The Creative Nook Inc; Planning for your Kitchen and Bath Remodeling Project, Malvern Pennsylvania, PA

Why choose a Design/Build Firm?

Words cannot express how many times clients have come through our doors with beautiful architecturally detailed blueprints of their grand anticipated project with no concept of cost, only to find out that they could not justify investing that much money in their homes. Most homeowners happily start their planning process by gathering lofty ideas and breathtaking concepts out of many house and home magazines.

The first challenging phase is when they then take these great concepts to a design only professional and share their vision, "I want.......lots of windows, skylights, double ovens, granite ....etc, etc. The next step is a long wait. They wait about two months to get back pages of detailed blueprints.

Unfortunately, the usual scenario resulting is the design only person who drew these plans, often (not always) either did not understand the budget, had no interest in the budget, or is not aware of current construction costs. Design only firms can charge you by the hour to draw these complex blueprints.

In the event that these blueprints are not able to be built from, while meeting the budget, the plans often have to be reworked at considerable additional expense to the homeowner. This also leads to lost time and frustration.

Design/Build firms have a distinct advantage in this area. They must provide design and costing as a coherent service and have a duty to respect accurate costs.

Some projects demand the services of architects. The question is whether or not your project requires one. We can help you determine this answer.

	Our Company	Builder	Cabinet Shop	Home Centers	Architect/ Designer	Kitchen Dealer
Years Of Experience	25	?	?	?	?	?
Certified, Trained Specialists	Certified Kitchen Designers on staff	No	No	No	Formal Training, Not a Kitchen Specialist	Some training likely
Fully Insured	Yes	?	?	Doubtful	Probable	Possible
Design Competition Award Winner	Yes	No	No	No	Unlikely	?
Knowledge of Appliance Technology	Yes	Limited	Unlikely	Limited	Limited	Not Always
Concern with solving overall design problems first	Yes	No	No	Sells cabinet brands first	Yes	Sells cabinet brand first
Specializes in kitchen and bath only	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Complete showroom displays with themes, creating "environment"	Yes	No	No	Not complete	No	Rarely
Multiple cabinet lines 3 quality grades of cabinets	Yes Yes	No Doubtful	No No	Yes Usually 2-3 grades	None N/A	Usually Yes, but usually recommends one
Broad Price Range	Yes	Limited	Presumably, Low end	No	N/A	Sometimes
Needs Analysis In Home	Yes	No	Limited	No	Possibly	Limited
Preliminary layout concepts available	Yes	Works from your plans	Works from your plans	Usually one layout	Likely	Usually one layout
Quick cost analysis available	Yes	No	No	No	No	Not available
Schedule of cost options	Yes	Perhaps	Doubtful	No	No	Perhaps
Can plan additions	Yes	No	No	No	?	Unlikely
Provides remodeling, plumbing, electrical services	yes	Yes	No	No	Recommend Sources	Sometimes
Ongoing quality improvement & staff training programs	Yes	No	No	No	?	Unlikely
Only trained, experienced kitchen installers	Yes	Unlikely	Presumably	No	N/A	?
Project management service	Yes	Sometimes	No	No	N/A	Rarely
Five Year Warranty	Yes	?	?	No	No	?
Mails project evaluation survey to all clients	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Cost Range	Moderate to Expensive	Among least expensive, but fewer services, less flexibility	Among least expensive, but fewer services, less flexibility	Reasonable to expensive, fewer services	Can be expensive service, does not offer products	Moderate to expensive, quality and number of services vary