Custom-designing residential floor plans for single-family homes.

Renovating your home is an exciting time. You’re redesigning a space that serves as your 

sanctuary and where you spend time with the ones you love most. Remodeling can improve your home’s function and flow and your quality of life. 

As you know, renovating is a sizable investment. That’s why a concrete remodeling plan is 

crucial to getting everything you want from your space.

The most important aspect of the planning process is ensuring you have enough money to pay for the project, regardless of how big or small the scope of work may be. 

 Determine your priorities. Is your home improvement project time-sensitive? How flexible is your budget?

Make a private list of your budgetary and time constraints. Be clear about what you are willing to do on what things you will not compromise on. 

Get the bids. Always get at least three contractor bids in writing before finalizing on anyone. The more bids you’ve received — the more will be your chances to hire the right person for the job. In order for getting bids, you will need, as-builts and preliminary plans of your house. Once you’ve finalized the preliminary design process you can talk with your builder to get rough estimates of building costs before moving into permit drawings.

What shapes your life? Match your home to your lifestyle. Get the designs that last a lifetime and are just the right fit. Customizing your home could house all your needs and interests. Here at Pinellas Home Design, we listen to yours envision, and we collaborate with you to create designs where style lives.    

You as a homeowner after creating your wish list, having your as-builts done are ready to start the preliminary design process. The preliminary design process is crucial to archiving your goals toward your dream home solution, function, smart design, and aesthetics. It should not be rushed because you can work on the plans to make them perfect. It is important to understand all zoning requirements, code restrictions as well as any community guidelines that may limit or restrict the design.

•  The first step is to create Residential Design Brief Checklist. This brief will include, initial client questions and wish list, information about the site, occupants, their lifestyle, indoor and outdoor space.

•  The second step is sketching. You can bring your sketch, the designer and you can create the first sketch together, or the designer can create it for you. Sketching will help to create a rough concept of the desired floor plan and sometimes even the elevation.

•  The third step is creating the first draft pdf drawing for presentation to the client. Another important consideration for the design is how well it fits the site. Does it take advantage of views, avoid undesirable views (i.e.: neighboring homes, power poles, etc.) and address the street properly. Our designer always shows the preliminary floor plan on the actual site plan to get an understanding of its relationship to it. Evaluating proper room size is a critical task. The floor plan will have furniture placement in each room to ensure the room functions as desired. Will that dining room accommodates a table for 10 people? Can two full-sized beds fit on that wall?… This is a time when the client spends time studying and reviewing the floor plan.

•  The fourth step is refining the Preliminary Design. Once we’ve arrived at a satisfactory floor plan it is time to refine the exterior elevation. Creating the front elevation is the icing on the cake. Most clients have difficulty reading a two-dimensional elevation. Trust in your designer is important, or we can create three-dimensional modeling which can be very beneficial in understanding the actual home better.

 Once you’ve finalized the preliminary design process you can talk with your builder to get rough estimates of building costs before moving into permit drawings. You may need to get preliminary approval from your Architectural Review Board (ARB) if you live in a planned community. Proper planning can ensure a successful and rewarding home-building experience for all.