Yes.  Habitar Design is a full-service design company, and we can provide all construction work through our sister construction company.  We are different from design build companies in two ways.  First, you can have design or construction without the other.  Second, when designing with Habitar, the world is your oyster.  There are no limitations to your design or preferred materials.  Your design is tailored to your preferences.

Design work costs between $150 and $175/hour.  The number of hours is estimated up front, and the actual cost depends on the number of hours of design work provided.   A guest bathroom can run anywhere from 14 to 24 hours on average, a kitchen 16 to 35 hours.  A good guide is that design costs between 7 to 10% of the cost of construction. 

It depends on many factors including the projects complexity, size and the time a client needs to consider their choices.  We encourage our clients not to rush and let things incubate.  This lengthens design time, but gets the best results.

On average, a small bathroom takes 3 to 6 weeks, while a whole house might take 3 to 6 months or longer.  There are no hard or fast rules.  Once our designer begins, they will have plenty of room in their schedule to move your project forward expeditiously.

You’ll have time.  There is no right amount of time excep the amount of time that works for you.  Sometimes it’s just best to sleep on it.  Taking your time will give you the best chance to be happy with your decisions.

We can, and we do.  With that said, it can be tricky.  Clients and designers often focus on the perfect design while ignoring its impact on cost.  That’s just how it is. To bring budgetary concerns back into the decision-making process, we create rough estimates up front and along the way.  This allows our clients to make informed choices.

We encourage clients to ask about cost whenever they wish, and our in-house construction team lets designers create estimated costs quickly whenever needed.  The goal is to avoid any surprises for our clients.  We want the final cost estimate to be where it’s expected.  If it’s not, we’ll work with clients suggesting alternatives to get their project back to where they’d like it to be.

Our approach is to be your guide.  We’ll explore with you what you like, really try to understand what you’re after, and then we’ll present designs to you for your feedback.  Each time, we’ll make updates and get closer to what you’re after.  Our goal is to take your vision, whether it’s very specific or just a feeling, and adapt it to your space.   

During construction, you won’t have to do anything except give us your opinion in case of unexpected situations.  Your designer will be there to help with any design issues and your foreman will update you regarding construction issues and schedules.  Should additional work be needed because of unknown conditions that are discovered, we’ll discuss them with you. 

All extras and credits are tracked in real-time and added to the spreadsheet. You’ll be updated regularly if you’d like.  At the end of construction, your house will be left perfectly clean.  

Most condo renovations do not require structural changes or changes to existing wall locations. These types of modifications are more common when renovating older homes, particularly those built before the 1990s, when floor plans tended to have more enclosed spaces. Kitchens, in particular, were often separated from adjacent living and dining areas.

Changing wall locations does not necessarily require structural work. Many interior walls are non-load-bearing and can be removed or relocated without affecting the structure of the building. When a load-bearing wall is removed; however, new structural elements must be added to support the floors, roof, or other loads above it. This typically involves installing a properly engineered beam.

In single-family homes, removing or modifying load-bearing walls can almost always be accomplished from an engineering standpoint, although the complexity and cost can vary considerably. The feasibility ultimately depends on the existing structure, where the loads can be transferred, and the amount of additional structural work required.

Updating the kitchen and primary bathroom generally has the greatest impact on property value, but the answer is more complicated than that. Sometimes something as simple as painting the walls can vastly improve how a home shows and increase its perceived value by far more than the cost of the painting.

As a general rule, home renovations may return only a portion of what is spent on them. This means that major renovations are often best done when you buy a home rather than shortly before you sell it. That way, you get the benefit of enjoying the improvements for years rather than renovating primarily for the next owner. There are significant exceptions in both directions.

If a renovation is highly particular to the homeowner’s taste—for example, painting the kitchen cabinetry purple—it may add little or no resale value and could even reduce the home’s appeal to prospective buyers. Still, if the homeowner loves purple and plans to remain in the home for many years, it may be money well spent. Not every renovation needs to be justified by its eventual resale value.

At the other extreme, a renovation that corrects a particularly bad situation can potentially produce an exceptional return. Transforming a horribly cramped, dark, and unattractive kitchen into a beautiful, functional space could dramatically change a buyer’s perception of the entire home. In the right circumstances, an improvement like this might not only pay for itself but could potentially add more to the eventual sale price than the renovation cost.

When considering property value and return on investment, two of the most important questions are how long you plan to stay in the home and what comparable properties are worth. No matter how beautifully a home is designed or how much money is invested in it, its ultimate market value will still be influenced by the sale prices of comparable properties in the building or neighborhood.

Creating continuity across multiple levels of a townhome is surprisingly simple and natural, as long as the design is genuinely tailored to the client’s aesthetic. A client’s aesthetic may evolve over time, but it doesn’t change from day to day—and neither does the designer’s understanding of that aesthetic. When the design process is focused on discovering what truly fits the client, the client’s tastes, preferences, and lifestyle naturally become the anchors that create consistency throughout the project, regardless of its size or scope.

That doesn’t mean every room needs to look the same. Quite the opposite. Each space can have its own personality while still feeling as though it belongs in the same home. The continuity comes from the person for whom the home is being designed. If a client has an exuberant love of color, for example, that exuberance will express itself throughout the project.

Materials, furnishings, lighting, artwork, and architectural details may vary from floor to floor, but they remain connected by a common point of view. Ultimately, the best way to create continuity throughout a townhome is to understand the client well enough that every space feels like a reflection of them.