Property  Review  

For coops, condominiums, townhouses, buildings or empty lots. You may be considering a property purchase; an owner exploring the potential of your property; or an owner planning to renovate, enlarge or build a new building. We can assist with the following:

• Gather all relevant information on the property from sites like NYC Department of Buildings and Zola NYC

• Perform a zoning analysis to get a clear picture of what's permissible on the property

• Review of the relevant Building Codes and Energy Codes

• If your property is landmarked, review the pertinent Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) requirements

• Review a property's existing conditions and recommend improvements and renovation approaches

• Review with you the NYC approval process, project design and construction, timelines, and estimated costs and budgets

• Discuss your ideas and desires, and brainstorm preliminary options for space layout, upgrades and design

At completion of this phase, you will be substantially better equipped to make decisions regarding purchasing, renovating or building on the property.

Preliminary and Schematic Design phases:

During this phase, we discuss your wants and needs, encourage brainstorming, jointly explore the possibilities, make suggestions and often surprise our clients. We are a small boutique studio, so you work directly with the principal architect. 

We believe it's important to budget adequate time for exploring options and possibilities during this phase, as it is the basis for everything that follows. Through this phase, during ongoing interactions with you, we:

• Explore options for layouts and floor plans

• Develop architectural and interior design concepts

• Produce 3D models and 3D images to better understand the design

• Create materials and mood boards

• Adjust design concepts to costs and budget

• Review compliance with building codes and zoning requirements

• Solidify and further develop the preferred options

• Explore heating and cooling options

• Coordinate the structural design

• Develop a preliminary design for millwork (kitchen, closets, etc)

At the completion of the schematic design phase, you will be confident in your choices and will have a well-informed and realistic understanding of what you want to do.

We will issue a schematic set of drawings, which will be the starting point for the sets submitted to the Department of Buildings and for bidding/construction. This will enable you to start serious and educated conversations with potential contractors.

Department of buildings and other required approvals:

We have extensive experience working with the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and other relevant authorities. We'll find the fastest path to get your required approvals and permits:

• We produce the set of drawings that are submitted for DOB and other required approvals

• Throughout the approval process, we coordinate with the engineers, the expediter and any other consultants

• Once approvals are received, we coordinate and guide the selected contractor in obtaining the required permits

Bidding and Construction drawings phase:

We take pride in producing high-quality, detailed drawings. This enables the bidding contractors to provide better, more accurate proposals and helps minimize the likelihood of additional costs and surprises during construction. Services for this phase typically include:

• Production of a full set of bidding drawings that includes building plans for demolition and construction, elevations and sections, lighting and power & data drawing; interior elevations; construction details; doors, windows and finish materials schedules

• Help with choosing lighting and plumbing fixtures, appliances and finish materials that fit your budget and design goals

• Referrals for contractors that are well-matched for your project

• Coordination of the work with the engineers and other consultants

• Review and analysis of proposals from the bidding contractors

• Once you choose the contractor, we make revisions to the drawings based on contractor costings and suggestions

Construction Administration:

To ensure on-site work is performed in accordance with the construction drawings, typically our services will include:

• Periodic site visits and participation in site meetings

• Responding to contractor's work-related questions

• Review contractor's requests for payments and provide recommendations

• Review punch lists at completion of the construction work and provide you with recommendations for final payments to contractor