Where do you start?

The first meeting is a feeling-out process where you convey your ideas. It is helpful to know roughly what you want and what your budget is at the outset of the project. Whether you’ve spent hours online researching or simply sketched some dream home ideas, what you bring to our first meeting at DPdesign will help me to design a home that’s as unique as you are. Then be prepared to answer a lot of questions so we can get it perfect.

What do you WANT in your home?

This is where you get to dream. Show me your Pinterest board and magazine cutouts; pictures of homes you’ve loved or pieces of plans that catch your attention. Tell me about the things you did or didn’t like about a showhome you visited. Your big file of dreams and swatches? Bring it all so that together we can decide what direction to take.

Why design a custom home?

Finding that ’perfect’ plan from a builder means you can’t take that plan to any other builders to get a comparable price. If you have a custom plan, you can take it to several builders and compare their quotes to ensure getting the best price, as well as finding a builder that is the right ‘fit’ for you.

Renovations

Sometimes the best plan is to renovate your existing home, or relocate to a new property and change it to suit your style… and usually those changes are more than just new paint or flooring. DPdesign can help you envision and create an updated space that works better for your family’s changing lifestyle.

Why choose DPdesign?

DPdesign started in 1996, but its roots extend far beyond that. I grew up in a construction family, and spent a lot of time on job sites, gaining valuable on-the-job experience in how to put a solid home together. I also have an architectural degree from University of Waterloo — knowing how to ‘design’ and not just ‘draft’ a set of plans is critical to a project’s success. After working in a variety of architectural and residential design firms, DPdesign evolved from a side-hobby to a full-time business that has designed over 1800 projects across Western Canada, including 10 local lottery dreamhomes and winning several awards.

Stay flexible

Sometimes its hard to fit 4000 sq.ft of dreams into a 1900 sq.ft floor plan, so give DPdesign the latitude to ‘create’ and not just draw what everyone else is already doing. This way you end up with a unique and creative yet functional home that’s perfect for you and your family… designed for the way you live.

 

 

How do you design a custom home?

Step 1

It starts with the client meeting where we discuss your design ideas for your new home! We look at the lot parameters and the view, review the exterior style you prefer, talk about what certain rooms will feel like and how the flow of the home will be. We discuss budget and overall target size for the design.

Step 2

The fun part! Start mapping out which rooms are adjacent to each other, keeping in mind things like room size, traffic flow, bathroom proximity, exterior views and interior sight-lines from room to room.

Step 3

Here’s where DPdesign starts bringing your ideas to life. The design process continues by sketching the layout to-scale with some added detail to see how ideas are developing, and trying new ways of putting these pieces together to stay within a target size.

Step 4

Create the design on the computer with the proper room sizes, wall widths, cabinet layouts etc., and a rough exterior. Then it’s time to review the design together to make sure we are on track with the vision for your new home. The design phase is the time to play with new layout ideas, or move things around to make the exterior shape come together. Once we settle on a layout and exterior, it’s on to the final construction drawings!

 

 

Since 1996

I'm from a construction family, so I've grown up around the industry. I also have an architectural degree from University of Waterloo. DPdesign has evolved from a side-hobby to a full-time business that has designed over 1800 projects across Western Canada.

2003-2008, 2010, 2014

Eight different showhomes for STARS dreamhome lotteries

2006

Festival of Trees Dreamhome (TrueLine Contracting)

2006

Best new energy-efficient home in all of Alberta (AHBA)

2006

Won award for our house, 459 Wishart Street - best new energy-efficient home (Central Alberta Home Builder's Association)

2014, 2015

Kinsmen Lottery Dreamhome

 

Contact Us

150-2810 Bremner Avenue, Red Deer, AB, T4R 1M9