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DFDG Barn Conversion Wins 2025 Honor Award

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 20:14:19 GMT

Praise for DFDG's Rustic/Contemporary Barn Evolution

On September 26, 2024, the Huron Valley chapter of the AIA hosted its annual Honor Award dinner. Tresna Taylor from DFDG was honored to receive the 2025 Honor Award for Residential New Construction for this remarkable project. The awards were adjudicated by members of the AIA Southwest Michigan chapter, with one juror noting that the project exemplified "adaptive reuse at its finest. Balance, harmony, a reflection of its origins while seamlessly integrating with its natural surroundings." Discover more about this project here.

We at DFDG feel deeply humbled and are immensely grateful to our outstanding clients, as it is an undeniable fact that exceptional projects can only emerge from exceptional collaborations!

Press Release: Damian Farrell Design Group PLLC Now Under New Ownership

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Wed, 29 May 2024 21:39:19 GMT

Tresna Lim Taylor, AIA, NCARB, CPHC takes over as Principal of DFDG

ANN ARBOR, May 10, 2024 --With over fourteen cumulative years at DFDG, Tresna Lim Taylor took over the firm following founder Damian Farrell's passing in early 2023. "We had a great team in place," says Taylor, "so it just seemed natural to continue what we have always done: Deliver great service and design to our residential and commercial clients."

Tresna is a Michigan native and long-time Ann Arbor resident, with an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, and a graduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is also a Phius Ceritfied Passive House Consultant (CPHC).

Friends of the firm may notice an evolution of the DFDG logo. Although we are still the same resilient, adaptive design firm that has been serving the Ann Arbor area since 1992, the logo changes are a nod to this new chapter in the firm's story, and a shift to a new dba: DFDG Architects.

The firm is continuing to provide service and advocacy for our clients, with a focused direction for sustainability in design and multi-family housing projects.

"The balance of residential vs. commercial work in our firm typically shifts from year to year," says Tresna Taylor. "Right now, commercial projects continue to be a strong sector for us, making up about 75% of our work. On the residential side, we are fortunate to have great clients - many repeat clients - pursuing renovation and new construction projects despite high interest rates and election year uncertainty."

About the company:

DFDG is currently licensed in Michigan, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, and Ohio. Recent DFDG commercial projects in Michigan include The Back Office Studio in Ypsilanti, SIP! Wine Bar in Bay Harbor, the A2AC renovation and expansion in Ann Arbor, and Ann Arbor Arms in Ann Arbor. To view the diverse portfolio and experience behind the team, please visit www.dfdg.design.

Understanding Design Service Costs: Three Ways Good Communication Can Ultimately Save You Money

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 20:03:41 GMT

If you've never had to hire an architect before, it can be difficult to know what the average cost of architect fees should be.

Unfortunately, some architects aren't the best at communicating with clients, which can give you false expectations about your budget and lead to expensive design revisions down the line.

Don’t let these stories deter you. Let them inspire you to find an architect with great communication skills!

When you hire an architect, we aim to help you spend less , not more, by helping you make informed decisions.

In this article, we're exploring:

What determines architectural fees
What determines total project costs
What services you get when you hire an architect
How good communication with your architect saves you money

The Average Cost of Architect Fees

When you are interviewing most architects and ask how much your project will cost to design, they'll likely tell you, "well, that depends."

And it really does! Every architectural project is so different and will therefore incur very different costs. It all comes down to the complexity and size of your project.

How Architectural Fees Are Different From Project Costs

The cost of architect fees don't include the total project cost. They are solely the fees for the architect’s part in the project, which you can find in the part of your contract that talks about the scope of work.

Project costs will include things like the actual construction cost, permitting costs, as well as any outside consultant’s fees.

The Most Common Consultants We Work With at DFDG

Structural Engineers: Structural engineers help us ensure the safety of your property's design development, especially if there are large openings in your building.

Mechanical Engineers: Mechanical engineers help us with sizing and the type of equipment we need to fulfill your building plans - especially in remodeling projects, where you may want to switch from gas to electric, for example.

