ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Have you ever driven by a house and thought, "UGH! Good LORD, what were they thinking?" I have. Chances are, the homeowner who built that house might have thought the same thing at some point. Thinking, "I imagined this turning out a whole lot better than it did." And, it probably should have.

Sometimes houses look good on the architectural drawings, but end up terrible in real life. But how is the homeowner to know that may happen, and how do they avoid that extremely disappointing reality? This happens often - today more than ever before - because people tend to not be able to see the reality of a finished product in drawing form. If you use Ai, then you can easily avoid this situation, and pretty much guarantee that you'll see the real picture early on.

Of course, you must first have properly designed plans of a house that WILL look good in the real world. But what about when your builder - intending good faith - makes adjustments in the field to save money, and you don't have the eyes of a design professional on what's being done? Though good intentions are meant, builders are not expected to know design, or even have the design capabilities that designers provide. It is in times like this that your design professional should be working with you and your builder, focusing on keeping the home in concert with the design. HausPlanned offers a one-on-one design observation service that helps the you and your builder through these modifications, changes, and even additions.

Country estate home- designed by Ty White
7,160 Heated SF

Now of course I've had a number of houses that I designed that look AMAZING on paper, but not so amazing after it was built. Each time there was usually tone of two reasons why that happened... In the early years, admittedly it was inexperience. However, over the years, it was almost always because of dumbing down during construction without my input as the designer. An avoidable situation, selectable by the client.

Quite often as homebuilders change things in the field intending to lower cost, they sometimes substitute lesser quality products and/or finishes in effort to save money. As mentioned, unfortunately, the result can often land on the house not retaining the "bang" that was in the design on the drawings, losing them due to over simplification. Those important design details can easily get lost or muddied, resulting in a, "Meh..." appearance, producing a very disappointing finished product.

I've always hated seeing that happen to a house. Particularly when it's one of mine. You can actually see what I'm talking about in a few of the houses in my Gallery of Homes on this very website, built by others. Houses that I built or directed over the decades were built to either PRECISELY follow the drawings as shown, or when necessary, built as close as possible to the original design when changes become necessary or wanted.

Regardless, making changes foolishly without thinking about design is simply, foolish. And the result can be visually displeasing. This is why you want your design professional involved throughout your building process, working in concert with you and your builder.

Lakefront home- designed by Ty White

HAUSPLANNED'S APPROACH

To counter this often unintentional deviation from the architecture and our plans from happening, I have elected to offer being more involved with my clients' homes during construction, and additionally, have hand-pickled a select few homebuilders whom I work very closely with during construction, on behalf of my clients. Likewise, being mindful from the beginning, I design my clients' homes with clear understanding of budget, Menu, and expectations & reality of the build, to lessen the dumbing down possibility. This is invaluable, especially when working with familiar builder teams.

The design is ultimately a three-legged table. Menu, budget, and expectations & the reality of the build. All three legs must work together and be the same length, or the table is not going to work properly, and WILL tumble. This all begins with smart, educated design principles, coupled with taste and good details. Designing with education and clear thought on cost, and identifying roadblocks that MAY cause substitutions, keeps the design intact. That's proper design.

HausPlanned does this, and does it the correct way. Thinking of the client and the budget from pre-planning through to dusting off the counter tops and placing the centerpiece. Knowing your subject is the key to success for a good, well thought out, home created from professional resources. Ty.

KEEP THE DESIGN DETAILS INTACT

Scamozzi capital & architrave

A detail of a scamozzi capital column, untraditionally tucked completely under the architrave. An acceptable design, limiting bird nests and keeps the capital clean. Dentil block moulding at crown.

Brackets & operable shutters

Anymore, composite is King. In this case, the bracket and shutter are classic design, and made of cellular PVC. Eliminating rot and damage over time. Cement based shingle siding shown.

Copper "Charleston" rain chains

Grabbing a bit of history, the copper rain chain is found everywhere in the low-country of South Carolina. This design allows rain to flow to the ground to a collector, without a downspout.

A TYPICAL BUILDER'S SET OF PLANS

Pause the scrolling action by left clicking on the image. Afterwards, manually use the forward and back arrows.

THE FIT THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU

There are various packages of plans that one can request. From the most extensive, to our minimum approvable, The Builder's set. The levels vary greatly, as do the costs, details, and the amount of time invested. HausPlanned listens to the client and helps determine the best package for the project at hand.

The plans produced by HausPlanned are very easy to follow. The information provided in the drawings is simple to follow, easy to construct, and when it comes to involved understanding, Ty is literally one phone call away... and close by. As a boutique firm, it is our complete intent to be all-hands-on-deck when a client has a need, or simply has issue that we may be able to help with. And there ARE no dumb questions. All question are valid in this firm.

Our most popular and builder preferred set is our Builder's set, as you can see two examples of, above in the slide film. This set of drawings covers all of the conditions from foundation to roof, giving the information necessary for the construction of the home and detailing where deemed necessary. As designers and homebuilders, we understand what WE want to see in a set of someone else's plans, and how they will be used in the field. We look at it from the builder's point of view, as well as from the eyes of the client, who needs to understand what the house will look like, function as, and the overall picture. We do this and so, with the education and experience of seasoned home designers and house planners, on all of our projects.