Our Design Partnership - How We'll Work Together
Hey Kourtney and Justin!
Remember how we discussed making this design journey feel like a collaborative effort? Let’s talk about how we'll do that!
We know that Justin is going to get a jump start on the Pre-Design work. Your portal home page has a link for “Docs”. You can drop anything you uncover there, and we’ll put it all together for our program document. Pre-Design in a snap!
Communication: Keeping You in the Loop
We know communication can make or break a design project. Here's how we'll stay connected:
Portal Updates: Your primary source of truth. We'll post updates here whenever there is one (typically posted by Monday mornings), giving you a clear view of where we are in the process.
Calls & Meetings: We're flexible! We can do video calls, phone chats, or in-person meetings. Just let us know what works best for your schedule, and we love to hear what your communication-style preference is!
Timeline Reality Check: What Can Affect Our Schedule
While we follow a structured design process, there are some factors outside anyone's control that can influence timing:
Permitting & Code Review
City review times vary wildly (sometimes weeks, sometimes months)
Reviewer feedback can require design adjustments
Poulsbo's specific requirements may have their own quirks
Utility & Infrastructure Considerations
Septic system requirements or upgrades
Electrical service capacity
Water and sewer connections
These can sometimes halt progress until resolved
Passive House Certification Process
Additional modeling and documentation time
Potential back-and-forth with certification bodies
Worth every minute, but adds complexity
Material Availability & Lead Times
Sustainable materials sometimes have longer lead times
Supply chain hiccups (we've all learned about these!)
Custom millwork and specialty items
The Good News We've navigated all of these challenges before, and we're proactive about identifying potential issues early. Our experience with Pacific Northwest projects means we know what to watch for and how to keep things moving.
Partnership Logistics: Let's Talk Payments
Hey there! We know talking about money can feel a bit awkward, but we believe in total transparency. Our goal is to make the financial side of our partnership as smooth and stress-free as possible.
Our Payment Options
🏦 ACH Bank Transfer (Our Favorite!) Totally free, super quick, and directly from your bank account. We love this option because it saves you money and keeps things simple.
💳 Credit/Debit Card A flat 2.9% per transaction. Convenient, but a bit more expensive than ACH.
What We'd Love to Know We're flexible and want this to work perfectly for you. For simplicity, we like to set this up for you in advance, so that we bill based on your choice of payment method. Please comment below or shoot us a message with your preferred payment method. If you expect it to vary, that’s okay too! In that case, we send a pdf which you can mail in a check for or let us know if you need a payment link.
Once we have your preferred method, we’ll get your initial retainer out to get the pre-design process started (and we’ll follow that up with a list of what we’d be doing, so we can confirm what we will do and what Justin will do!)
Our Promise
Crystal clear invoicing
No surprise charges
A partnership that feels good
Thoughts? Questions? We're all ears and ready to make this work for you.
Warmly,
Rachel & Sean
