Measure Twice, Cut Once
There’s a saying you’ve probably heard a thousand times: Measure twice and cut once. Numerous sources state that the adage is from Medieval times, and was used by carpentry guilds and tailors. It’s been found in books as early as 1688 as “score twice before you cut once”.
The meaning is simple enough. Check your work on the front end before you pay for a mistake on the back end. A lesson that can be used not just in making things, but also as an approach to life in general.
Check your sources. Trust but verify.
At A1DesignBuild, this adage shows up on building sites of course. But it also shows up from the very outset of our customer relationships, from the moment we meet. We ask, and ask again, to make sure that we can fulfill your vision and we’re a good fit.
That’s reflected as well in our entire process, which starts with Discovery all the way through to the final clean-up and completion of the project. Yes, it’s a little obsessive. But caring more, and cutting less, is in our DNA. Read on to learn more.
A Great Example of Measuring Twice and Cutting Once
The 7 Phases of Construction Success
1) Discovery
Most of the time we have a waiting list. But this is a good thing because we utilize that time to prepare for your project by:
Creating a Client Website. We’ll create a custom website for your project. This is used for all project communications, product selections, specialty trade and project scheduling, project documentation, and daily logs during construction. We manage the project so you don’t have to.
Evaluating Building Performance and Conditions. This evaluation — which includes inspections of unconditioned spaces, exterior shell, appliances and mechanical systems, insulative capacity, air leakage, and any areas that may be affected by your design goals — is used to generate a full report on the condition of your home. This helps designers be more effective in their work with you and comes with suggestions to improve comfort and energy efficiency, maintain or repair problem areas, and be pro-active in managing your property.
Conducting Research happens both on-site and by reaching out to the permit office regarding your property. We try to discover any special restrictions or conditions that may affect the design. Decades of experience allow us to get ahead of any curves before they happen.
2) Conceptual Design
We always present you with a minimum of two concepts that meet both your budget and design requirements. This generally happens within 2-4 weeks so we can share the same vision as soon as possible. Once complete, we’ll meet with you to review and refine. Then we meet with our estimating team to generate a Good Faith Estimate (GFE). This estimate/budget will drive all future design.
4) Good Faith Estimate
After we have landed on a concept that best suits your needs and goals, our estimating team steps in to lend their experience about what things cost. They will generate an initital estimate and report based upon your work with our design team, that gives you a range of cost they believe will support your scope of work. Please keep in mind that at this point in time we are still guessing…we dont have final decision on anything and noe of our team nor any of our specialty trade partners have had a close look at your project. Our hope is that the budget we started with in conceptual design is within our estimated range. If it is and with your approval we then move forward into design development. If it does not, we need to make some hard decisions, go back to and reduce scope in the initial conceptual design work or find some more money.
3) Design Development
Next, we generate detailed construction drawings, hire an engineer if necessary, and decide on every single component of your project. We may bring in outside sources or other team members to solve any challenges with the building or the site. We like to solve as much as we can in this phase so the construction phase goes smoothly.
4) Estimating
When all drawings, selections, and details are complete, your project is handed over to our estimating team to develop a final cost calculation, along with a construction proposal and schedule. This is the first time we have real numbers. At this point we can generate a very accurate proposal price based on real choices and up-to-date pricing from our sub-trades and vendors. As of September 2023, the average cost per square foot of our projects was $637.
5) Construction/Schedule
We’ll mobilize the crew, let neighbors know what’s going on, and get started. Our goal is to minimize disruption to your lives and get you up and running in your new home as soon as possible. A1 schedules are reliable because we’ve worked closely with you up to this point to develop the design, specify how to build it, and decide on all the details that make it yours. You can check progress and verify the construction schedule or other details on your project website. We monitor progress continuously, communicating and closely managing the impacts of the unforeseen to keep the critical path clear.
The building begins.
6) Construction Support
While building is underway, your designer is available to our construction team as needed. We include time for your designer to make regular site visits, meet with sub-trades and verify information, and answer any questions that may arise during construction. Unless we’re defining a new scope during construction, it’s rare for you to receive design invoices during construction. Any additional costs are approved by you BEFORE they happen.
7) Happiness
We’re not just building boxes, we’re building homes. And we take that responsibility very seriously. This is the space where you will grow, have your best ideas, maybe raise a family, perhaps share it with friends. It’s an aspiration, and we want to make sure that aspiration comes true.
So, we think it all through. Stay in communication with you. Measure twice, and cut once. That’s a good path to happiness.
Just ask our past customers.