Fall 2005 Articles

Modifications-Changing a Plan to Best Suit Your Needs
Lighting Your New Home-Illuminate Your Space
Employee Spotlight: Shawn Schmidt, Product Support Specialist

Modifications-Changing a Plan to Best Suit Your Needs
Part 1
By Martin Stewart, Designer, AMDA

Alan Mascord Design Associates offers hundreds of professionally designed home plans, but what if you don’t see exactly what you’re after? What if you locate a Mascord plan that comes close, but you would like to have some changes made to it? That’s where our stock plan modification services come in.

From minor plan changes to extensive design modifications, most Mascord home plans can be adjusted to suit your specific needs. This series of articles will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step. We will provide some helpful tips and guidelines along the way, and we will also consider the important role you play in making your project a success.

An Overview
Whereas a custom design starts from scratch, a plan modification uses a completed design as the starting point. Since we are able to reuse portions of the existing base plan, this can often be an affordable alternative to custom design. Of course, there are reasonable limits to what qualifies as a modification project. But in most cases the design changes our customers desire are deemed feasible and qualify for our modification services.

From the start, we approach the project as a team. Your involvement as the client is vital, especially during the first two phases of your modification project.

Modification projects are done in four sequential phases:

1. Project Definition and Intake
2. Design
3. Production and Engineering
4. Delivery and Support

Project Definition and Intake
The Project Definition and Intake phase begins with your initial inquiry, and ends with the completed Design Agreement accompanied by receipt of the deposit to begin the Design phase. (By the way, this phase is usually free to the client, with payment of a deposit required only after this phase is complete. In some cases, if extensive consultation is needed at this stage, our hourly rates may apply.)

Likely you already have an idea of what you’re looking for in a home plan: the size of home, a preferred style, and the general layout and features. The property where the home is to be built may also influence plan selection (Is the site sloping? Limited width or depth? Trees to protect? Views to take advantage of?) Building codes, local zoning ordinances, as well as neighborhood CC&Rs can also all have an impact on plan selection and design decisions. All of these factors are important and make up the design criteria.

Since almost all of this information is specific to your site and region, we depend on you to gather it up and provide it before design can begin (in fact, that’s your first assignment as part of the team.) Since building codes and local zoning ordinances vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction -- and are frequently changed without notice -- it is impossible for AMDA to keep up-to-date with this information for the numerous building jurisdictions in the Pacific Northwest, and around the country.

We are able to provide you guidance in rounding up this information. When you contact one of our project intake specialists, they can provide you helpful checklists and forms to point you in the right direction, in addition to the information provided in this series of articles.

The Project Definition and Intake Phase also includes plan selection, and the establishment of the scope of design changes and services desired. This allows us to determine our fee and to produce the Design Agreement to get the project started.

Tracking down all this information can seem tedious, but it’s invaluable to getting your project off to a good start. (We’ll get to the fun part -- design -- soon enough.)

So, where to begin? The best place to start is the specific lot where the home is to be built, since site requirements can often be the most restrictive and the most critical.

Site Information
Whether or not we provide the final site plan, having this site information is valuable because it can affect plan selection and design. We could tell you some real horror stories of some folks who thought otherwise (but we won’t).

A plat map of your lot shows the exact property line lengths and bearings (for example, 101.62’ N39°25’17”E). You can provide this by either faxing a legible copy, or mailing it to us. If any of the property lines are curved, the corresponding curve data will be needed. This will include the curve radius, curve length, and chord length and bearing. (This is often found in an accompanying “Curve Data Chart”.) To learn more about this, check out our Site Plan Guidelines on our website www.mascord.com/PDF/SiteGuide_Guideline.pdf.

Unless the property is actually flat, the topography of the site is also very important. Slope steepness is impossible to determine visually. Slope often appears less severe than it really is. A ten or fifteen foot drop may only appear to the eye to be a few feet. For sloped lots, we prefer a professional topographical survey with contours at 1’-0” or 2’-0” intervals. Some experienced builders are able to produce an accurate topo survey as well.

When a professional topographical survey is obtained, please direct the surveyor to email us an AutoCAD file of the completed survey. Please contact us for the appropriate email address where that should be directed. Additional site information includes:

• Property identification: either a lot number and subdivision name or street address.
• Zip code of the property.
• Any additional site features that need to be considered (i.e. other structures on the site, views and vistas, trees to be preserved, mail boxes, obstructions, etc.)
• Is a septic field required?
• Are there any easements?
• Is a soils report required?

