Long-Distance Home Design

Congratulations, you’ve made the decision to relocate or purchase a home on Washington’s beautiful Vashon Island. We know how exciting this can be!

Once the excitement subsides, the logical side of our brains kicks in and the questions start piling up. Waldron Designs is here for you as you navigate the process of long-distance home design and we’re happy to help provide answers to those questions. Pulling from our own experience and years of knowledge gained guiding many of our clients, we can provide insights on how working long-distance can actually reduce stress and be a wonderfully fun process.

Does relying on a team you’ve never met in person induce anxiety? Check out this review from our Manzanita Vacation Home clients, who we still have not met once in person! We simply had several virtual meetings and made sure to visit the site regularly to keep everything moving along stress-free. Our Chautauqua Beach Residence was also designed almost entirely remotely with just a few in-person meetings over the course of the project. Before making enhancements to your property, we find it is important for us to understand your space and see the space. Given that, we found that long-distance projects offer more freedom for us to regularly visit to verify measurements, document, sit in the space to get a deeper understanding of the site, and even design on the site.

When should I hire an architect or interior designer?

The best time to engage a designer or architect is once you have possession of the property. We’ve had clients reach out and spend time with us prior to acquiring the property, to only have that purchase fall through. While we never plan on this happening, it is best to confirm that the property is indeed yours before we set to work reimagining the site. Additionally, this ensures that we can get access to this property for research purposes.

Learn a bit more about our research process here.

Should I find my builder first or my architect first?

Ideally, you will want to meet with the designer first, but there are exceptions and it is beneficial to engage both at the same time. Working with a design-build firm is a great way to satisfy both needs simultaneously.

Thoughtful design takes time, and it is often forgotten or misunderstood just how much time we need to make sure that the design is carefully morphed over time to meet your needs and expectations. Plan for a minimum of 6-8 weeks for a single space project. Designing your full home? Set aside at least 12-18 months for the design time.

Read more about design timelines in our article here.

How often will I need to come to Vashon to meet with the designer?

Remember our Manzanita project? We never once met those clients in person! That is not to say that an in-person meeting or two would not be beneficial, but we are fully capable of designing your home with virtual presentations. We can mail samples to your home for review, post private videos for you to watch on YouTube, and coordinate meetings over Google Meet complete with slideshows.

You can come to Vashon as often or as infrequently as you like. No matter the frequency of your visits, rest assured the project will meet your goals and dreams.

How will the permitting process work?

We coordinate with all necessary sub-consultants to assemble a complete permit set. Once the set is assembled, we will apply for the permit on your behalf, and monitor the intake process through approval. We are your resource, coordinating visits with a septic designer, geotechnical engineer, wetlands scientist, and more. In short, we make this easy for you!

How often will I need to come to Vashon during the construction process?

This ultimately depends on your comfort with your designer and builder and trust in their design style and knowledge. There absolutely will be spontaneous decisions that must be made, and in any construction project where you are not on-site at all times, it is important to be prepared to have the “oh, that’s not what I expected, but it’s great” experience. We’ll keep you up to date with any needed shifts and hope you’ll find our expertise gets you the very best outcome.

In all of our design projects, we provide daily photos through a client portal that may be viewed at your convenience. We also check in weekly to let you know what the plan for the week is and who will be working on your site.

It is important to our team that you are confident with how your project is going, that is why we take extra care to keep you updated and make you feel as though you were there every step of the way! Connect with us to find out how we can make your dream space come to life, whether you are near or far.

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