Landscape Architects: Landscape architects help us design the space surrounding your property while maintaining compliance with local building department codes and regulations.

Interior Designers: Working with an interior designer helps our architects blend your home or property's design with the interiors.

While we perform some interior work ourselves for things like flooring, countertops, and walls, we'll hire an external interior designer for other work like decorating, furnishing, and accessories.

Contractors: At DFDG, we don't work on residential projects unless we initially collaborate with contractors. The final construction cost architects charge will be greatly determined by this collaboration.

“The role of the contractor is so much more than just the person who coordinates the subcontractors and gets the project physically built. They’re attending design meetings from day one, listening to what our client likes and doesn’t like, helping us prioritize product ordering for items with long lead times, and giving us accurate cost estimates.”

Damian Farrell

Principal & Founder

Breakdown of Architectural Services

Below is a breakdown of what you typically get when you hire an architect.

Initial Consultation

This is usually a paid initial consultation to lay the groundwork for your project and develop a good understanding of your needs, wants, budgets, and timelines.

At DFDG, we go all in at this discovery stage to learn as much as we can about you and your project long before we begin drawings.

Feasibility Studies and Site Survey

In this site survey and feasibility study, we'll get a literal lay of the land and understand the topography and natural elements associated with your property.

Project Planning

During the project planning phase, the goal is to make sure all of the team members, project management information, and the project files are put together and finalized.

“Pulling that team together at the very beginning is critical. It helps everyone stay empathetic with the client’s goals, needs, and very importantly, their budget. Matching the right people with the right experiences at the right time is what helps our projects stay on track.”

- Damian Farrell

Principal & Founder

Design Development

Also included in our architect's cost is the time we spend on concept development and creating your architectural drawings using cutting-edge 2D and 3D architecture design technology and Building Information Management software.

We’re also collaborating with consultants to manage construction costs, creating an efficient design and building process, and putting in a ton of hours behind the scenes to get your architectural design just right.

Construction Documentation

Before the construction process begins, we create highly detailed construction documents including your building plans and design and informative instructions for your construction team.

Permitting

During the permitting stage, where your contractor sends our architectural drawings to get planning approval, our architects will make themselves available to answer any questions local building authorities have about the design.

Construction Administration

The final cost for our licensed architects includes the cost of construction administration. This stage is when our architects oversee the construction process and ensure your contractors are building to your exact preferences as outlined in the design.

We will perform several site visits and inspections to ensure your project is progressing nicely, there are no building errors, and your contractors know what they're doing.

3 Ways Good Communication Lowers Design Costs

When you hire a good architect, they should help you lower your costs. The key here is to hire an architect with good communication skills.

How does good communication with your architect lower the cost? We’re exploring the 3 key ways below.

1 - Starts Your Project Off On The Right Path

Having everyone involved in your architectural project on board from the beginning helps us streamline communication and get the information we need to give you more accurate costs.

By bringing on your contractors and other consultants from the beginning and diving deep into your design needs, we start the project off the right way, with a clear idea of both costs and your goals.

At DFDG, we take these initial consultations very seriously and go to great lengths to gather as much information and detail as possible. The more we learn about your needs, wants, and budget from the start, the more on-point and fast our design process will be.

According to a RIBA survey of architecture clients, the most common reason for budget overspending was ‘briefing issues’ - suggesting architects need to be clearer early on if the client’s expectations don't match the budget.

Early and in-depth communication is key to minimizing construction revisions or mistakes down the line.

2 - Ensures A 2-Way Dialogue

Good communication with a licensed architect makes all the difference. If you can trust your architect to listen to your needs and put you first, you'll have an easier time getting exactly what you want out of your residential or commercial design.

It's important to feel like you can voice your opinion, share ideas, and collaborate well together. Open communication from the beginning brings clarity to the design process, construction process, and overall architect costs.

3 - Transparency Lowers Construction Cost

Communication drives our linear process from design to construction. If we miss something during the design development phase, you can bet it will cause a major issue during the construction phase and increase the construction cost.

