Building projects can be challenging. There are many decisions to be made, and a lot of uncertainty. If there is more than one person involved in the design process, whether a husband and a wife, a group of professionals, or a church committee, more than one voice needs to be heard. For these situations, the perfect design process is an on-site design. Armed with pencils, markers, and lots of paper, your architect and his/her design team will meet with your group, and over a period of several days or evenings, develop a program and schematic design that addresses everybody’s needs and expectations. A good architect will work with you to balance the different architectural elements, producing not just an efficient building, but one that is aesthetically pleasing. Architects are specially educated to design buildings which are more than sensible floor plans, comfortable spaces, or good, solid construction. Architects understand cost, scale, solar exposures, materials, structure; all the details that make a building more than just bricks and mortar.

As a general rule, there are six steps in every project:

• Programming
• Schematic design
• Design development
• Construction documents
• Selection of contractor/Bid
• Construction

An architect guides each individual project, assisting you by providing the information you need to make the right choices every step of the way. Once you have the correct information in the precise order of importance, making decisions will be a whole lot easier. The more you know and are aware of, the fewer surprises you will have. Remember, your home or office building should not reflect the architects’ dream, but yours. At Andre Marquez Architects, we pride ourselves in being able to interpret the dreams our clients want to live and/or work in.

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