Should I Pay for a Construction Design?
We all know the saying...you get what you pay for!
In the pool and outdoor living space construction industry, some contractors will offer free designs before the sale, and others offer a "paid" design that becomes free if you sign with that contractor.
In almost all instances, the "paid" design will be worth its weight in gold. Here's why:
When it comes to construction designs for your outdoor living space, they are normally created by salespeople or landscape architects. Many contractors will create free designs to help clients visualize the new space, but these free designs are often created by salespeople, who have the best intentions and most likely have many years of selling experience, but they are not experts in architectural design. The end result is a design that looks like this:
These types of designs are created in 2D or 3D off-the-shelf CAD programs, and they often do not take into account accurate elevations and other important factors. We have seen customers end up with 6 foot walls or 200 extra square feet of patio in the end product that were not there in the original design.
Yikes!
At Amazing Outdoors, our process is that customers pay for designs up front. These designs can range anywhere from $500 - $5000, depending on complexity. This is because landscape architects, who are at the top of their design craft, can spend upwards of 40 hours per design. The cool part is that the design fee then counts as credit toward the project if you eventually sign with us. So in the end, you still get the design, or let's call them "architectural drawings", for free. If you don't sign with us, you have a nice set of plans that you can use at a later time. Typically, architectural drawings look like this:
Even with some night time shots!
Hard to tell that those are not real pictures, isn't it! That's the difference between a salesperson-created design and drawings by a landscape architect.
If you are like most people, it is hard to visualize the end product. By doing an architectural drawing, you take out the guess work and know exactly what your finished space will look like. Ensure that your pool and patio area, which will serve and entertain for decades to come, turns out exactly how you envisioned it. With an architectural drawing rather than a simple design, you can be certain. And best of all, as long as you sign with us, the drawings are also free!
-Matt