Whether it's something your architect didn't communicate to you or vice versa, something that may seem small can become a big problem later on. Being as open and transparent as possible about your needs, desires, and opinions will help you avoid this.

In this new world of supply issues and long lead times for building materials, having strong communication processes from the beginning helps us identify exactly what materials we need from the start, rather than down the road when it can cause delays.

What You Can Do to Ensure Good Communication With Your Architect

From an architect’s perspective, there are some traits we look for in a client that contribute to good communication. These are:

Understanding value
Trusting the experts
Trusting the process
Asking questions
Being realistic and honest about the budget from the beginning

Understand Value

When you hire an architect, you look for their expertise and guidance. One of the key hallmarks of good communication practices is working with clients who understand and appreciate the value of an architect's experience and role.

Trust The Experts

If you don't trust your architect to have your best interests in mind, or to make the best use of your budget and save you money where it makes sense, then why hire an architect? That's what we're here for.

For example, you might have a dream of having a hot tub out in the woods on your property. But, have you thought about what it will be like to trudge back to your house soaking wet in the middle of winter?

We know what your idea will look like when it’s built and can ask the right questions to guide you to the best design. We have seen and heard it all. If you don’t trust us and our expertise, you could end up with a design that makes you unhappy or costs you extra money...

Trust The Process

If you don't have faith in the design process, you'll most likely encounter communication problems that lead to revisions, changes, and spending more money than you need to.

Ask Questions

We love when our clients ask us lots of questions, about our process, architect fees, and anything that gives you more clarity about our work and why we do it. There really are no stupid questions in architecture.

In fact, we wish all of our future clients could spend time asking our past clients questions so they know what to expect.

“I think the biggest challenge is that people who haven't worked with an architect before likely won’t fully understand the value of the service.

The combination of talent, creativity, and expertise and ability to show possibilities, manage cost, and enable contracts to build the property to precise detail may be lost on some.

That’s why we love having our new clients speak to past ones to gain trust in our process.”

-Damian Farrell

Principal & Founder

Being Realistic and Honest About the Budget From the Beginning

It’s our job to help guide you when developing your design wishlist and making decisions. We will let you know when your dreams don’t match with your budget. Sometimes we can help you find a similar, lower cost option for something on your wishlist that doesn’t line up with your budget.

For us to do this, we need to know what your budget is during the first steps of the design. Being realistic and honest will keep you from being disappointed, which is one of our main goals.

What Your Architect Should Do to Ensure Good Communication with You

Now, what communication qualities should you, as the client, look for in your architect? Here are some of the key aspects of our communication processes that have helped us improve collaboration and clarity with our clients, contractors, and consultants.

Communicate with everyone - so we're all on the same page
Frequent check-ins – we don't let anything sit.
Be responsive - we aim to tell you if there's a problem within an hour
Keep communication organized – we take notes for reference
Include two of our team members in conversations - we do this so nothing gets lost or missed

Why It's Important To Include Everyone In Communication

Over 30 years ago, we once worked with a couple. While the husband was busy at work, the wife took over the design planning with our architects. He wasn't involved in all of our design meetings, revisions, and discussions - and was only receiving daily updates.

When he saw the estimated cost per square foot for his residential project, he wasn't happy and didn't want to continue, despite us putting in the work to design his wife's dream forever home.

Now we include everyone in any communication about the project to avoid these types of situations. It’s our goal to have no one have unrealistic expectations or big surprises.

“I think at its most basic level, the DFDG method of communicating with clients is as simple as making sure that everyone who needs to know the information is on that piece of communication.”

- Damian Farrell

Principal & Founder

Ready To Hire An Architect Who Understands The Value Of Good Communication?

We hope this article has given you a little more insight into how architects charge for their design services, the factors contributing to the architectural fee structure and total project costs, and why communication is so important for lowering costs.

If you're interested in working with our architects on your next residential or commercial project, we'd love to hear from you.

At DFDG, we've been enhancing how people experience buildings and interiors for over fifty years. Our superpower lies in creating simple solutions for complex challenges and designing buildings that last a lifetime and enrich the human experience.

