The on-going tragedy of the LA fires is horrendous, gripping and heart-breaking on many levels. I have a number of friends and their families who have lost everything in the ongoing fires ravaging Los Angeles, the Pacific Palisades and the surrounding areas.

There are many organizations working selflessly to help at this time. My firm has donated funds to support people affected by the 2025 California Wildfires via both the American Red Cross, the California Fire Foundation and The Regenesis Group:

Red Cross
CA Fire Foundation
Regenesis Group

(A donation to Regenesis Group will assist in education to prevent such from occurring in the future)

After thinking about it last night, I wanted to take a moment and share what knowledge and experience I can that may be of material help to those confronted with rebuilding their homes (and lives) from the ground up.

I have built a company in Boston dealing in the design and construction of high-end sustainable homes and from this we have gained valuable knowledge and experience.

We only service clients in the Greater Boston area and not California, so this article is from the heart simply to advise and help.

To keep this simple:

1. Consider Building a Passive HousePassive House is a trending option for sustainable design and build, as well as interior air-quality and occupant health. Interestingly enough, media have been reporting that a passive house in Pacific Palisades survived the fires and is one of the only houses standing in its area. Its Passive design and airtight structure may have been contributed to such.

   Passive Design may have saved this house
   Passive-house survives fire in California
   Timber-clad house survives LA’s worst wildfire
   Architects explain why these homes survived

2. Leverage Architectural Design Build for an efficient, precise and cost-effective approach to creating your new home.

There are distinct client advantages to Architectural Design Build—let’s lay out how this works.

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN BUILD VERSUS DESIGN BID BUILD:

There are two primary approaches to a major home design and remodel. While this can be made very complex as a subject, the natural creative process is fundamentally simple. I will cover both here:

Design-Bid-Build is the process that has been introduced over the past 150 years or so whereby you as the client directly hire an architect to draft plans and design your project — to then have it bid out to multiple contractors seeking to win the bid and perform the project. This approach has been generalized as mainstream over the past decades and sold to homeowners, often creating client stress and potential loss of both client funds and time. This approach has many liabilities for the client due in no small part to the fragmented spheres of responsibilities which this system and method creates.

There is no single person or entity fully accountable to the client for the entire project’s success.

This single factor alone can create a host of problems for the client.

By default the client is ultimately responsible for both Architect and Builder as well as the ultimate success of the project. Thus one can have impractical and expensive design work, impractical planning, numerous change orders, shoddy craftsmanship, and projects which are off timeline and over budget. In the end, the client can be left damaged. You or a family member or friend may have experienced this in the past. We have many clients come to us after poor experiences with this approach.

Architectural Design-Build (also Design Build) is the natural approach to creation of the built environment and has been used for thousands of years to create many of the beautiful structures of earth. Architectural Design Build is the route of choice if one desires to save on time and money, reduce stress, and eliminate a fragmented sense of project responsibility in the people working for you.

Architectural Design Build is a model that stresses single-source accountability with the creative design, planning, and remodel executed start to finish by one firm.

Architectural Design-Build in California and the US is currently being turned to by professionals, families, and individuals as the cutting edge of efficiency, aesthetics, practicality, and accountability when it comes to designing and remodeling a home. This approach packages architectural design and interior design services with artisan-level building and remodeling services. This natural synthesis makes for a simple, efficient, and accountable creative process followed by a streamlined and responsible build phase, reducing cost, time of execution, and client stress throughout. With the Architectural Design Build approach, the client is dealing solely with one fully accountable firm.

The approach of Architectural Design Build is based on the original definition of an Architect and its inherent truth:

THE WORD “ARCHITECT” MEANS “MASTER BUILDER”

The root of the word architect breaks down into “chief” or “master” (arkhi) and “builder” (tekton). Archi and tekton come from the ancient Greek language, which further originated as far back as 3,000 BC.

“How to Hire a Contractor…”

Most “how to hire a contractor” articles or advice columns begin by making sure you have a plan and drawings done already or skip the design completely and get right into checking references, insurance and getting a quote from a contractor/builder.

This advice is greatly flawed in that it skips the complete planning portion of a project which is actually what will determine the actual success of a project! If one has plans already done, how does one know if they are financially feasible to build if this was not thought with during the planning process? (An architect or designer who does not build does not count as they are not accountable for cost!).

If there are no plans then the estimate given will change once the design comes to be and you can’t have confidence that you are doing the right project.

What would happen if you only focused on the cost of your family vacation, based on what you would enjoy most or only the most ideal location and experience, without considering timing or cost? What if you only picked out your clothes based on the quality and cost but not how they looked and made you feel?

Even the most ideal plans on paper sometimes cannot be realized within the practical constraints of time and money if these plans have been planned by an architect/designer who does not build.

Architectural Design Build respects the time-honored creative process whereby one individual or entity is fully responsible for the entire project from planning through build.

In these unprecedented times, the Architectural Design Build approach protects the homeowner’s time, sanity, finance, schedule and overall project quality.

Our hearts are with Los Angeles, its occupants, first responders and all those of goodwill lending a hand to save lives and property in these times.

Love,
David Supple – CEO NEDC
e. dave@nedesignbuild.com