Architecture

Whether you are new to an area or you just want to own your own dream home, designing your own home may be the best way for you to proceed. Designing your own home is a lot of hard work and can be stressful, but having the right resedential builders will make it all worth it in the end. Following the steps below should give you a hand in getting to your dream home.

Find A Good Architect

The first thing you need to do is have your initial consultation with a local reputable architect who can give you a good start in the process. He will help you think through your concept from dream to reality. If you are short of ideas you can get some ideas to take to this consultation, by visiting homes in some of your favorite neighborhoods and visit open houses or model homes in these areas. This will help you learn what you like and dislike. Take notes and pictures, if you can, so that you can show them to your architect and your builders later. Obviously if you decide to have Ticknall and Derby build your home for you there is no need for a seperate architect, our Design And Build team will take care of everything for you. From your initial thoughts and drawings to the last screw in the doors.

Organise Your Thoughts

The next thing you need to do is organise your dreams. Have several sheets of paper on hand, or better yet, a graphing notebook where you can gather thoughts as you see them in your mind. You can sketch, put pictures, quotes, and a list of area home builders and contractors, as well as any other information that may be pertinent to your project. Know what the items are that you “must have” and the features that are a “would be nice,” and list them accordingly.

Now you need to decide whether you want your home built in the city or in the country, whether you want it to be spacious or compact, or if you want to have a “green” home or a standard designed home. These things all play a factor in your budget so that you can be guided in the direction that you need to go. These are all things that your builders need to know so that they know what supplies to get and how much they can spend on them.

Build Your Dream Home

Once you have determined where you want to live and have chosen your location, you can start developing the exact design. This is where you will need to meet with your architect once again and give him your final sketches so that he can turn your dream home into a reality. He will be able to give you a rough design before your project is begun so that you can approve anything before the final floor plan is drawn up.

There are no guarantees that there will not be mistakes, but if you consult a professional first, you can avoid some of the potential pit falls in the building process. This will also help you stay within your budget so that you don’t spend more money than is necessary.

Be patient and take as much time as you need. This allows you to get it all just right as you only have one opportunity to build that home of your dreams.

 

There are so many types of engineering but Geotechnical Engineering is one that can help in building homes. This is actually a branch of civil engineering which is concerned with the engineering behavior of different earth materials. Geotechnical Engineering uses the principles of both soil mechanics and rock mechanics when investigating subsurface materials and conditions.

What Are Soil Examinations

When it comes to construction and building homes, one of the things that need to be done is a Geotechnical Engineering soil examinination. After finding somewhere to build a new house or set of homes, you first need to make sure that the soil you are going to be building on will properly support the house or houses for the forseeable future. For this job you need to find a Geotechnical engineering company that is able to provide you with qualified soil engineers who can analyse the soil. After the analysis the engineer will be able to tell you whether or not the soil meets the standards for the particular building plans.

Soil Testing – Soil Bores And Probes

Before you start the digging for the foundations, you need to do initial soil testing with soil borings. A large boring machine will be used to bore holes right down to the depth of the footings. Some of the soil is then removed and sent to a lab to be analysed with special geotechnical engineering software. This initial soil boring analyse is an effective way to be able to find out what the subsurface of the ground looks like before you start the build.

If the boring test comes back as good then once the foundations have been dug out the Geotechnical Engineering soil examination can take place. It has to be done after the digging of the foundation and before the footing is formed. The engineer will examine and probe the soil in all the spots under the house footings. He will them give you his evaluation report outlining if the soil has the correct bearing capacity.

When you are getting the soil examined, the soil engineer will require your building plans. The building plan will show him the width and the depth of the footings you are working on for the project. He will look at the plan and using specific soil design criteria he will check that the size of the footings are correct.

What Next?

What if the soil turns out to be no good? If the soil examination reveals that the soil is bad, the Geotechnical Engineering Consultants will be able to give you some recommendations and suggestions in how to fix those soil spots that are not right. Some of the possible suggestions that they might give can include:
* Installation of wider or thicker footings
* Remove the bad soil spot and replace it with stone.

Obviously if the soil is bad than any suggestions from the consultants could have an impact on your budget for the build.