If you'd like to learn more about our process or talk to our architects about an upcoming project, please get in touch.

How To Work with An Architect: Our Complete Guide

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 20:52:08 GMT

In our experience, clients who understand how to work with an architect enjoy the process more and move through it in a smoother fashion than those who don’t.

Why? Because they know what questions to ask, what the process will look like, and what they’re paying for.

They’re also more likely to get what they want in the end.

The problem is, if you've never worked with an architect before, you likely have many questions and no one to answer them.

What’s the whole process like? What role does the architect play? What role do I, as the client, play? Do I really need to work with an architect? How do I work with an architect?

Undertaking any type of construction project is a daunting prospect. It can be a long-term journey with many unknowns, especially if you are going through the process for the first time.

Keep reading as we explore how to work with an architect to help you understand the entire process, answer your questions, and ease your concerns.

In this article we will be:

Showing you why you should hire an architect
Clarifying what you should look for in an architect
Explaining the role of an architect and their responsibilities
Talking about the risks of hiring the wrong architect
Describing the typical five phases of a project as outlined by the American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Why Do You Need An Architect?

Working with a registered architect is important for several reasons, but here are the four key reasons why you need an architect:

Get creative solutions for your unique project
Make informed decisions and avoid mistakes
To be your advocate and guide through a process that can be long, confusing, and stressful
Save money in the long run

Let’s look at each of these reasons in more detail:

Get creative solutions for your unique project.

Many people struggle to create unique, functional, and beautiful designs without working with an architect.

The truth is, architects are design experts, and your architect can help you think flexibly to solve complex problems using innovative design solutions, and fully personalize your project around your unique taste and style.

“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about its beauty, I just think about how to solve the problem, but when I finish it, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it’s wrong.”

- R. Buckminster Fuller, Architect

Make informed decisions and avoid mistakes.

A registered architect must attend at least 6-7 years of education and complete a program at an accredited school of architecture to obtain their degree. Once they have worked for several years under established registered architects, they’re able to take the litany of exams (no less than six!) required to practice as an architect and become registered themselves.

Architects are trained to a very high standard. They study everything from building science to structural engineering, building codes to site analysis and planning—passing this expertise on to you. At DFDG, our consideration of health, safety, welfare issues, and stewardship of our planet are at the core of our creativity and processes.

Check out BalanceCareers to learn more about an architect's educational requirements and the role we play in your project.

To be your advocate and guide through a process that can be long, confusing, and stressful.

Your architect will help you understand the realities and possibilities of every phase of your project, from initial consultation to project feasibility and proposed design options to construction.

They help you solve issues before they become major problems and make smart, informed decisions based on experience-backed guidance and insights.

Save money in the long run.

The value that an architect offers far exceeds the nominal fees you’ll pay for their service. At DFDG, we guide you through the entire design process, helping you avoid mistakes and higher construction costs by getting the design right on paper first, and by making the best use of your budget.

We work hand-in-glove with your contractor from the early design sessions to check and manage costs, long-lead items, specialty consultants, review options and alternatives, all with the intent of placing you in control of your budget.

What Is the Role of The Architect?

Registered architects are responsible for developing detailed documents and drawings for new-build projects and remodels to meet your functional and stylistic needs.The documents and drawings produced by the architect will be used by your Contractor to ultimately construct the building.

Architects use expertise to design buildings that both look good and make the best use of space, lighting, and materials for your needs, wants, and budgets.

Architects also observe the construction process. DFDG acts as your advocate, ensuring that the original design intent is carried out and that standards of craftsmanship and quality are maintained. We also work with contractors to resolve any issues that may arise during the construction phase.

6 Possible Pain Points During the Process

In almost every project there will be pain points that come up—some small and some bigger.

A good architect will be doing what they can to mitigate these problems as they see them coming. They will communicate with you every step of the way to prevent some of the most common pain points. You should notice them doing extra things like thinking ahead about material delays.

