The only project that may be more complex, costly, and time-consuming than remodeling your current home is purchasing a new one. So, if you and your family are planning to renovate your home—whether it’s updating your kitchen, adding an in-law suite, creating a new primary bedroom, building an addition, or tackling any other exciting home upgrade—doing the job efficiently and economically will not only save you a significant amount of money but also countless sleepless nights.
Home remodeling projects offer exciting opportunities for Southeast Michigan homeowners to transform their spaces, but they can seem complex when coordinating multiple experts. Instead of juggling different companies to design and build your dream basement or bedroom, the right approach can make the entire process smooth and efficient.
Collaboration Between Your Architect and Interior Designer Makes All the Difference
Ensuring your architect and interior designer work together from the start is key to a seamless project. When both are involved early on, it reduces errors, minimizes waste, and keeps costs under control. The good news is that with the right team, you can achieve this collaboration effortlessly.
Thanks to the “Design Build” remodeling process, Southeast Michigan homeowners can enjoy a hassle-free experience. By bringing architects, interior designers, and the entire construction team under one roof—with a dedicated project manager to oversee everything—your remodeling project will stay on track, on time, and within budget. It’s a streamlined solution that turns what could be a stressful experience into an exciting and rewarding journey.
Q1) What’s the Difference Between “Design-Bid-Build” and “Design Build”?
Think of them as “old” and “new school” ways to renovate. The traditional approach involves three steps, all falling onto the shoulders of the homeowner to manage: 1) you contract an architect, who designs the remodel and estimates a budget, often without consulting with an interior designer, and with no input from the builders; 2) you solicit and compare fixed-price bids from multiple contractors; and 3) they build, using change orders to handle the shifts in scope.
Problems tend to mount from the get-go because architects are of course specialized in the design, and have less knowledge and interest in the build phase. That makes them terrific at bringing your dream kitchen or bathroom to life in their blueprints, yet less adept at pricing and planning for the countless details that go into actually constructing it. An experienced interior designer can help bridge that gap, but most architects don’t consult or work directly with them.
The domino effect of taking this siloed approach to managing your renovation is likely a lack of information and miscommunication when translating the design into the build phase. Since the burden of soliciting and comparing construction bids is yours, neither you nor the builder has full visibility into what the architect’s plans will actually demand in terms of materials, time, and overall resources. Discrepancies compound, as do additional project expenses and delays.
The more contemporary and innovative “Design Build” approach fixes these otherwise typical communication and logistical challenges by putting your architect, interior designer, and master craftspeople all under one roof. A dedicated project manager is assigned who integrates the entire design-build team, and becomes your single point of contact should anything go wrong. So instead of three steps you need to worry about, you choose one firm to do it all.
Q2) What’s the Role of the Architect?
Southeast Michigan homeowners expect excellence, and they have access to some of the most experienced and accredited architects in the country. These skilled professionals work closely with you and your family to bring your dream remodel to life, starting with design sketches that evolve into detailed blueprints. Their plans also account for the structural and exterior conditions of your home and property, ensuring that the renovation is not only beautiful but also feasible.
Mindful that their design is contingent on your home’s existing structure, layout, and infrastructure, your architect also understands the importance of conducting a thorough site analysis, and takes into consideration everything from engineering needs to plumbing and electrical conduits and access. Local architects are also well versed in local zoning and other regulations in Michigan, and help you and your contractor navigate town rules and ordinances.
Once the site survey and blueprints are completed, an architect’s ongoing participation in the project varies widely unless they are part of an integrated, cross-disciplinary Design Build team. If contracted independently by the homeowner, an architect most often completes their design without consulting with the interior designer or builder. But if consolidated, the architect will liaise with a dedicated project manager, who’s job is to guarantee smooth transitions throughout.
Dependencies between form and function, beauty and practicality demand seamless communication between your experts. Whereas the architect creates the broad outlines of the space, imagines the layout and essentials, the interior designer has a vision of the entire completed space down to the cabinetry, trim, detailing, countertops, and flooring. Changes in one cascade into the other, so creation and hand off of a singular vision is vital for the builder.
Q3) What’s the Role of the Interior Designer?
As your architect works in broad strokes and foundational outlines, your interior designer fills those spaces with intricate details that create the mood of the living space you and your family crave. Each aesthetic decision impacts the look and feel of your new home health and wellness spa, office, or basement playroom. Choice of materials, colors, and finishes are key to shaping the atmosphere, and ensuring your new space becomes an organic part of your existing home.
