The sooner a person has finalized their own thoughts the sooner the plans can be produced. Actual document preparation will take about two or three weeks. Meeting with the homeowner and working through details of the house, depending upon the design and the tastes of the owner, can take days or months.

Yes. In designing your home it’s best to begin with what you do know. If you have a preference to size, budget, the extent of your entertaining, privacy concerns, location noise, number of household members, these are all useful points to begin with. Your age, your future plans, investment purposes, will all affect the direction your plan will go. We often can look at several architectural styles and see where your preferences take us.

We provide remodel services in the greater Portland, Oregon metro area including Southwest Washington. The scope and cost depends on several factors discussed in an initial meeting. If your project is limited to moving walls that do not bear the load of the roof, you can do much of the design work yourself or with an interior designer. The benefit of a design professional is that you can obtain feedback on considerations you may have overlooked as well as tricks to keep the cost down.

If you’re planning to add square footage to the house, or the remodel plan is in some way impacting the structural aspects of the house, the cost of hiring a professional is a wise decision. With structural remodeling, drawings that communicate your architectural wishes are necessary for the structural engineer and other construction professionals to do their job.

Every building site has advantages and disadvantages. We recommend you do your best to select a site before you select a stock design or create a custom house plan. Many people find the “perfect house plan” prior to purchasing a lot, and in doing so fail to capture the best aspects of their building site. If you know exactly what kind of lot you’re considering and the dimensions associated with your preferred site, it’s feasible to start the design process.

Most design companies in our region do not provide site visits. For a relatively small fee, it can be very helpful to have your designer look at your lot before you buy it.

Yes, we can visit the jobsite, make recommendations regarding home placement without you being present. Before the plans can be finalized, however, you will have to visit the site and provide final approval of the plans.

Please read our Copyright Law document regarding the scope of copyright law for architectural works (COPYRIGHT STANDARDS PDF). Copyright infringement is a serious crime. Designers and architects make their living from their creativity and industry knowledge. Refined plans may take hundreds of hours of development. Blondino Design does not duplicate designs created by others but may use concepts and ideas from other plans to help define the client’s wishes. Getting ideas however from a book or a picture is not illegal or copyright infringement. Copying a plan is.

It is also true that design professionals borrow design aspects from the works of others, and have done so since the beginning of architectural history. In some situations, there are only so many ways to utilize an interior space. Hence, the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act does not protect common configurations of spaces, and individual standard features, such as windows, doors, and other staple building components, as well as functional elements whose design or placement is dictated by utilitarian concerns.

Sometimes a plan company will not modify a design or cannot do so in the timeframe a client requires. In such a case you may be able to purchase a vellum or cad design, with a limited use agreement by which another designer may modify the plan in your behalf. The modified plan and the original are both the property of the original vendor and may not be reused on another site without permission. Even if the modifications are dramatic, if a limited use agreement has been signed it is legally enforceable.

For moisture reduction the best time is summer and fall in the Pacific Northwest, however, builders build all year long. If you are beginning construction during wet weather, it is in the homeowner’s interest to require moisture levels be reduced before interior walls are covered.

We are not real estate agents or consultants, but we can provide you with feasibility recommendations once you’ve identified one or more lots that you are considering for purchase.

The design liability is actually quite small. Since the builder is licensed and bonded to build the structure, and the engineer who will review your plans is responsible for the calculations and structural integrity of the plans, the designer’s only concern is that the plans reflect the desires of the owner. The owner will approve these plans prior to the actual completion of the plan set. The approved plan set will be submitted by you to building department or the contractor subsequent to approval.

No. If you want feedback and recommendations during construction we can be hired as a consultant to the home owner, but even with that, we do not claim to be a contractor and do not warrant any of the workmanship or take responsibility for actual construction. Project observation is intended in more extensive architectural services to provide a professional review of the architectural concerns of the project and the clients express wishes.

Many people look at stock home plans and they see the interior dimensions of a room and consider that living space. Sometimes municipalities will use this technique to determine the taxable footage. In construction, however, living space is measured from the outermost dimensions of the heat portion of the structure. Living space is the framing and area inside the framing that is heated as a livable environment. Unfinished area will include the unheated areas in and outside the house such as garage, decks, patios, etc…

Not necessarily. Often when people design a home they include “bonus rooms” and then request that a design be created for future construction. This makes it possible to incorporate the plumbing, heating, and electrical items in advance of the completion of that space. When we design the area as finished area, it is such in our fees. However, in these cases we will print your plans to reflect such spaces as “unfinished” as you want them and can provide you with a floor plan sheet not to be included in your submitted documentation that will help make future remodeling possible. Understand that it is in your interest to always obtain building permits and have your work inspected by your local building department’s inspector.

Yes. In custom homes we take great pride in the quality of our designs. We are happy to review window placement and design aspects of the home during framing and finishing, and will gladly work with the homeowner to review the construction prior to the final occupancy inspection. Even so, we always recommend that a homeowner have the home inspected before occupancy by a licensed home inspector. It’s a minimal cost and often turns up important oversights that would otherwise be missed.

We provide you with the documents an experienced builder needs to get permits. These are the items you will need:

• Elevations (views of the exterior of the structure from all sides)
• Basic floor plan with room names
• Floor plans of all living space with dimensions, notes and a general lighting plan
• Roof Plan (top view of the roof with appropriate roof slopes noted)
• Architectural Floor Framing Plan
• Architectural Foundation Plan
• Sections and architectural details
• Window and Door Schedule or Window and Door text notations on the Floor Plans.

The following documents can be produced on a fee basis or may be included in your plans depending on the design characteristics and what is agreed to in your work order.

• Site plan usually on an 8 1/2″x11″ sheet
• Landscape Plan
• “As Built” Existing structure (remodel only)
• Architectural Details for interior features (not required for permits but helps the builder)
• A furniture plan