Unfortunately, a good architect can’t stop every problem. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control—like a pandemic.

The 6 most common pain points on projects are:

Paying more for a project that goes over budget
Waiting a long time for your dream home due to delays
Spending too much time on design revisions
Finding it difficult to make informed decisions
Feeling like your opinions aren’t important
Ending up with a space that reflects the architect’s vision more than your own

Some of these pain points are of the client’s own making. A good architect will also let you know when you are getting in the way of your dream home. They should then help you overcome whatever is getting in your way.

And if they can’t prevent a problem from happening, a good architect will be with you every step of the way as you work around that hurdle.

Six Questions to Ask Your Architect (or Yourself) Before Hiring Them

When seeking out an architect to hire for your project, here are six questions to ask your architect or yourself. These six questions will help you determine if a particular architect is a good fit for you.

How and how often will the architect communicate with you?

You are looking for an architect who will be communicating often and early. If problems come up, they should be communicating that to you first thing.

If your architect takes too long to respond, you lose momentum in the project and important details get lost.

Do they include everyone in communication about the project?

If your architect keeps everyone involved in your project in the loop, you won’t have to worry about key decision-makers missing important details.

What is their process for gathering your information, wants, and needs?

They should constantly be asking questions to see how you feel about every detail, decision, and step in the process.

If you trust your architect and see how invested they are, making decisions is easier, because you know they have your best interests at heart.

Can they provide testimonials, examples of previous projects, and their credentials?

Your architect should be able to show you examples of previous projects, testimonials, and credentials. This shows they have relevant experience and proves their credibility.

Do they repeat your language back to you?

You should be able to have an open, collaborative dialogue with your architect at all times so you feel comfortable talking about what you like or don’t like.

When talking to the architect, ask yourself if you hear them repeating your language back to you. This is a sign of good listening skills.

This trait also shows that they are looking at things from your perspective . For example, if you show your architect a photo of a living room and tell them you want something cozy in the same way, even if that architect wouldn’t call that same setup “cozy”, they should be attempting to redefine the word “cozy” to look like your definition.

Do they make you feel comfortable and relaxed?

If your architect doesn’t make you feel relaxed, you might find it difficult to voice your boundaries and needs. You'll work closely with your architect over an extended period of time, so having a good rapport with them is important.

Answering these six questions can help you feel confident that you’ll be able to develop a great working relationship with your architect that will benefit you both throughout the project, keep things running smoothly, and ensure you get everything you wanted, and more!

What The Process Is Like for Architectural Services

Providing architectural services isn't just about drawings and designing blueprints. Architects go through a comprehensive, time-consuming, and detailed project process.

Your architects often carry out a lot of this work in the background, between your design and revision meetings and their meetings with external consultants.

While you might not be a part of every meeting or design session, you should feel included. You should get regular updates on progress and your architect should get your input on most decisions.

You shouldn’t feel lost or out of control.

At the end of the day, the process will probably feel intense, but should also be fun.

What Are the Architect’s Responsibilities?

You'd be surprised at the broad scope of responsibilities architects undertake to design a safe, sustainable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing building.

Every architect will provide different services depending on their skill sets and experience. However, most architects will help you by:

Developing the building design
Preparing 2D and 3D images and renderings
Creating safe buildings that promote wellness
Conducting site surveys
Conducting feasibility studies
Developing design briefs
Coordinating with consultants
Creating construction documents
Managing construction costs in the team environment that includes you, as the client, and your contractor
Collaborating with interior designers, landscape architects, and other design professionals
Adhering to building regulations
Adhering to zoning and building codes
Applying for planning and any zoning approvals if necessary

The AIA Five-Phase Approach Most Architects Follow

1. Schematic Design

During the schematic design phase, we will investigate design solutions for your renovation or new construction project and begin the process with rough diagrams and sketches. We then develop these into more detailed investigations of forms and spaces to inform the general scheme.

At this time, architects consider your building site, budget limits, building code constraints, and feasibility studies to create a design that best meets your goals. In the schematic design phase, architects problem-solve and continue to refine your design following your feedback from design meetings.

