Before our consultation

Once the consultation is scheduled, I will send you a project questionnaire. It will ask about:

• Who lives in the home and how that may change

• The routines the house supports each day

• Rooms or relationships that currently work well

• Areas that create frustration, conflict, or unnecessary effort

• Accessibility, privacy, storage, gathering, work, and retreat

• Previous renovations or known conditions

• Your priorities, budget expectations, and timing

• What you hope will feel different when the work is complete

I will also ask you to share any existing floor plans, surveys, inspection reports, listing photographs, renovation records, or inspiration that may help me understand the property before we meet.

This preparation allows our time together to focus on the house rather than collecting basic information.

In your home

The in-home consultation generally lasts between 90 minutes and two hours.

We will begin by discussing your reasons for considering the project. I will ask about how you currently use the house, where routines break down, which spaces matter most to you, and what you are trying to preserve or create.

Then we will walk through the home together.

I will study the relationships between rooms, circulation, natural light, privacy, entrances, storage, furniture, exterior connections, and the way different members of the household move through the day. I will also look for architectural qualities that deserve protection, including original materials, proportions, views, spatial sequences, and relationships that may be easy to lose during renovation.

We may discuss visible structural or building-system conditions that could affect the project. The consultation is not a technical inspection, and any condition requiring confirmation by an engineer, architect, contractor, or specialty trade will be identified as an open question.

I will be listening for the difference between the problem as it first appears and the underlying condition creating it. A request for an addition, for example, may actually be a circulation problem. A request for more storage may reveal that several rooms are serving the wrong purposes. A proposed primary suite may affect privacy, laundry, aging, guest use, and the long-term organization of the entire house.

The goal is to define the right question before developing an answer.

What I evaluate

Following the visit, I will consider the project through several connected lenses:

The life of the household

How the home needs to support routines, relationships, privacy, gathering, work, rest, children, guests, aging, and future change.

The existing house

What gives the home its character, which spatial relationships already work, what deserves to be preserved, and where previous changes may have weakened its coherence.

The central problem

The underlying issue the project needs to resolve, including any difference between the requested solution and the actual need.

The likely scale of intervention

Whether the project appears to call for a focused adjustment, interior reconfiguration, addition, systems work, or a more comprehensive rethinking of the home.

Practical constraints

Known or visible considerations involving structure, utilities, site access, zoning, permitting, construction sequencing, occupancy, budget, and timing.

Project priorities

Which decisions are foundational, which are dependent upon them, and which can be deferred without compromising the larger direction.

Your Foreword Brief

After the consultation, I will prepare a concise written Foreword Brief documenting my understanding of the project.

The brief will typically include:

• The project premise

• A summary of the household and the life the home must support

• The strongest qualities of the existing house

• The primary spatial or functional problems

• Conditions that should be preserved

• Conditions that may need to change

• The likely level of intervention

• Major constraints, unknowns, and required professional input

• Recommended priorities

• A preliminary investment context

• My recommendation for the appropriate next step

The investment context is intended to establish whether your goals and available resources appear reasonably aligned. It is not a construction estimate or contractor bid. Detailed pricing requires defined drawings, scope, engineering, and trade input.

Follow-up conversation

Once you have reviewed the Foreword Brief, we will meet for a 30-minute follow-up conversation.

I will answer questions, clarify my conclusions, and explain the path I believe gives the project the greatest chance of succeeding. Depending on what we discover, I may recommend:

• Proceeding into a Spatial Study

• Obtaining structural, zoning, engineering, or trade input

• Narrowing or sequencing the proposed scope

• Reconsidering the project’s budget or timing

• Pursuing a more focused intervention

• Pausing before committing further resources

There is no obligation to continue into another Lovett Homes service. The Foreword Brief is intended to provide useful direction whether the project proceeds immediately, changes course, or stops.

What the Foreword Consultation does not include

The Foreword Consultation defines the project and identifies the appropriate path forward. It does not include:

• Measured existing-condition drawings

• Proposed floor plans

• Renderings or finish selections

• Structural engineering

• Formal code or zoning analysis

• Property inspection

• Contractor bids

• Itemized construction estimates

• Permit or construction documents

• A commitment to perform the construction

Those services begin only after the project has been understood and the appropriate next phase has been authorized.

Timing

Your Foreword Brief will be delivered within five business days of the in-home consultation.

Fee

The Foreword Consultation is offered as a fixed-fee engagement of $750. Payment is due when the consultation is scheduled.

What follows

If the project requires spatial design, the next phase is a Spatial Study.

The Spatial Study tests how the life you described can be supported by the plan. Existing conditions are documented, alternatives are developed, and I test those alternatives against the routines and needs of the people who live there before recommending a direction.

If the project continues beyond the Spatial Study, a Re-authored Home commission carries that direction into the design, professional and trade coordination, pricing, permitting, and construction decisions required to realize it.