At Sims Luxury Builders, we consider the architect to be an essential part of the Dream Team that we encourage our clients to assemble before starting any custom home project.
Clients need your expert perspective and design advice, as well as a builder and interior designer, to bring their vision to life. Acting as a team from the very beginning mitigates changes and delays that spring from the lack of early collaboration.
From blueprints to build, here is how we work with architects, and how you can benefit from a close collaborative relationship with one of Houston’s premier custom builders for the last three decades.
Be Part of a Dream Team
Sims Luxury Builders encourages everyone who wants to build their dream home to build their Dream Team to make it happen. The Dream Team includes the builder, the interior designer and the architect. Ideally, everyone joins forces at the very start of the architectural design phase.
This early collaboration allows the entire home construction journey to move smoothly and seamlessly for the client. In fact, having the team assembled from the start also minimizes struggles for everyone involved.
From the architect’s perspective, having this team assembled early is beneficial in many ways.
Having a builder on board ensures that your designs remain aligned with the client’s budget from start to finish, diminishing the likelihood of plan revisions and redesigns.
A builder can also continually review the plans so that any potential constructability issues are identified and questions are answered before construction kicks off.
Early collaboration with an interior designer ensures that your team knows exactly what to draw before the plans are complete, minimizing the need for revisions or late detail additions.
The interior designer can also handle client conversations that oftentimes have to be handled by you when an interior designer isn’t present (where might the client want floor plugs? how will furniture likely be placed in each space?, etc.)
The builder can help you with client education, specifically regarding realistic budget expectations and evaluating which value-engineering options to pursue.
The client enjoys the entire process more fully, as they are tackling selections at a leisurely pace during design, instead of at a frantic pace at the start of construction.
We advocate this early collaboration approach to streamline the design and build phase while mitigating as many changes and delays as possible. We start construction with a design that utilizes the best materials and design elements for the client and for the Houston area.
When the architect and builder work together, you can prepare the home design while accessing a knowledgeable resource in a local builder. We are continually clued into current material availability and pricing, and are familiar with the types of materials that maintain durability in the Houston heat, humidity, and soil composition. And we collaborate closely with you to realize the customer’s design in a way that fits their lifestyle and the Houston elements.
Many architects are aligning with custom builders to simplify the building process, reduce problems due to miscommunication and changes in available material and labor, and to plan better upfront before breaking ground.
Have a Lead Role in the Design of High-End Homes
Sims Luxury Builders offers architectural design phase consultation as a free service to customers and architects to keep clients from giving up on their custom home because of delays, plan revisions, expectation misalignment, and budget busts. With free design phase services, you address most of these issues before the dirt flies. And there is no commitment required for either party to hire us as their custom builder.
Sims Luxury Builders assists in educating clients on budgetary considerations throughout the process:
- We ensure high-performance home specifications are incorporated into the home’s design from the beginning, preventing costly last minute modifications for you.
- We provide clients with a path to follow for tackling selections, so that the process is creatively-fulfilling and fun instead of stressful.
- We produce an initial estimate after the conceptual design, before developing construction drawings.
- We provide a comprehensive construction budget using multiple hard bids for key cost categories as well as data from our vast collection of historical project costs.
- We offer value-engineering options to the clients that preserve your design while meeting their budget.
- We provide high-quality advice on which cost-saving measures to pursue and which to pursue, based on our 30 years of experience building high-end luxury homes in Houston.
Work Closely on Preliminary Designs and Estimates
When you partner with Sims Luxury Builders, your clients know that your design will be executed as you intended. They get a high-performing team focused on delivering an extraordinary home that exceeds their expectations.
The dream team continues to work together throughout the preliminary design and estimating phase of the project. At this time, you use your innate creativity to flesh out a conceptual design, including a rough floor plan and exterior elevation sketch. Sims Luxury Builders then takes your conceptual design and goes to work on a preliminary estimate.
We have an in-depth and detailed database of historical project costs, as well as knowledge of current material and labor pricing and availability. We can give you an accurate estimate of how closely the home design aligns with the client’s budget. Together, the team completes the rest of the architectural design phase resting easy that your design and the client’s budget are aligned.
Once the preliminaries are complete, we offer the clients help in reviewing your design iterations quickly so that you can continue along your desired timeline. We continually refine the preliminary estimate to ensure that expectations remain realistic, and we propose value-engineering solutions if misalignment occurs. Nearly all constructability issues or budgetary concerns are quickly addressed throughout the design process to avoid delays, costly plan revisions, or dissatisfied clients.
With final plans in place, we develop the comprehensive and accurate budget required to bring your design to life. We pride ourselves in building a no-holes budget using current and accurate pricing, multiple hard bids for key cost categories, and detailed project costs collected on all of our homes. We find that this ensures construction progresses smoothly and clients get to truly enjoy the process without a lot of unwanted surprises.
Take Advantage of Sims’ Deep Knowledge of Building in Houston
Our expert in-house estimators can take any set of plans and specifications and request bids from our extensive network of high-value subcontractors. We have been in this market for over 30 years. We know the best people to work with and the best way to get the materials needed to execute your plans.
Once everything is in place, the pre-construction phase begins. This is another place having Sims as a partner benefits you and your client.
- We push your plans through the homeowners’ association (HOA) and city permitting processes to expedite approvals. We know just who to talk to.
- We put together a comprehensive construction schedule so you know when each step will happen.
- We help you guide your client through the material selection process, refining the budget at every step.
Connect with Clients through Sims Luxury Builders
Besides partnering with you to help your existing clients, Sims can connect you with future clients. As budgetary concerns have taken over the design process, many prospective homebuyers look to builders to help them set a course for affordable home design.
We introduce you to clients who approach us with their design intentions in hand. You don’t need to generate leads on your own. And when you have been part of a Sims Luxury Builders Dream Team, you know exactly how we work. We all bring something of value to the table, so close collaboration pays off.
As partners, we can collaborate on more than a construction project. We can pool our marketing strength and expand our network of industry partners. There are more of us to keep up with changing design trends and building practices. Each member of the dream team brings a different perspective to the work. When it all comes together, we all win.
Join the Dream Team with Sims Luxury Builders to expand your client base and have a reliable partner in designing and building custom homes that cement and perpetuate your reputation as a premier architect in the Houston market.
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