Making the decision to remodel your home can be very daunting. For many, it can take months or years to take that leap of faith and let people into your home, which is your safe space. Here at Stearns, we’ve spent years fine-tuning and meticulously planning to make it as painless as possible.
Let’s walk through our home remodeling process to get a better understanding!
Complimentary Consultation
Your first meeting is with Hugh Stearns, the president of Stearns Design Build. This is an opportunity for us as a business to understand and reflect on the big picture of what you’ve been dreaming of changing, as well as your concerns. We hope you will leave this meeting with valuable information regardless of who you decide to hire.
We do require a design retainer fee after this point. Our design retainer isn’t an additional fee added to the cost of your job. In fact, your retainer is basically a payment for the job that gets applied like any other payment would. It does not add to your bill or change your budget estimate. It is just, in essence, a deposit and an investment into your home + future.
Initial Design Meeting
Welcome to the information gathering and analyzing step! The designer and production manager is coming to your home to take lots of measurements and pictures. In this meeting, we will talk more about the details of the project and how to make the space custom for you.
Our goal is to create a space for you that is exactly what you need, envision, and desire.
If you’re remodeling your kitchen, We want to know every dreamy detail you’ve ever imagined to make it the most efficient, beautiful, customized, and functional space for you and your family.
Feasibility Meeting
Design time! Ok, not yet but we’re getting close :) We’ve taken the information you’ve given us to create budget expectations. Our goal is to make the scope of work meet the budget.
The feasibility evaluation prevents us from creating a design that is out of your budget or not creating a design as grand as you would like. With very little time spent, this large range allows us to start providing a sense of where the project budget is likely to fall.
Concept Meeting
For large projects, there may be more than one concept meeting. In this meeting, we are laying out the general concept of the project.
We will review the floor plan drawings and refined budgetary information.
Charrette
Charrette is a fancy French word indicating an all-hands meeting. This often takes place at your home and we bring in various members of our team such as the job manager, plumber, and electrician to talk through the concept.
We get everyone’s input on what they will need to do their part of the job and to start the process of problem-solving so that we can avoid doing this during construction.
This is an element of Design Build that is very beneficial to anyone getting their home remodeled. Our production team is heavily involved during the design phase to make sure the cost of all aspects of the project are taken in to account early in the process so there are no surprises down the road. We are all in involved from start to finish which adds an inherent efficiency and effectiveness to the process.
Design Development
It’s TIME! In this phase, we design feature elements such as stairs, cabinetry, fireplaces, and built-in furniture.
You get to pick your paint colors, selections, backsplash, and more! Our designer will help guide you through this process so it doesn’t get overwhelming while making decisions.
This is the fun part: You are able to see the design of your future space come to life.
Proposal
This includes complete design, short of construction documentation. It comes with a proposal and a construction contract.
You will see what your future space looks like and make sure it’s perfect for you.
Pre-Construction Meeting
Before we break ground, we will meet with you at your home to review the schedule and details such as where we will stack materials, where dust walls will be installed, and where the port-o-potty will go.
We will also talk about starting times and weekly meetings among other details.
This is your home and we want to make the process as comfortable for you as possible. By scheduling all this information, everyone is clear on the plan moving forward.
We also have weekly project meetings with the job manager to review changes and your happiness with how things are going!
Open Wall Meeting
This meeting takes place right before we start covering things up at your home. You can see where switches and lights will be. We will review the height of fixtures and the direction of door swings.
A time for last-minute changes with less impact on the budget.
Celebrating your project
Finally, the project is completed! Time to show it off. We provide a wine and cheese party for 12 of your closest friends and family.
We will be on hand to toast to your improved home and answer questions about the design and construction of your beautiful project.
Warranty + Continuing Care
We are always available to monitor and adjust our work as necessary. Additionally, we will call you periodically to make sure that everything is in good working order and to ask questions about the durability of the work we have done for you. Our goal is to build projects and relationships that will last for generations.
We are proud to be a part of the BCS community since 1993 and we want to continue to serve for years to come.
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