Consultation Meeting

If you are ready to start a project the first step is a consultation meeting with one of our design-build teams. After the fee is paid, we will set up a dedicated project page on our app and then assign a designer and builder to your project. Once your team is assigned to the project, you will see their names, contact information, and profile on your dedicated project page. They will reach out to schedule an in-person site visit to see your property and give you a chance to share your project goals and ideas. This is not a design meeting. Instead, we are there to talk about your ideas, discuss your goals, see the existing conditions, and answer the question, "What problem are you trying to solve?" During the meeting, the design professional and builder will review and discuss the following:

• Project goals: We will discuss your answers to the online Goals & Ideas questionnaire and work to understand the problem being solved.

• Ideas: The design professional will listen to your thoughts and ideas and take thorough notes. 

• Design and permitting process: The designer will lead a preliminary discussion of the full design and permitting process to set expectations.

• Construction challenges: The builder will discuss any challenges or issues they foresee based on the site conditions and features.

New Avenue charges a flat fee for these consultation meetings to be held at the project’s location. There is no obligation to continue beyond this meeting. You can review the submitted quote and decide if you would like to proceed with New Avenue to execute your project.

Design Proposal and Construction Estimate

After the initial consultation meeting concludes, the designer and builder will go over the project together and create a project budget based on data from previous projects and the anticipated scope of work. This will be delivered in our app and will include:

• Design fees: this includes line items describing all of the work to be undertaken by the design team.

• Consultant Fees: an estimate of the cost of any consultants that may be required. 

• Permitting fees: we will give a rough estimate of what you can expect to pay for permits.

• Construction Cost: we will outline a rough estimate of the cost to build your project based on historical data of similar projects. 

The design proposal and construction estimate will be posted to your project page shortly following the consultation meeting. Design is typically around 10% of your total project budget; consultants plus permitting fees make up another 10% on average, and 80% of the total project budget is typically dedicated to construction costs.  

There may be situations where the project changes over time based on client requests, unknown conditions related to the site, buildability, or changes to codes and regulations. In these rare cases, there may be a need to adjust the design fees to accommodate additional unforeseen work. If this arises, the designer will discuss the changes with you and get your approval before carrying out any work outside the original design quote.

Construction estimates that our team provides during the design phases of the project are a preliminary statement of the estimated cost. Client direction, collaborative design decisions, and changes required for permitting may increase the cost of construction beyond the initial estimate. Such estimates or budgets do not guarantee the actual costs of construction until we provide a full lump-sum bid at the completion of construction documents and engineering drawings. One benefit of our design/build practice is ongoing pricing of the design throughout the design process so you are aware of pricing changes as decisions are made.