Explore Life Of An Architect's article about sketching during the schematic phase to learn more.

You'll receive general floor plans, building elevations, and a depiction of the general scope, scale, and relationship of every element in your project. Drawings at this time typically provide enough information for a contractor to give you a “ballpark” opinion of the probable cost of construction.

You may already have a contractor in mind, which is largely for your own benefit!

Based on over 30 years of experience designing new homes and remodeling older homes, we strongly feel that they should be brought on to the team as soon as possible! Having a good contractor on board from the beginning is critical to a successful process and outcome.

The top benefit to working with the contractor at several points in the design process is that we architects are able to cross-check the project’s cost with the design and scope of work. This is critical to getting us as close as possible to a linear—not zigzag—process.

To read more about why we recommend bringing the contractor on early in the project, read our memo The Role of The Contractor in our Projects.

2. Design Development

During the design development stage, architects refine your drawings even further based on your previous revision meetings and continued exploration of the possibilities of your project.

This is the stage where architects might begin collaborating with an interior designer to select final finishes, materials, lighting fixtures, built-in fixtures, etc. and to work with a landscape architect in coordinating concepts for landscape and exterior living spaces.

The design development phase gives the contractor a more fleshed-out view of the final design, so they can give you a more accurate cost estimate. This is also the stage where architects begin to coordinate structural, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems into the design drawings and construction costs.

Design development drawings include the final designs for the project with floor plans, elevations, and any cross-sections and sketches necessary to depict the character and scope of your project.

3. Construction Documents

Next, architects create a set of construction documents that detail the scope of work and all dimensions, material specifications, and requirements for the project, including notes and instructions for specific elements of your design, to make it clear to your contractors what they need to achieve.

Drawings and specifications from any external technical consultants such as structural engineers will be included in the construction documents. The contractor will submit these finished construction documents to your local building department as part of the application for a building permit.

Check out Monograph’s article to learn more about construction documents.

4. Bidding

The bidding phase is primarily for large commercial or institutional projects. For residential projects, your contractor will have obtained bids from their subcontractors at the end of the design development process. They compile all of the estimates and give you a construction cost, which is typically the basis of your construction agreement with them.

5. Construction Administration

Once you've been given approval and received a building permit from your local authorities, it's time for construction to finally begin!

At this time, your architect will still be involved in the project process to ensure the best possible result and act as your eyes and ears during construction.

These architectural services include:

Site visits to check construction progress
Troubleshooting any unforeseen issues
Ensuring consistency with our designs
Monitoring construction schedules

Do All Architects Follow the Same Process?

The five phases of design are thorough for a reason: It works, leaves nothing falling through the cracks, and provides the information everyone needs to design a beautiful property.

While most architects do follow the AIA five-phase approach to some degree, many architects develop their own set of processes that work for their clients and their own ways of working.

Many approaches to the design process can work. The most important thing is that the architect has a procedure that they follow.

Having no set approach is a headache waiting to happen. You can end up with a poorly designed building, issues with getting estimates from contractors, and problems with securing building permits.

A good architect will be organized about their approach and explain the process to you at some point early in the project.

Want To See What Working with An Experienced Architect Is Like?

We hope this blog has given you a little more insight into the whole process us architects follow and what working with an architect is actually like. Now you'll have more confidence and clarity going into your first design meeting with an architect and know what to expect at every stage of the design cycle!

At DFDG, we've been enhancing the way people experience buildings and interiors for over 30 years. Our superpower lies in creating simple solutions to complex challenges and designing buildings that last a lifetime and enrich the human experience. If you'd like to learn more about our process or talk to our architects about an upcoming project, please get in touch.

Guest Susan McLeary, Owner of Passionflower, on Damian on Design

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 15:51:48 GMT

Susan McLeary of Passionflower

Guest Susan McLeary, owner of Passionflower, discusses her floral design studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Downsizing and Decluttering with Brenda Brown of PareDown

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 20:05:14 GMT

Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic

2015 interview with Blair Kamin, architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune. In this interview, Damian and Blair discuss the future Obama Presidential Library.

