The right moment to bring in the workshop
The earliest useful point is when the principle is settled and the dimensions are not. At that stage a detail that is expensive to build can be redrawn without losing any of the intent, and that chance does not come back once the budget has been given to the client.
We also come in later, on frozen drawings. It is simply less comfortable for everyone: the trade-offs then happen on price rather than on the drawing.
What the design office does with your drawings
We work from your plans and elevations to produce shop drawings: real thicknesses, grain direction, position of shadow gaps, door swings, fixing points, service routes. That is the document that goes to the workshop, not your design drawing.
You sign it off before anything is launched. What we never change without asking: a proportion, a material, a colour, a visible alignment. What we adjust ourselves: structural thicknesses and installation tolerances, which nobody sees but without which nothing goes together.
The dimensions that always move between drawing and site
No wall is straight and no floor is level. In an older building the difference between two opposite walls is often more than a centimetre, and an existing skirting shifts the usable depth.
That is why we measure on site before building, even when the drawings are excellent. The site survey is not a challenge to your work: it is what allows us to build in the workshop instead of trimming with a saw on site.
Who talks to the end client
You do, by default. We write to the client directly only if you ask us to, and we copy you on anything that touches the project.
The same goes for handover: we hand the work to you, and you present it. A specifier who loses the relationship mid-project loses control of the project too.
What we need for an accurate price
A vague price nearly always comes from an incomplete package rather than from a safety margin. This is what is enough to price properly.
- Dimensioned plans and elevations, even at sketch stage.
- The intended materials and finishes, with references if they are settled.
- Photos of the space as it stands, including the ugly parts: ducts, meters, columns.
- Access constraints: floor level, lift, staircase width, permitted working hours.
- The target installation date, which decides the build order.
