In 2003, I began work on a new project in Waterville to develop a 30-unit condominium.  I needed designs for the buildings, but I was on a limited budget.  So I contacted the University of Maine and asked if there were any architectural students who might be qualified and interested in doing some design and drafting work.  I worked with a couple of students for a short while before hooking up with a 3rd-year student named Pete DeIuliis.

Pete was different than most students in that he was a little older, married, had kids, and was much more "settled" than your average student at the UM schools.   We hit it off right away.  Pete is exteremely organized, computer savy, and he's a hard worker.

I enlisted him to start work on designing the condominium buildings, and shortly after that, we worked on our first house project together.

We have now done a few home designs and worked out a system that we feel we can offer to our Design Concepts Company homebuyers.

The cost of designing a new home with an architect can be quite high.   Even so, I do enjoy working with architects, and I feel that for some people, the services of an architect would be a better fit.  So I encourage you to please consider the services of an architect before you consider hiring DCC to do the design work.

Our design costs are based on an hourly wage that is currently $42 per hour for any time that Greg or Pete work on your home design.  The total cost of designing your new home is based solely on how many hours we put into working on it, so it's difficult to put a firm number on what it will cost in the end.  The last home that we designed had at least 4 revisions during the design phase.   It was a completely custom design from the ground up, and it's a truly one-of-a-kind home.  I worked closely with our customers during our many meetings, and little by little the house design came around to fit their exact needs.   We provided the customer with multiple sets of floorplans, elevations, and even 3D renderings so they could really get a sense of what their home would look like completed.   We did all this for under $3,000!

Here's a couple of the 3D renderings we did for that project:

The process works like this.  I'll ask you for some ideas of the type and size home you would like to have built.  Some customers bring me hand-drawn sketches, computer generated designs, plans out of a magazine, or just a written description of their new home.  I'll also ask for a "wish list" of things that you'd like to have in the home, as well as a general description of the interior and exterior finishes.  I'll use this information to work up an initial design, and with Pete's help, we'll get it into a scaled computer plan that we can view on the computer.

After we generate this first plan, Pete will send it to you and me both via email.   In the first email, he will also send you a link to get a "reader" program that you'll download onto your computer so you can view the CAD plans.

After each revision of the plans, we'll meet and make suggestions for changes, I'll convey the changes to Pete over the phone, and he'll send the next set of revised plans to us via email.

This approach to designing really works well for me.   Over the last few years I have been so busy that I haven't had time to do much design work.   Pete really helps lighten the load by doing most of the time-consuming part of the process.  I still get to meet with my customers and work on the creative part of the design.  You get a custom designed home at a very reasonable price point.   Certainly a win-win situation for both the contractor and the customer.