Perfect Design

We are working on a project with a local contractor who we have done several projects with over the past few years. He approached us a few months ago with a potential office building project here in the Fort Wayne area. His client initially had another firm look at the project using design concepts he had come up with. It became clear that the clients design concepts were a little “over the top” and needed to be simplified in order to stay within the established construction budget. So, PDMi came up with a modified design using the criteria set forth by the client that would give him an architecturally pleasing design while incorporating the function and flow that he needed inside the building. When my contractor friend showed him the conceptual design we had come up with, his immediate reaction was “I love it!”. The issue was that he hadn’t taken time to really study the plan. It turns out that we had made a few compromises (relocating a mechanical room, making his storage room smaller, re-designing the second floor office space, etc.) that did not fit perfectly into his vision and specific needs. After he took some time to look at the plan, he gave us feedback which allowed us to make his space flow better and we were able to implement his feedback in a manner than worked perfectly for him.

I tell you this story to remind you that not every design is perfect on day one, many times it takes several versions of the initial design to find the right fit. Had we gone with his initial reaction of “I love it!”, we would have compromised on some of the items that were truly important to him. Remember, it’s a lot easier (and much less costly) to make the changes on paper ahead of time rather than after construction has started.  

If we can be of help on any of your future design needs, give us a call. We would love the opportunity to develop a perfect design for your next facility…