The Starter Handbook
What to sort out before you hire an architect.
Almost every project that runs over time and over budget went wrong in the same place — it moved into design before the research was finished. Usually not through carelessness, but because nobody had told the owner what the research was supposed to cover.
The Handbook covers that ground: the seven stages of a project and why we run feasibility before design, what an architect is actually responsible for, who else your site will need on the team, and cost ranges to test your budget against. Two sections you fill in yourself — including a readiness score that tells you plainly whether you're ready to start drawing.
By the end you'll know what your project involves, roughly what it will cost, who needs to be on the team, and whether you're ready to begin.
What's inside
The project roadmap
Myth vs. reality
Building your team
The interview checklist
Building cost guide
7-question design brief
Readiness score
Download our Starter Handbook
Two more documents.
The Handbook helps you decide whether to start. These two are for after you've decided — and they are where the money is quietly made or lost. Almost everything that goes wrong later is set in motion here: a brief nobody wrote down, a budget nobody tested against the site. Both are cheap to settle now and expensive to settle once drawings exist. One is work you do. One is work we do.
The Owner's Brief
A design workbook.
Most people arrive with a Pinterest board — a collection of solutions. "I want a skylight." But a skylight is an answer, and it may not be the right one. What we need is the question underneath it: the hallway is dark, and the neighbour's house is close. Give us the answer and you limit us to it. Give us the problem and we can solve it in ways you hadn't considered.
By the end you'll have a written brief describing how you want to live — budget boundaries, daily routines, what your site gives you, how the house should feel, and what you'd cut first if costs rise. That document is what we design from.
You'll also get the editable online worksheet — a longer version you can fill in as you go, with a room-by-room section the PDF doesn't cover.
The Feasibility Check
The step before a design contract
Once the brief is written, the open question is whether your site and your budget will carry it. A Feasibility Check answers that before any design work begins: a professional review of your site and zoning, massing and layout options, a budget framework, a preliminary timeline, and the red flags worth knowing early. It is cheap to move a line on a plan and expensive to move a foundation.
By the end you'll know whether your project works on your site and within your budget, what the real constraints are, and what the road ahead looks like — before you sign a design contract. You'll also have seen how we work, which is the honest way to decide whether you want us leading the project.
A paid engagement, fixed fee, quoted per project. The brochure comes with the workbook.
Request the Documents
You'll receive a personal email with the documents. No mailing list, no automated sequence.
Ready to talk about your project?
Book a free 30-minute conversation with Fabian directly.
Request your 'Ask the Expert' call →