Discussing the Obama Presidential Library with Guest Blair Kamin on Damian on Design

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:46:04 GMT

Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic

2015 interview with Blair Kamin, architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune. In this interview, Damian and Blair discuss the future Obama Presidential Library.

Jenenne Whitfield on Damian on Design

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Mon, 18 May 2015 12:46:04 GMT

Jenenne Whitfield from The Heidelberg Project
Executive Director Jenenne Whitfield discusses the history of The Heidelberg Project and the inspiration it has been for art, creativity and hope in the city of Detroit.

Passive Homes with Doug Selby

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:30:53 GMT

Passive Homes with Doug Selby

A discussion of Passive House construction with Doug Selby, CEO of Meadowlark Design+Build in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Guest Peter Osler on Damian on Design

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:40:36 GMT

Peter Osler

Damian welcomes architect Peter Osler, son of David Osler, a prominent Modern architect who passed away in September 2014. Join us as we get to know this fascinating family.

Guest Nawal Motawi of Motawi Tile on Damian on Design

contact@dfdgonline.com (Tresna Taylor) — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:46:03 GMT

Nawal Motawi of Motawi Tile

Damian interviews Nawal Motawi of Motawi Tileworks, founded in Ann Arbor in 1992.

Listen To Damian On Design | Architecture Radio Show | DFDG

DFDG Barn Conversion Wins 2025 Honor Award

Praise for DFDG's Rustic/Contemporary Barn Evolution

Press Release: Damian Farrell Design Group PLLC Now Under New Ownership

Tresna Lim Taylor, AIA, NCARB, CPHC takes over as Principal of DFDG

Understanding Design Service Costs: Three Ways Good Communication Can Ultimately Save You Money

The Average Cost of Architect Fees

How Architectural Fees Are Different From Project Costs

The Most Common Consultants We Work With at DFDG

Breakdown of Architectural Services

Initial Consultation

Feasibility Studies and Site Survey

Project Planning

Design Development

Construction Documentation

Permitting

Construction Administration

3 Ways Good Communication Lowers Design Costs

1 - Starts Your Project Off On The Right Path

2 - Ensures A 2-Way Dialogue

3 - Transparency Lowers Construction Cost

What You Can Do to Ensure Good Communication With Your Architect

Understand Value

Trust The Experts

Trust The Process

Ask Questions

Being Realistic and Honest About the Budget From the Beginning

What Your Architect Should Do to Ensure Good Communication with You

Why It's Important To Include Everyone In Communication

Ready To Hire An Architect Who Understands The Value Of Good Communication?

How To Work with An Architect: Our Complete Guide

Why Do You Need An Architect?

What Is the Role of The Architect?

6 Possible Pain Points During the Process ﻿

Six Questions to Ask Your Architect (or Yourself) Before Hiring Them ﻿

What The Process Is Like for Architectural Services

What Are the Architect’s Responsibilities?

The AIA Five-Phase Approach Most Architects Follow ﻿

1. Schematic Design

2. Design Development

3. Construction Documents

4. Bidding

5. Construction Administration

Do All Architects Follow the Same Process?

Want To See What Working with An Experienced Architect Is Like?

Guest Susan McLeary, Owner of Passionflower, on Damian on Design

Susan McLeary of Passionflower

Downsizing and Decluttering with Brenda Brown of PareDown

Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic

Discussing the Obama Presidential Library with Guest Blair Kamin on Damian on Design

Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic

Jenenne Whitfield on Damian on Design

Passive Homes with Doug Selby

Passive Homes with Doug Selby ﻿

Guest Peter Osler on Damian on Design

Peter Osler

Guest Nawal Motawi of Motawi Tile on Damian on Design

Nawal Motawi of Motawi Tile

6 Possible Pain Points During the Process

Six Questions to Ask Your Architect (or Yourself) Before Hiring Them

The AIA Five-Phase Approach Most Architects Follow

Passive Homes with Doug Selby