Are you considering building a home, a home extension, or a renovation project? You can take the traditional route and have a designer draw up plans before taking them to a building company, or another option is to see a design and build company, which can do both under the same roof.
Here are the five different types of ‘designers’:
Architect
Building designer
Draftsperson
Any of the above, working for a builder
Design and build company
In this blog, we will cover exactly what a design and build company is, and several advantages and disadvantages of this type of designer.
What Does A Design And Build Company Do?
You have most likely seen many building or renovation companies promote themselves as ‘design and build’, but what does that mean? Essentially, it means that the company builds from in-house designs. Small and large home building companies offer this service as a ‘one stop shop’ for the consumer.
Its main benefit is that the entire project is covered by one contract, with the coordinator to deliver both design and construction services. A design and build company is responsible for every aspect of a build, from estimation and assessments to subcontracting and construction itself.
Advantages Of Using a Design and Build Company
The Power of Teamwork
The collaborative approach behind design and build can be used to your advantage. For instance, if you encounter issues, you have access to multiple solutions from different sources, such as the designer, engineer, and builder.
Faster Project Delivery
Though not a guaranteed advantage of design and build, using a single company can lead to faster delivery with fewer back-and-forth problems.
Single Point of Contact
Renovating, building, or extending is never a stress-free task, therefore, you want to do everything to make this process as smooth as possible. With a single point of contact, there is less chance of misunderstandings or miscommunications with a design and build company.
Know what it costs
A design and construct builder knows what your build will cost, it is very common for a home owner to engage an architect to design their dream home often spending 10s of thousands including council approvals only to then only find afterwards that they cannot secure the funds to do the build. Whereas a design and construct builder most commonly provides a design and a price for the build as one package before spending too much money.
Disadvantages Of Using a Design and Build Company
The Design May Not Belong to You
Understandably, you wouldn’t ask one bakery to custom design a cake for you, then expect to be able to take their design and ask a different bakery to make the end product.
It’s usually the same with a design and build company – you typically cannot take the designs and plans from one company and pass them onto another. This can land you in hot water with copyright laws, but with that being said, some builders may allow it if you ask first.
Design Limitations
This doesn’t apply to all design and build companies, but some have ‘stock’ designs that they use which are modified to suit a homeowners’ needs. Your final design may not be completely custom, and this may be something to think about before ruling out your other options.
Spannenberg & Son: Your Home Renovation & Extension Specialists
At Spannenberg & Son, we offer Design & Construct services that are supported by our highly skilled in-house designers and builders to ensure that your project is completed efficiently, professionally, and correctly. We’d love to show you our portfolio of projects at Spannenberg & Sons to get you inspired for your next project.
Contact Spannenberg & Son to get started on your dream home renovation, build, or extension today!