If you pay any attention to my Twitter or Facebook posts you may have noticed that I've been on a bit of a Passive House kick lately. Passive House is a holistic, "green" design concept that has been well tested in Europe and is starting to gain ground in the US. Here are a trio of recent articles that I've found interesting and informative.:
It's been a while since I've written about regionalism in sustainable design. Lately though, especially through my involvement with the Irvington Green Initiative, I've had a number of discussions about the sustainability of local business. So when I read an article by Lance Hosey in Architect magazine about "Localism" in sustainable design, I figured it was time to re-visit the subject and try to tie two of my passions together.
Over the course of your Renovation hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions will be made and you’ll be responsible for many of them. You’ll select fixtures, finishes and furniture and approve hardware, locations and lighting. Each carries a price. Ideally most, if not all, of these will be completed in the design phase. But this isn’t always the case.
Many times clients are afforded some leeway in the timing of decisions by entering allowances on budget lines for lighting and bathroom fixtures and the like. This can allow your builder to start construction of your project while you shop for the finishing touches.
In some cases, circumstances dictate a “fast track” project. Basically, construction begins before the project is completely designed. The decision to go this route is usually schedule driven and it can be a good way to get a project jump started, say before winter sets in.
No matter the schedule or method though, the omnipresent reality of the building industry is that lead times and changes are two of the biggest killers of a project’s schedule and budget. If decisions aren’t made prior to ground breaking, in addition to scheduling subs, materials and inspections, your project manager will have the added task of shepherding you through the selection process. They’ll have to keep track of products that you’ve selected and insure coordination between what’s being built and what’s being selected.
And then there’s the infamous Change-Order. Everybody cringes as the very mention of them. But they’re going to happen. The reasons range from unknown conditions that were uncovered during construction to material cost increases to you seeing something built for the first time and deciding that you don’t like the way it looks. Then, to come full circle, there’s the case where you select a vanity that won’t fit in the bathroom space that’s been built.
The point is that with each of the hundreds or thousands of decisions that you make there is a cost. Hopefully, most of that is simply the cost of material and installation. But if you aren’t making choices in a timely manner, there could be additional costs from express delivery to re-working a portion of your project to accommodate that fantastic antique tub that you just had to have.
Most clients realize that every change costs something. But it’s important to understand exactly what that cost is. Each time a change is made; there is the cost of the original work, plus the removal or modification of that work, plus the labor and materials to construct the new design. Basically, it’s a good way to increase your Master Bath budget from $15,000 to $25,000 in very short order.
There’s nothing wrong with taking your time in making decisions, especially if it means making the right decision one time. And, there’s nothing wrong with changing your mind. Even the most seasoned corporate clients can become indecisive. The thing to keep in mind is that the longer it takes you to make a decision, the more likely that decision is to cause a change and that changes come at a price.