A talented and creative interior designer goes beyond the basics, of course, and is also a maestro of structural and spatial planning, furniture and fixture arrangement, and ergonomic considerations for maximum efficiency and convenience. Beginning where the architect leaves off, in direct conversation with you and your family as to the living experience you seek to create, the interior designer enthusiastically brings the overall vision of your renovation to life.
To succeed at such a multifaceted and complex role, an experienced Southeast Michigan interior designer must collaborate with the architect to ensure alignment with the foundational design, with the project manager to ensure materials and other choices are in line with the construction budget and timeline, and most importantly with you, the homeowner and customer, to ensure the shared vision of the new space meets and hopefully exceeds your family’s expectations.
Even under the best of circumstances surprises are common, and miscommunication is possible, and often likely. Consider the cascading design consequences of even small changes in the architect’s blueprints, or an unanticipated structural obstacle that demands altering the layout. Without a transparent and ongoing collaboration between architect and interior designer, relatively minor design problems can snowball into major trainwrecks for the construction team.
Q4) Why is Collaboration so Important Between the Architect and Interior Designer?
That’s why a Design Build approach that removes all responsibility off the homeowner’s shoulders and places it squarely into the arms of a dedicated project manager is highly advantageous. Aware of all details, and therefore positioned to anticipate problems before they even happen, your project manager is the glue between the architect’s high level design vision and specifications, and the detailed, materials and resources intensive view of the final remodel.
Consider a stunning architectural gem near Quarton Lake, and the intense demands of creating an entire two-story addition. The gorgeous, expertly crafted quarried-stone home with a reworked copper-shingled roof had a hand-glazed true masonry stucco interior. Tasked with expanding the kitchen and designing several whole rooms from scratch, the architect had to seamlessly collaborate with the interior designer to ensure old and new styles were aligned.
“By having the entire team, from the architect to the interior designer to the craftspeople in-house,” agrees Ethan Lube, a local Construction Manager, “homeowners don’t have to worry about a thing from the initial concept, all the way to completion. The key is creating one point of accountability, with constant communication between designers and builders. You know you’ve set your customer at ease if the relationship starts as a project, and ends as a friendship.”
That level of collaboration is especially important early in the design process, when architects are still actively involved, interior designers are able to tweak their many recommendations, and the build team is given ample heads up about changes that may impact materials and resources down line, ultimately changing the overall budget and timing. “Be leery of firms that offer cookie cutter processes,” cautions Ethan. “Every home, and every customer relationship, is unique.”
The Benefits of a Design Build Approach for Collaboration
As we’ve seen, traditional Design-Bid-Build approaches to local home remodeling often leave many Southeast Oakland County residents with inflated budgets and timelines, and sometimes sleepless nights. When architects and interior designers are out of sync, so is the entire remodeling project, potentially triggering a cascade of challenges the builders must absorb with additional effort and needless waste. In the end, the client pays with more hassle and less quality.
Homeowners benefit from the Design Build approach with an integrated team led by a dedicated project manager. “We had a very old house that was near and dear to our family,” says Christian, a Pleasant Ridge homeowner who believes trust is the most important factor when working with a true Design Build firm. “We vetted several different contractors and chose the one we felt most comfortable with—one that, even a decade later, we still consider friends.”
That spirit of open communication, shared accountability, and ubiquitous trust is shared between architects and interior designers, and each member of the extended team, creating a Design Build family. Their ultimate goal is to not only help local customers create a luxurious home that is structurally sound and beautifully designed, gorgeous to behold and convenient to inhabit, but reflective of each Beverly Hills homeowner’s distinctive personality, needs, and values.
“We consider ourselves to be an advocate for the client,” insists Steven Ramaekers, Creative Design Director. “Design Build brings together all the ideas and all the craftspeople under one roof so our customers don’t have to individually go and try to find that themselves.” His wife Christine, Creative Director of Interior Design, agrees. “Our clients are trusting us to be in their homes and personal space. They need to know that they’ve hired someone with integrity.”
Partner with the Master Collaborators at MainStreet Design Build
MainStreet Design Build is a full-service, design-build remodeling firm headquartered in Birmingham, MI. The local leader in design build remodeling, MainStreet is committed to delivering a luxurious end-to-end experience marked by personal care, accountability, timeless design, and exacting attention to detail. Since 1991, our team has made the renovation process comfortable, enjoyable, and safe, ensuring your home transformation exceeds your expectations at every turn.
With a deep bench of experienced, fully certified, in-house architects and interior designers, MainStreet Design Build is favored by discerning homeowners throughout Southeast Oakland County who value a high level of comfort and trust in knowing their remodeling project will be done RIGHT. Browse our gallery of award-winning renovations, and schedule a virtual design consultation. Let’s partner today to ensure true Design Build benefits every step of the way!
