I start with the customers budget. No sense wasting everyones time designing a house you already know the customer can't afford.


Then we look at the site... size, orientation, lot layout, driveways, setbacks, figure out where the septic and the well will go. They aren't always negotiable.

Then we find out what the customer wants... Everything first floor????, First floor with a loft, open floor plan? nooks and crannies? decks, porches,

How do they cook and where do they generally eat? breakfast bar? more formal dining room? How much intertaining do they do? How many people come, What do they do on the holidays, were do you have coffee in the morning now and do you like that.

How many houses have you lived in? Have you ever built a house before or is this the first one? Give me a list of the things you disliked the most of the houses you have been in or lived in.

Then we draw first floor plans until the customer sees something they like. We keep drawing and revising until the house becomes what the customer wants to pay for. We never draw something that will be beyond thier budget or can't be built.

After that... then we embelish the first floor plans, add second or loft if there is one, add garages, decks porches and ball park the windows until we get a window schedule.

Then 3d drawings of the frame and 3d elevations of the house.

Don't think I've ever seen a tree or a timber that knew the answers to all of these questions.

My feeling is if a customer wants to drop a half million dollars on a house,,,the timbers will just have to cooperate .