What is a Project Design Brief and Why Should We Have One?
A project design brief can be a verbal or written explanation or instruction to someone else so that they can provide the level of service or finished product that is required for you. Home owners who are looking to extend their home should provide a project design brief as one of the first forms of communication between you as the home owner and the architectural designer. It helps set the scene and provides some clarity very early on.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary ‘Design Brief’ is described as ‘a written description of what a new project or product should do, what is needed to produce it, how long it will take etc…’
An effective design brief
An effective design brief is the single most critical factor in ensuring a project starts off in the right direction. It is your wants, needs and ideas described in as much or as little detail to another person to help them understand and realise your requirements.
So what does a project brief look like? It can simply be a one sentence statement something like this:
‘I just want a small extension at the back of my house, our builders said we need some drawings, please can you let me know if you’re interested and how much it will all cost’ 🤔
This brief provides little or no guidance for your architectural designer to work with and would require more information to be provided to enable your architectural designer to help you determine what’s possible, how long it will take and how much money it’s likely to cost.
How a project brief should look
‘My husband and I would like to enquire about your services regarding a two storey rear or side house extension. We live in Cambridge and we think the house was built in the mid 1960’s. We are considering a house extension along with some internal and external alterations and general improvements but potentially something that can be done in stages over the next few years to suit our young family. As a growing family we are looking for additional bedroom and living space with the possibility of replacing the existing kitchen and bathrooms. Attached is a link to our house details on right move and some photos showing the existing house as well as our very basic hand sketches of what we would like to achieve. That is as far as we have got and we are now looking to meet with someone who could visit the house and talk to us about potential design solutions we could go down, short and longer term. We wondered if you would have any availability to work with us on this project?’ 😊👍
Make your first enquiry professional and ask yourself; is the enquiry specific enough?
Provide your full address
Provide the right move link
Provide some context and background about you and your family
Provide some sketches or photos of your ideas
Do your research locally to see what your neighbours may have done
Understand why you want to extend, when you want to extend, what your goals are, where the house is and identify who you need to help you
your project brief
Think of your project brief as an outline specification of what you would like as opposed to the exact solution. For example, let’s say I wanted a new TV, so I call up the TV shop and ask them to send me a new TV, let me know how much and when can I expect it to be delivered? What’s missing? 😂
They are going to want to narrow down the search criteria and ask you questions to determine the right outcome of you. For example they may want to know the following information to be able to help you get the right TV with the important bits that you require.
Location, wall mounted or stand mounted.
Size 32, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75 etc
Quality of picture SD or HD or HDR or 4K or 8K
Screen type QLED, OLED, LCD or LED
Catch up, Netflix, Amazon, Sky, Internet etc
Energy efficiency rating
How many HDMI, USB, High speed HDMI, ports & other connection ports
Price range
Preferred manufacture
Possible delivery dates
Getting the best results for you
Failing to provide the above information either verbally or in writing could mean I end up with any old TV, that meets my criteria of ‘Just a new TV please’. It's no different for anything we buy, be it a dog, car, patio or house extension. We need to have an idea and to be able to relay that idea or information on so we can narrow down our requirements and get the best results.
A good project design brief will help you to deliver the project the right way from the start and potentially cost you less in time and design fees, because:
It’s specific to your needs (You know what you want and who you want to work with)
Allows you to be in control of your own goals and objectives
Increases efficiency and focus
Demonstrates you understand the design process
Holds the designer accountable
Making your dreams a reality
A project brief for your designer is similar to that of a specification given to a builder, you choose the finishes, the builder buys and installs what you would like. Let’s say you provide a specification that requires four new internal doors to be fitted into your house. The builder can provide you four new doors, but will they be what you want?… Probably not as they might be the cheapest four doors that are available. If you asked for four new oak panel internal doors with stainless steel hinges, lever handle finished in polished chrome in a certain style then you have a much better chance of success from the start, without having the stress or worry of getting stuck with four doors that you don’t like.
The good news is we have provided you with a questionnaire to help get your project brief started called ‘WHAT TO CONSIDER’ and this is available with some other useful free downloads within our resources section of our website.
If you’re interested in getting your project started, please download and complete the questionnaire and provide us with your full postal address, contact telephone number and any estate agent particulars or photos showing the existing house. We will contact you and arrange a mutually convenient time to discuss your project brief over a cup of tea and a telephone conversation to see if we are able to help you get your project started the right way and we very much look forward to hearing from you.
A good client project design brief will be able to be tendered effectively to reputable and professional architectural designers and give your project the best possible start for success. To give you what your family and home need.
… alternatively
Just give them a call and ask for a price 🙄 see what happens! 🤪