Are we the right fit?
Most firms in this trade will not name a number until they are sitting in your kitchen. We publish four investment ranges and our minimum, which is $60,000. If that number ends the conversation, it has saved us both an afternoon, and that is a good outcome rather than a bad one.
Why we publish this
A first meeting that ends in a number nobody expected wastes two people's afternoon and leaves everybody slightly embarrassed. We would rather you knew the investment before you gave us an hour of your Saturday, and we would rather the figure came from us than from a forum thread.
There is a second reason and it is less flattering. Publishing a minimum means we are not tempted to take a project we are the wrong shape for, talk ourselves into it during the sales conversation, and then disappoint somebody in month four. The number protects you from us as much as it filters you.
The four ranges we work in
These describe the total project investment for work of the scope shown — design, drawings, selections, permits, materials, trade labor, project management, and the warranty. They are ranges, not quotes.
$60,000 – $100,000
- A single bath, taken back to the studs
- A kitchen refresh inside the existing footprint
- A screened porch
$100,000 – $200,000
- A full kitchen with layout changes
- A primary suite
- A finished basement
$200,000 – $350,000
- An addition
- Multiple rooms in one project
- A partial whole-home renovation
$350,000 and up
- A whole-home renovation
- A large addition
- A historic house taken all the way through
Who we're not for
- If your project is under $60,000
- we are probably not it. Not because small projects are not worth doing — because a process with a designer, an estimator, a selections coordinator and a full-time production manager on it does not get proportionally cheaper as the project gets smaller. You would be paying for a structure you do not need.
- If you already have a builder and just want drawings
- we are not it either. We do not sell design as a standalone product, because the entire value of what we do is that the people who drew it are accountable for building it.
- If the lowest number is the deciding factor
- be honest with yourself and with us, and go get three bids. That is a completely legitimate way to buy construction and there are good firms who compete that way. We are not one of them and we will not pretend to be for the length of a sales call.
- If you want to start next week
- we cannot. Design takes eight to fourteen weeks before anything gets built, and a firm that tells you otherwise is either not designing or not busy.
- If any of that lands wrong
- that is useful information for both of us, and we would rather you have it now than in month four.
What that number includes
- Design and construction drawings, including the revisions defined in your Design Agreement
- Structural design, and engineering where the work requires it
- Selections support — tile, cabinetry, fixtures, finishes — scheduled and locked before construction
- Permits and inspections, filed with whichever jurisdiction governs your address
- Every trade on the project, under our contract rather than yours
- Materials to the allowances written into your proposal
- Project management: a production manager, a project manager, and a written weekly update
- The five-year workmanship warranty and the eleven-month return visit
What it does not include
- Furniture, art, window treatments and styling
- Landscaping and site work outside the scope in your proposal
- Appliances and fixtures above the allowance you selected
- Anything found behind a wall nobody has opened — handled as a change order, documented, priced and signed before the work happens rather than after
That last one is the honest part. In a house built in 1962 there is always something, and the difference between firms is whether it arrives as a written change order you approved or as a phone call in week nine.
The five-year workmanship warranty
Covered
- Framing, drywall, and structural work we performed
- Tile setting and the waterproofing assemblies behind it
- Cabinetry and millwork installation
- Trim, and paint adhesion on surfaces we prepared
- The installation of the fixtures, appliances and systems we put in
Not covered
- The manufactured products themselves — appliances, fixtures, windows, flooring products and cabinetry finishes carry their own written manufacturer warranties
- Normal settlement cracking and the seasonal movement of wood
- Damage from misuse or deferred maintenance
- Water intrusion originating outside our scope of work
- Work performed by others after us
- Term
- five years, from the date of substantial completion
- Transfer
- Transferable once to a subsequent owner within the term.
- Full text
- The full written warranty is part of your contract, is handed to you at the warranty walk, and we will email a copy any time you ask. Scope, exclusions and source.
If you're under $60,000
A project under our minimum is usually better served by a specialty trade contractor working directly — a tile setter, a cabinet company, a small remodeler who runs their own crew. The work is real work and there are good people doing it. What we would add to it is a structure that project does not need and would still be paying for.
Send the inquiry anyway. Telling us you are under the minimum does not stop it reaching Priscilla. We will read it and we will reply, and if we are not the right firm we will tell you who might be — which is the whole reason we say any of this before a first meeting rather than after one.
Questions about the ranges
Why publish a minimum at all?
Because the alternative is a first meeting that ends in a number nobody expected, which wastes an afternoon for both of us. We would rather you knew the investment before you decided we were worth a phone call.
Is the range the same as a price?
No. Your number comes from the Fixed-Price Proposal in phase four, after the drawings exist and the trades have priced them. The range tells you whether to keep reading.
What is actually included in that investment?
Design and drawings, selections support, permits, structural work, the trades, materials, project management, and the five-year workmanship warranty. It is the whole project rather than the construction half of it.
What is not included?
Furniture, landscaping outside the scope, and appliances above the allowance in your proposal. Anything discovered behind a wall in a house nobody has opened is handled as a change order — documented, priced and signed before the work happens.
What if my project is under sixty thousand dollars?
Send it anyway. We will read it and we will reply, and if we are not the right firm we will say who might be. Telling us you are under the minimum does not stop your inquiry reaching us.
Tell us about the project
Four short steps. Telling us you are under our minimum does not stop your inquiry reaching us — we will read it, and we will reply.
Our minimum is $60,000. What happens next is a call from Priscilla within one business day to set up a free Discovery visit at your house.
Our contract terms, the lien notice, the full warranty text and the financing notice are published in full under Disclosures.