it.

Directly. Call the office and ask for preconstruction — the homeowner inquiry form is the long way round for a professional peer and we do not expect you to fill it in. Send the drawing set at whatever stage it is at, and we will tell you what we can price and what we cannot yet.

Send us the set

At whatever stage it has reached. We will tell you what we can price now and what needs developing first.

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