Your project sounds exciting and is just the kind of thing we do at Martinkovic Milford Architects. You may be interested in looking at the Parekh Residence on our website, which included an attic expansion and first floor extension on an existing Tudor home in Menlo Park. We’ve done numerous projects in San Francisco that create additional rooms on the first floor and claim new living spaces within the attic.

Parekh Residence

To answer your question:  Our firm works on a fixed fee basis for each of the typical design phases of a project.  Once design is wrapped up and construction drawings are completed we move into hourly services for the contractor selection and construction phases, providing you estimates of our time as things proceed.  The costs for each of these phases will vary with the level of services needed and amount of the design to be provided.  We are happy to discuss specific projects in more detail and provide additional information regarding pricing as it pertains to your particular set of circumstances. Feel free to our office any time at 415-346-9990.

Below is a brief summary of the typical design phases and how our services may vary in each.

Pre Design: In this phase we document the existing building, generate background drawings for use throughout the project, and perform the initial code studies to determine the parameters around which the project must be designed. Fee ranges depend on whether the intended scope of work includes an addition and the size and complexity of the existing conditions to be documented.

Schematic Design: In this phase we’re providing initial layout drawings for your home remodel. We typically provide 3 different directions initially, present them to you for your reactions, and based on the feedback, generate one additional design scheme that takes into account your feedback on which layouts best fit your lifestyle. Fee ranges vary depending on scope of work complexity of the design solutions needed.

Design Development: In this phase we are establishing the overall look and feel of the residence and our services will vary greatly from project to project. For some clients, we’ll perform very little design development services as they wish to work with a contractor they trust on choosing all of their interior finishes and fixtures and aren’t interested in creating a custom environment. For other clients we’ll make recommendations for every finish and fixture to go into the home, creating a unique design solution to craft a custom home that speaks directly to the owner’s tastes and unique lifestyle. We’ll walk you through all the options when we first meet and make sure our contract reflects the appropriate amount and level of design consideration for you and your budget.

Construction Documents: In this phase we generate the “blueprints” which will be used to apply for permits, solicit bids or proposals from general contractors, and ultimately used to construct your home remodel.  You can read more about selecting a contractor in a previous post. Fees will vary greatly with construction documents based on the amount of detail and design put into previous phases.

Please feel free to contact us directly to discuss price specifics regarding your home renovation project.

Thanks for the question Surag. You are right, a million factors will ultimately determine the final cost of a construction project. However, at these very preliminary stages of project development you can usually rely on some simple rules of thumb to establish a budget.

For lower-end custom home construction you should budget $200-$250 per s.f.

Quality mid-end construction is more like $300-400 per s.f. and we find man projects will fall somewhere in that range.

High end projects start to get the most variation in cost as there can be a very steep cost increase as your make certain finish and equipment  choices. For preliminary budgeting purposes you can start with $500-$600 per s.f. in this market but be aware that you still need to stay on top of things to keep it from escalating to $700-800 or more.

In addition these numbers you should also budget about $100 per s.f. for exterior hardscape construction. (driveways, walks, patios, decks, etc.)

We recommend you include at least a 10% contingency in your budget to address any unexpected costs that may arise during construction.  With quality, accurate drawings and a good team managing the project you can stay on top of a lot of these unforeseen issues and stay on target with your budget.

Good luck with your parcel search. Be aware that there are some neighborhoods with strict CC&R’s so look into those before making any final decisions and adjust your plans accordingly.