Designing a custom residence, or renovating your current home, is an exciting opportunity to create spaces that reflect your lifestyle, goals, and budget. As a small, woman-owned architecture firm, we pride ourselves on providing personalized service, thoughtful design, and clear communication throughout the process.

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While every project is unique, most follow these key phases:

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Proposal & Project Programming

Every successful project begins with a conversation. We start by listening to your goals, discussing your budget, evaluating site conditions, and identifying your priorities. This discovery process helps us understand what matters most to you and allows us to prepare an estimate for our architectural services.

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Unlike many firms that rely on fixed fees, Weddermann Architecture works on an hourly, time-and-materials basis. This approach provides flexibility and transparency, ensuring you pay only for the services you need. Because permitting requirements, agency reviews, and client-directed design revisions can vary significantly from project to project, hourly billing is typically the fairest and most accurate way to align fees with the actual scope of work.

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Schematic Design

This is where your vision begins to take shape. Working collaboratively, we'll explore floor plans, site layouts, building forms, and design concepts to develop a solution tailored to your specific property and lifestyle. Whether you arrive with sketches, inspiration photos, or only a general idea of what you want to build, we'll help transform those ideas into a practical and beautiful design. By leveraging our professional expertise, we help transform your initial concepts into refined, functional designs that elevate your original vision.

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Throughout this phase, we focus on maximizing both your site and your construction budget while identifying opportunities and constraints that may influence the project.

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We can also help you to assemble the broader project team by recommending and coordinating with consultants such as structural engineers, civil engineers, surveyors, and other specialists as needed for your particular site.
 

Design Development & Permit Documents

Once the overall design direction is established, we refine the details that bring the project to life. This includes exterior materials, roofing options, window placement, building systems, and other key design elements.

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We then prepare the permit documents required by the city or county for review and approval. These drawings address building code requirements, energy compliance, life-safety considerations, accessibility requirements where applicable, and zoning regulations such as setbacks, building height limits, and lot coverage restrictions.

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While we make every effort to anticipate agency requirements, review comments can vary based on jurisdiction and individual reviewers. Additional responses or revisions should be anticipated as part of the permitting process.

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These permit documents will also serve as construction documents for your contractor, clearly communicating the design intent. Firm founder, Jennifer Weddermann, also operates Moral Compass Construction Company (under a separate business license), which may be able to provide a bid for construction, or be contracted as part of a design-build project delivery method. 

Before finalizing the permit application for agency review, we suggest obtaining preliminary construction estimates from one or more general contractors. This collaborative check ensures the design remains aligned with your budgetary priorities before moving into the formal permitting phase.

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Construction Administration

Once construction begins, we can continue as part of your project team, although some clients choose to manage construction directly.

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During construction administration, we answer contractor questions, review shop drawings and submittals, conduct site visits, and help resolve issues that arise during construction - all services provided on an hourly fee basis. Our involvement helps ensure that the finished project reflects the design vision established during the earlier phases.

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Additional Services

In addition to architectural design, we can assist with a variety of related services, including:

• Site feasibility studies to determine highest and best use

• Zoning and code analysis

• Existing building documentation and measured drawings

• Accessibility evaluations and upgrades

• Conceptual site planning

• Permit assistance and agency coordination

• Photorealistic renderings, 3D visualization and walk through videos

• Construction cost estimating coordination

• Owner representation and project advocacy

• Tenant improvements and specialty building renovations

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Our goal at Weddermann Architecture is to make the design process understandable, collaborative, and enjoyable—creating spaces that are both beautiful and practical for years to come. We look forward to working with you!