DRAFTING PROCESS
A GUIDE TO WORKING WITH GEM Drafting

Below is an outline of the steps we will be taking together as we draft your project. This process is meant to be fun and engaging. It will involve sketches, drawings, computer models, lots of ideas – both good + bad - materials, thorough analysis, and good humor. I think the best outcomes are the result of following each of the steps below to completion.

Drafting is the synthesis of many disparate ideas into a thoughtful whole, and while the steps listed below represent a linear path, the way we arrive at the final documents is not always linear. It is an iterative process, which leads to a product; it’s not a known product from the beginning. The product is the result of following the process to its logical endpoint. This, I believe, is what makes custom plans so exciting and memorable – we create it together based on your specific situation and needs. At the end of the process, you will have a thoughtfully produced project and the shared experience of drafting it.

Drafters, for the most part, all use a similar series of steps to arrive at a finished home. There are the general phases:

Step 1: PRELIMINARY PRICING
Step 2: DRAFTING FEE
Step 3: PROGRAMMING (Predesign)
Step 4: CODE / ZONING REVIEW (Predesign)
Step 5: CONCEPTUAL DRAFTING PHASE
Step 6: DETAILING AND FINAL DOCUMENT PHASE

The phases are sequential, and they build on the work completed and agreed to in each preceding phase. We start with the general and refine the plans to the very specific. There’s lot of decisions along the way and this gradation organizes those decisions into manageable portions.