A couple of hours at your place. Walking the house, talking about what's working and what isn't, and drawing while we talk. You keep the sketches, a written summary and this guide.
Do architects charge for the first visit? More and more of us do, and this is mine. The most common thing anyone says to me on the phone is a version of 'I don't know where to start.' It's usually said apologetically. It shouldn't be. It's an accurate description of where you are, and most of the industry is arranged for people who are further along.
Every other route in asks you to have decided something first. A builder wants a plan to price. A fee proposal wants a brief to scope. What barely exists anywhere is a way to spend a small, defined amount and find out whether there's a project at all.
So that's what this is. A phone call, then a couple of hours at your house. We walk through it, talk about what's working and what isn't, and I draw while we talk.
You'll leave knowing more about your own house than you did, and holding something you can show someone.
It answers the question standing between you and a project — is what I'm imagining even possible, and roughly what would it involve — for a fixed, modest fee and no further commitment. If it becomes a project, the fee comes off the first invoice.
Being shown your own house by someone who can see it properly. This is the point where the fog lifts. Watching an architect draw is genuinely affecting, and the sketch is an object you keep.
The equivalent conversation happens free, standing in a driveway, with nothing written down. You leave with an impression and nothing in your hand: no sketch, no summary, nothing to show the person who wasn't there.
A couple of hours at your place, for a fixed fee that comes off your first invoice if it turns into a project. The sketches stay with you when I leave, which matters more than it sounds — the drawing is the thing you show the people who weren't there. I'll be clear about the limits too. That time will tell you whether the idea is possible and roughly what shape it takes.
More and more do, and the reason is worth saying plainly. The free version happens standing in a driveway, and it's the most valuable thinking in the whole process being given away as a sales activity, so it's rushed and unrecorded. Paying a modest fixed fee changes what it is. There's time, there's no pitch at the end, and you leave with something on paper.
A phone call beforehand, so I arrive already knowing the address, the zoning and the overlays. Then a couple of hours at your house, walking through it, talking about what works and what doesn't, and sketching as we go. You keep the sketches, on paper, that day. A written summary follows: what I saw, what I think the real problem is, and which options I'd consider. All of it is yours whether or not you ever work with me again.
Not precisely, and I'd be careful of anyone who claims otherwise after a first visit. What it gives you is a range, and a clear sense of which direction is the expensive one — whether you're in the territory of moving two walls or of raising the house. A real cost picture needs measured drawings, a planning check and usually a builder's input.
If you have a feeling rather than a plan, yes. It's built for exactly that position. If you already know precisely what you want and only need it drawn and approved, skip it and start at the next stage, or take it to a good building designer. And if what you really need to settle is whether to renovate or move, do that sum first.
No, and that's deliberate. There's no proposal waiting at the end and I won't chase you. Some people go away and think about it for a good long while, which is perfectly reasonable. Some decide the project isn't worth doing, which is a much better outcome than finding that out several stages in. If you do want to carry on, the next stage is quoted separately.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.