We will continue this series on our plan modification process in our next newsletter. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have, or for assistance with plan selection. Feel free to email us at planmodification@mascord.com. You may also contact one of our project intake specialists directly. At our Portland, Oregon office, contact Karen Dummer (503-225-9161 ext. 246). At our Seattle, Washington office, you can reach Kevin Vessey (425-277-7501 ext. 12). At our Bend, Oregon office, contact Charlie Ujakovich (541-382-4748 ext. 329).

Next issue: Plan Modification -Part II

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Lighting is one of the most overlooked aspects in home construction today, primarily because there is a perception that good lighting or custom lighting is expensive. Budgets are getting squeezed and homeowners (and spec builders) often prefer spending on things they think give a bigger “impact”, more bang for the buck. And, people often go to great lengths to maximize windows and natural light, all very important considerations, but forget that a large amount of their leisure time is spent in the evenings, after dark, when relying on the artificial lighting in your home. Our goal here is help you make the most intelligent lighting choices, choices that will leverage your substantial investment in that new home, creating a special environment that is comfortable, relaxing and accentuates the beautiful architecture that you are creating.

A house plan that you purchase will have a basic layout that shows wall outlets and some ceiling lights and fans – a useful guide for budgeting and planning but this needs to be amplified by your conceptualizing your use of each space or room, and the furnishing layout you are planning. If you can fit it in your budget, an interior decorator at a local home furnishing or lighting store might be able to help you sketch out a more detailed lighting plan. Most stores offer free interior decorating services when you purchase a certain dollar amount of light fixtures or furnishings. The internet is a valuable resource also to help you in your planning. Sites like Lamps Plus offer free room planners that allow you to plug in your room dimension and then furnish your rooms with a simple point and click of your mouse. Lamps Plus gives consumers added benefits by offering online lighting consultation for only $5 in which they refund with a $25 coupon sent with your lighting consultation.

Different Types of Lighting to Consider

General Lighting

Ceiling fixtures, chandeliers and wall sconces are used to illuminate the way for movement throughout the home. Recessed can lights often are used to light hallways, stairs and circulation areas and do a good job of lighting the floor. However, a softer and more pleasant effect can be had by using indirect lighting such as wall washers that do double the duty of highlighting your artwork and, at the same time, provide attractive general lighting.

Try to anticipate where you will be hanging artwork – blank wall spaces and art niches – and place recessed can lights that are designed to wash that wall with light. Another way to soften your illumination is to bounce light off the ceiling through the use of indirect cove light and wall sconces. Wall sconces are easy to do almost anywhere but cove lighting often requires changes to the architecture and may be more applicable to high ceiling areas.

Task Lighting

Kitchen counters and other work surfaces such as home offices and workshop areas require a higher level of illumination, usually provided by recessed cans, track lighting, ceiling pendants and, in offices, table, desk, or floor lamps.

The key here is to provide light that is bright enough but free from shadows. Particularly in kitchens, it is better have more fixtures, spaced closer together, using a lower wattage such as 50 watt, par 20 halogen can lights. Remember that it is the counter you want lit, not the floor in front or the top of your head, so consider lining up your can lights on the front edge of the counter.

Mood or Accent Lighting

Lighting which is installed primarily for atmosphere such as lamps, ceiling chandeliers, specialty hi-hats and landscape lights fall into this category, as do most ceiling fans with lights. Art niches are popular and require lighting that is focused on them. Dimmers can also be used on general or task lighting to help create mood lighting.

Exterior Lighting

The tendency to focus most of your attention to the inside of your home is common but, particularly in areas where you do a lot of your living outdoors, it is a mistake to forget these areas. Even if your landscaping is staged as a future project, you must think through where you will want lights and plan for adding the appropriate outlets and switches.

Do you hang Christmas lights? If so, now is the time to plan for outlets in the right locations to avoid needing those ugly extension cords running around. Landscape, driveway and pathway lights can also make a huge impact and do not add that much to the budget. Usually these are inexpensive, low voltage, fixtures that require a transformer conveniently located for connection to the house power and access for timers to control the lighting.

