Design Options Inc
Architectural Services for Custom Drawn Residential & Commercial Plans at a Reasonable Cost
Design Options Inc 410 N West St, Culpeper VA 22701 540.825.4656
How We Work We are currently conducting business via email and phone.
New Homes - An email with your ideas for your new home, style of house, number of bedrooms, porches, decks, unique features can get us started. Photographs, pictures from magazines, sketches, or rudimentary plans are helpful if you have them. It is also useful for us to know the square footage you desire and your budget. Please note that our house plans are charged by the sq foot so the back and forth of emails does not add to the cost of he project.
Renovations require a site visit if you are remodeling or adding on to your present home. We will visit your home, take photos and measure. There is a charge for a site visit. We will do as much measuring as we can outside your home, but we may have to enter to finish the job. Our site manager will wear a mask - and we require that anyone else at the site visit do the same.
Procedure - After two to three weeks you will receive a preliminary plan. This represents your ideas put together with attention to design flow, economy of building materials, and ease of construction. It includes the foundation plan, floor plans, and elevations. Once you have a preliminary, you will probably want to make some changes which can be emailed to us. You will be given three opportunities to revise your plan.
The Final Plan - After you have approved the preliminary and any revisions you may have requested, we will proceed with the final plan. When the CAD operator completes his work, the plan is reviewed for errors by our Designer. It is then printed. Revisions requested after the final plan is printed are billed at $130.00 per hour with a one hour minimum.
Engineering - When necessary, we submit your plan to an engineer for structural calculations, stamp, and certification. This costs extra and takes more time depending upon the engineer’s workload.
A plan normally takes six to eight weeks from start to finish. Delays may occur if our office is particularly busy, the design of the house is complex, or if the client requests numerous changes to the plan.
Payment is due upon completion of the final plan. However, if we do not hear from you within three weeks of a preliminary plan, we will bill for the preliminary plan. We require a down-payment for large, commercial or out-of area plans. Plans are custom drawn and cannot be returned. Should you decide that you do not want the plans, you must notify us immediately so that we can cease work on your plan. You are responsible for the work done to the point of cancellation.
Green Design - We at Design Options, Inc. believe it is our obligation to look to the future. We encourage you to incorporate Green Design into the planning of your home or commercial project. Just ask us how.