ABOUT US

As a business, we ask for your consideration. We ask for you to consider the humans and resources needed to complete your building project.

We ask you to consider the labor of building. We ask you to consider waste and ways to limit it. And together we can ask how to repurpose our spaces to better meet the needs of our current lives.

This company is based on the belief that the only way forward is asking questions and listening. How can we design for the longer arc of time? How can we use what is already here? How can we bring more visibility and appreciation to the invisible humans who build the spaces we live and work in? How can we create a schedule, budget and working environment that honors the dignity of everybody involved? This company is built on relationships with other humans. It is built on the desire to have transparency and trust in the building industry. It is built on the knowledge that existing structures have value. It is built on the idea that an architecture and construction business can be and must be feminist.

We are humans.

Actually Design Build was created by Charlie Vaughan and Katherine Fontaine. Both have previously worked for much larger contractors in California and felt a desire to take that experience and build a company from the ground up with transparency and sustainability at the core. With both architectural and construction licenses and years of experience in California, together we lead a team that can take your project from an initial design through the complete building process. We bring the experience of managing multi-million dollar budgets to a small nimble construction company that can provide a thorough and efficient project with a highly skilled group of carpenters, management team and a committed team of subcontractors.

And most importantly, we are in the continued pursuit of changing the contractor stereotype, being good communicators, having transparency around budget and schedule and remembering to get in the ocean occasionally so we don’t lose our minds completely.

PROCESS

As the Architect and General Contractor, we understand the sequencing required to design, permit and safely (re)build a structure and offer support through each step: the initial idea : the design : the budget analysis : the permitting : the demolishing : the (re)building. We have gathered a team of designers, engineers, builders and subcontractors over many years that we deeply trust and respect who all play an integral part in the process.

  • As designers, we consider the volume, scale, light, views, building code, access, flow, egress and overlay all of these considerations on a specific client’s needs, habits, desires. We are permit coordinators. We are listeners, managers and gatherers of all the components needed to translate the project to the build team. Our focus is practicality. We want each space to be interesting and beautiful and unique but never at the expense of function. How each individual human uses and exists in a space is the most critical component.

    We approach each project like a puzzle and seek to find the most efficient and effective way to put the pieces together. We believe architectural design should be a collaborative process to ultimately create a space that will bring more ease and comfort to your life. The spatial knowledge we have gathered over the past many years is essential for the task of combining the spatial needs and aesthetic sensibilities to create a space that responds to a client’s specific desires.

    The architectural design process is broken down into three phases:

    • Schematic Design - initial concept floor plans and elevations

    • Design Development / Permit Documents - fine tuning to better understand spatial details and prepare required documents for permit submittal

    • Construction Documents - material, fixture and window/door specifications, finish selections, heating/cooling and electrical needs

    Each one of these phases brings an additional layer of detail, an additional layer of decisions, each phase brings us closer to a set of documents that can be used to build your project.

  • Permitting is the bureaucratic process implemented by the city and state to oversee our built environment in order to protect the health and safety of citizens. It is the job of the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) along with several other departments (Planning Department, Public Utilities Commission, Mechanical/Electrical Department) to review submitted plans demonstrating the scope of your proposed project. They review the plans for conformance with local and state building codes as well as planning and zoning regulations. They will provide comments on the plans and may require the resubmittal of sheets to demonstrate specific changes at their discretion. After this process you will obtain a building permit that allows you to proceed with construction.

  • You will likely ask how much your project will cost in our first meeting. Unfortunately, there is no simple math equation to figure out how much your remodel project will cost. Our intention with every design project is to get to a point where we can discuss actual construction costs as efficiently as possible. To have a realistic cost conversation, we need a floor plan and a general idea of the space you want to create including window and door locations and overall square footage.

    Every client has a budget and it is a process to take the initial design which often is your ultimate hope for the space to a project that is within your budget. A benefit of working with a design-build firm is our ability to provide preliminary construction pricing earlier in the process that will help guide your decisions.

  • As the general contractor we have an extensive knowledge in how buildings are constructed and specifically knowledge of the sequencing required to safely (re)build a structure.  We bring the pieces of the project together, including every expert and every piece of material needed. We have a crew of carpenters who are responsible for all work involving wood including: structural framing, trim, cabinetry, window and door install to name a few. Our in-house carpentry crew also takes care of all of the miscellaneous tasks that fall outside of everyone else’s scope of work, for example, coordinating trash hauling, moving materials around a jobsite daily to clear the way for work to progress, receiving deliveries on site, protecting finished parts of a project, weatherproofing a construction site during inclement weather, securing the job site and tools, daily cleaning and organizing. We fill all of the empty spaces. We fill all of the gaps.

    In a typical design-bid-build situation, the architect and contractor are separate so there is a triangle of communication. In a design-build model, you will have one point of contact throughout the entirety of your project. We will be overseeing the construction and coordinating all design decisions with you throughout the process.