Choosing your fixtures

The choice of which type of fixtures to use is a personal decision based upon what you like. Some homeowners despise floor and table lamps and opt for ceiling hi-hats to provide all the forms of lighting required. This also enables greater flexibility while configuring the placement of your furnishings. Others may find this harsh, and prefer the warmth afforded by table lamps; however this requires that you know where your furnishings will be so you can locate outlets close to the location you want to have a table lamp. If you can figure out exactly where furnishings and area rugs will be placed, you can also have floor outlets that hide conspicuous electrical cords.

A most important consideration is where you locate the wall switches that will control your lighting. Try to visualize your movement through the home to best locate these switches, and do consider three or four-way switches, which allow you to control lights from various locations and avoid backtracking to turn off lights. There are also various Smart House systems that can be installed to allow you to control lighting throughout the home from command modules you locate in strategic places, like a garage entry or master bedroom. This kind of system can also be designed to allow you to monitor and control your home from anywhere in the world, through the use of the internet, while you are away on business or vacation – a great security feature. However, as you might imagine, these systems are an expensive option but, with the right budget and in the right circumstances, can be vital to your enjoyment and security.

Try to choose your light fixtures early, so you can coordinate the styles and finishes with your décor. There are so many exciting metallic finishes available these days that make coordinating the styles in your home easy. Some fixtures that have to be ordered, can take a long time, sometimes 8 – 12 weeks, so do you’re planning early. Whatever style you are looking for, you will find a plethora of lighting solutions through home stores, lighting specialty centers and the internet.

This is not meant to be the exhaustive story about lighting but simply to alert you to some of the options and help you be better informed so you can avoid making any of the common mistakes. Budgeting a little extra time, research and resources on this lighting question will go a long way towards improving the enjoyment of your new home!

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Employee Spotlight: Shawn Schmidt, Product Support Specialist

Whether you’re the home-owner or the builder, a need to make changes to your AMDA plans means contacting Shawn Schmidt, AMDA’s product support specialist.

“Change inquiries often come from contractors in the field because of site conditions or maybe due to a misinterpretation of the plans,” Shawn explains. “Or home owners may simply want to make a change.” He adds, “Help is always here.”

Shawn has been AMDA’s go-to guy for product support since joining the company in January, 2005. He brings a solid background of experience in both the lumber industry and the building service industry to his AMDA position.

A Midwest native, Shawn grew up in rural Iowa and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. After graduation, he had been working for two years at the Des Moines Art Center when he ran into a college friend who had settled in Portland. Shawn had already decided it was time to leave Iowa. Portland sounded like an intriguing destination so he made the move in 1999.

Upon his arrival in Portland Shawn went to work for an art gallery, delivering artwork up and down the west coast. Tiring of the road, previous summer jobs with a general contractor in addition to several summers working for a lumber company attracted him to a sales position with Milwaukie Lumber Company of Portland. Working for 4-1/2 years at Milwaukie Lumber Co., Shawn gained a solid knowledge of building industry products and was soon appointed to a position responsible for “material take-offs”. In this role, sales reps brought Shawn blueprints from which he created material lists. He interpreted the plan, established the quantity of materials needed and determined their cost. He was constantly introduced to new products and became well-rounded in the lumber products industry as well as the building service industry.

Interestingly enough, Shawn had become familiar with AMDA plans while he was at Milwaukie Lumber Co. So when AMDA’s product support position became available, Shawn was interested. AMDA was too, and made him a member of the team.

“I didn’t realize how well-rounded this company was before I came here,” Shawn says. “These are bright, quality people. And there is such a cooperative, positive attitude. The progressive thinking here is great!” He is also quick to point out AMDA’s high level of quality control.

“The local jurisdictions (planning departments) like Mascord plans,” Shawn emphasizes. “The plans are laid out well, they’re well formatted, consistent, and aesthetically appealing. They know that we produce a quality product. And that sure makes my job easier.”

Shawn describes his work as a combination of knowledge about building structure and materials, the ability to communicate with the contractor about the plan, problem solving, the ability to multi-task, and organizational skills. On a busy day he receives about 25 calls concerning revisions, but is definite when he says, “we do our best to find a fix.”

Two years ago Shawn became a home-owner himself. His background in fine arts steers him toward spaces and color, and he is working with that emphasis to make his home’s interior “his own”.

When he’s not working on his house, Shawn enjoys kayaking, an activity he’s taken up since moving to Oregon, and week-end trips.

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