Recurring small home design firm problems, and the guide to fixing each

What to take away

Design engagements on compact projects fail in a handful of recognizable ways. Each one has an early symptom, which is what makes it fixable.

Problem: the scope keeps expanding

Symptom: every meeting adds a small item and nobody records it.

Fix: a written scope with a change log. Any addition gets a line, a price and a date. This is not bureaucracy, it is the only way anybody can tell later what was agreed.

Problem: the bids cannot be compared

Symptom: three quotes with three different totals and three different assumptions.

Fix: one document, one set of allowances, one list of exclusions, issued to every bidder. Then reconcile line by line rather than comparing totals. Setting those allowances yourself, from real supplier prices, is step two of our renovation budget worksheet.

Problem: a consultant is missing

Symptom: a design that assumes something nobody has verified. A beam that has not been sized, a duct route that does not exist, a lift that has not been specified.

Vertical access is the classic example. The Access Board's guide to elevators and platform lifts shows how much specification sits behind one line on a plan.

It distinguishes full elevators, limited use limited application elevators, private residence elevators, and platform lifts. It describes which are permitted in which situations and requires compliance with the ASME A17.1 safety code for elevators and escalators.

Fix: at the end of schematic design, list every element that needs a specialist and name who is providing it.

Problem: decisions are late

Symptom: the design team is waiting on you, and nobody has said so plainly.

Fix: a decision schedule with dates, agreed at the start. Tie each decision to the point where it blocks something else.

The same applies to energy compliance, acoustic separation and anything requiring a manufacturer's engineering. Name the provider on the list, or the item quietly becomes yours to solve at the worst moment.

Problem: the prefab site gap

Symptom: a modular quote covers the building and not the ground it sits on.

The Code Council and the Modular Building Institute launched their off-site construction initiative. They described patchwork compliance processes across jurisdictions as a barrier limiting uptake and a general lack of understanding of off-site construction.

Off-site construction reduces timelines and costs by 20 percent and material waste by more than 80 percent, they said.

Fix: before signing, get a written division of responsibility covering site preparation, foundations, utility connections, transport and crane access, local permits and inspections, and final connections and commissioning.

What off-site work does to a schedule is a separate question. Our remodeling timeline describes the trade as more lead time up front and less time with a crew inside your home.

The differences between the firms these problems arise in are covered in our comparison of design firm options, and the underlying design failures are cataloged in our guide to small space design mistakes.

Common questions