Know Your Project
Return Brief and Feasibility: Your First Step to Building Success
A Return Brief and Feasibility study is not just another formality; it’s a pivotal phase in your building journey. This comprehensive assessment delves deep into your proposed project, weighing every crucial factor to determine the project’s viability and success potential.
Many homeowners embark on the journey to manifest their dream homes. However, a common pitfall is either self-setting a budget or allowing designers unchecked freedom, only to discover later that the designs overshoot the budget. This misstep can derail your project, forcing you to revisit designs, re-engage with councils and consultants like Engineers or Energy Rating Assessors, or even abandon the project altogether. It’s a disheartening reality that too many projects face.
By establishing clarity from the outset, you’re setting your project on a streamlined path. This reduces uncertainties, anxieties, and potential roadblocks as you transition from the planning phase to actual construction.
Tackling a Return Brief and Feasibility study effectively addresses and mitigates the four primary concerns most homeowners grapple with:
Cost Concerns: Protect yourself from unexpected budget escalations.
Time Management: Juggle your bustling lifestyle with the intricacies of a home project efficiently.
Navigating Unknowns: Demystify the intricate world of the building industry with confidence.
Fear of Irreversible Decisions: With a clear roadmap, make informed choices that you won’t regret.
Why Opt for a Return Brief and Feasibility Study?
Understanding your vision: Going through this process will allow you to gain clarity on why you want to embark on your building journey. Having a good understanding of your needs and wants for your project, will set the foundation, and will then make other decisions further down the design process much easier and smoother, for what you would like to achieve.
Navigate Design Constraints: What am I allowed to build? Gaining clarity on site design, local council ResCode regulations, and other possible constraints, will ultimately avoid making the design process more difficult, reduce time wasting on making ongoing amendments to designs and unnecessary stress. It’s always better to know your boundaries than to overstep them.
Costing: Receive an honest, educated estimation of the breakdown of design and construction costs. A feasibility study keeps financial surprises at bay. Too many times clients will fall into the trap of creating their own estimates, which end up being overly ambitious for their designs.
Forge the ‘Dream Team’: In a building project, there are many professionals/consultants which will need to be engaged to provide specific documents and specifications. These professionals/consultants can range from a Structural/Civil Engineer, Land Surveyor, GeoTechnical Engineer, Town Planner, PassiveHouse Assessor and so on. Understanding who you need and what you will need from them, can be quite complex. This process enables you to know what you will need and who we will engage to provide this. This collaboration between you, your builder, your architect and consultants, will ensure everyone is on the same page, making your building journey a smoother one.
A Stress-free Blueprint: By establishing clarity from the outset, you’re setting your project on a streamlined path. This reduces uncertainties, anxieties, and potential roadblocks as you transition from the planning phase to actual construction.
Know Your Builder: It’s crucial to familiarise yourself with the professional who will bring your dream home to life. A feasibility study ensures that the builder you’re engaging with aligns with your expectations and vision. Having your builder there from the-get-go, will enable them to get a good understanding of what you want to achieve for your project, all whilst establishing a trustworthy relationship. After all, do you really want to sign a Building Contract with a builder haven’t worked with or understand how they work.
Feasibility in Action: A Case Study
Dive into a real-world example of our Feasibility Study, undertaken for a home renovation and extension project. Working closely with the client and a talented architect, RoomFour was instrumental from the inception, ensuring that design, site conditions, and budget harmoniously intertwined.
Starting off, our client filled out a detailed questionnaire, setting the stage for a collaborative discussion. This led to an on-site visit to get a real feel for the potential of the space. With everything aligning, a Preliminary Agreement was put into place, committing to delivering a comprehensive Return Brief and Feasibility Study.
Our first task was navigating local council guidelines and assessing the property. On our site visit, we deep-dived into the client’s space needs, their budget, and lifestyle aims. These insights became our guiding light, ensuring the project stayed true to its vision, especially during decision-making moments, later on in the design process.
The outcome? Three thought-out layout sketches, each with a clear cost-estimate breakdown. We then sat down with the client and the architect, discussing the feasibility results and our proposed concepts.
Embark on your building journey with confidence and clarity. Let’s create your dream home together.