Initial Discussion

For a potential new project we normally meet with clients for an initial no-obligation discussion. This allows both parties to get a measure of each other while discussing the project. The meeting can either be at our office, in your current home or at the site.

We want to hear your hopes and aspirations for the project, and we can take you through our general design philosophies and illustrate how these have been applied to previous projects.

The information below is intended to give an indicative outline of the process involved in procuring a building (especially a house for a private client) in New Zealand. Our services are customised to suit clients’ needs so at an initial meeting we would discuss the services required specific to your project and our charges. You can ask us anything about the process of building procurement and we will advise on alternative methodologies and their advantages and disadvantages.

The building process can be a complicated one and part of our job is to advise clients when they should use other specialist consultants. Taking advice from specialists early in a project can often save money and time in the long run.

Depending on the complexity of the project we can provide some initial feasibility information about building costs, programme and site suitability in this first meeting. This is covered in more detail in the Project Establishment section.

The design process works from the general to the particular, so it is important that you are completely comfortable with the design at the end of each stage, before we proceed to the next step.