Design Portfolio
(Above is a 2010 photo of my first design when I was 12 years of age. It was a remodeling and addition of our lakefront summer cottage into a year-round home. My mom and I sat down at the kitchen table with graph paper and pencils. She told me what she wanted and I drew the entire plan in two days, floor plan and elevations. A building permit was issued from those simple drawings. It has been modified a couple of times since then by subsequent owners. Someday I hope to find those drawings so that I can post them here.)
Single-Family Residences
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Duplexes and Townhomes
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Remodels and Additions
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Historic Preservation |
Universal Design for Comfortable Living
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Other Building Types
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Community Planning
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Custom Home Design
The primary purpose of our practice is custom residential design. Whether you are a single individual or have a large family, our focus is on you. This is probably the most intense and expensive investment you can make. When designing a new home for you, I am most concerned with your desires and needs. Custom designing a new home for you and your family involves everyone in the family. By involving everyone, including children (and grandparents in the case of multi-generational living), your home can become your trademark, because you are involved in the design from the beginning to its conclusion. The finished home is going to be a reflection of who you are and how you live. People and families who have a home that is created just for them are more likely to stay in their homes for longer periods of times, perhaps many generations. It becomes a family heirloom. That is why I am committed to providing you with a quality design that we all can be proud of for many decades.
I will be pleased to set up an appointment for our initial consultation so that we can get to know each other. You can learn about me and my methods and standards of design and I can show you examples of my previous work. I can also get to know about you, your lifestyle and preferences.
Please feel free to contact me personally to set up a no-obligation consultation at your home or office. Our office is currently undergoing extensive renovations and we will not be able to accept visitors until it is finished. We apologize for any temporary inconveniences this may cause.
Steve Allen Shard, AIBD
I will be pleased to set up an appointment for our initial consultation so that we can get to know each other. You can learn about me and my methods and standards of design and I can show you examples of my previous work. I can also get to know about you, your lifestyle and preferences.
Please feel free to contact me personally to set up a no-obligation consultation at your home or office. Our office is currently undergoing extensive renovations and we will not be able to accept visitors until it is finished. We apologize for any temporary inconveniences this may cause.
Steve Allen Shard, AIBD
Stock Plan Guidelines
A study print with floor plans and elevations for almost any of the above homes in my portfolio can be sent to you for a modest fee. That fee will be applied to the complete set of construction documents at the time you purchase the construction documents. You will receive up to five sets of construction documents. If you need more, a small printing fee will be added to the total cost. Previous projects of remodeled homes and/or additions are excluded. Most plans are customizable to fit your personal circumstances. We are the only authorized design firm that can make those alterations. Taking them to another design firm or making the changes yourself constitutes a violation of our exclusive copyrights. Use of the study prints to have another designer create plans for you is also a violation of US and International copyright laws. We pursue copyright infringement cases very diligently.
When stock plans are purchased, you will receive a complete set of construction documents suitable for obtaining a building permit in most communities. A site plan will also be included when you send us a copy of your recent topographic land survey. If structural engineering drawings are required in your jurisdiction, you will need to purchase that separately. We may be able to assist you in obtaining those services. Also, some plans may need to be modified to accommodate unusual circumstances, such as hilly terrain, basements and detached and/or semi-detached structures. There may be a modest fee to make those adjustments.
All plans are copyrighted and may not be used for redesigning without paying the complete redesign fee as designated in our fee schedules. Unless otherwise agreed, the plans fee includes a license to construct one structure. If you are a licensed contractor/builder/developer or a homeowner and you wish to construct more than one structure, a small reuse fee will apply for each additional structure built as described in our fee schedules.
When stock plans are purchased, you will receive a complete set of construction documents suitable for obtaining a building permit in most communities. A site plan will also be included when you send us a copy of your recent topographic land survey. If structural engineering drawings are required in your jurisdiction, you will need to purchase that separately. We may be able to assist you in obtaining those services. Also, some plans may need to be modified to accommodate unusual circumstances, such as hilly terrain, basements and detached and/or semi-detached structures. There may be a modest fee to make those adjustments.
All plans are copyrighted and may not be used for redesigning without paying the complete redesign fee as designated in our fee schedules. Unless otherwise agreed, the plans fee includes a license to construct one structure. If you are a licensed contractor/builder/developer or a homeowner and you wish to construct more than one structure, a small reuse fee will apply for each additional structure built as described in our fee schedules.
Remodeling and Additions
There are many reasons for wanting or needing to remodel or to add on to your home. What is your reason? Here are a few examples that we have heard in the past.
Whatever your reasons, we understand. We can assist you with your plans to build an addition or remodel or both. There are a few things that we will need in order to proceed:
- We love where we live. We've been here for many years, we're comfortable here and don't want to move.
- Our family is expanding. We have a new baby on the way and need more room.
- Our parents are moving in with us and we need to accommodate their changing needs.
- Our employment is nearby and we need to stay here. We don't want to commute long distances.
- We have friends and relatives in this neighborhood.
- Our children are enrolled in local schools. We don't want to have them change schools.
- We cannot afford to have a new home built.
Whatever your reasons, we understand. We can assist you with your plans to build an addition or remodel or both. There are a few things that we will need in order to proceed:
- I will need to visit the property to make a visual inspection of the property to ascertain the viability of the project and learn what you want. That means that we will need to schedule an initial meeting at the property so that we can meet, discuss your needs, desires and goals. This usually takes about an hour, but if we need more time, that's okay. I want you to feel comfortable that we are all on the same page. There is usually a fee of $100 for this initial visit for property within 25 miles of Altamonte Springs, Florida. Between 26 and 50 miles, the fee is $200. For that fee, you will own me for an hour and you will get much more than the investment in time in what you will learn about the procedure. For distances more than 50 miles, we will need to calculate the fee. All fees are payable at the time of the visit. You will also get a free copy of my book Practical Home Planning for the Twenty-First Century, which will also provide you with more valuable information. If you click on the title above, you will be taken to the website for the book and you can read excerpts from it there. After our visit, I will take the information that I have gathered and prepare a Comprehensive Design Proposal for your review and acceptance. If you accept the Proposal as written or adjusted for any last minute changes, you will be credited the Initial Visit Fee from the Proposal, thereby making that visit at no cost. If you are not comfortable with the Proposal and do not sign it, then the Visit Fee will at least have covered part of my time for the visit and you still have the information and the book. From that signed Proposal, we will prepare an Agreement for Professional Design Services, which will outline everything that will be performed in the course of the design process. Once that Agreement is signed, we can schedule your project to begin. Everything, including any questions you may have will be discussed before you need to sign it.
- We will need a copy of a recent topographic land survey. If it is not recent, it must be accurate. Once the project goes for permitting, it will need to be resurveyed if it is more than six months old.
- If you have them, we will need a copy of the plans for your home from when it was built. If you don't have the plans, we may be able to find them in the local building department if the house is not too old. If it is too old, we can recreate a basic set of "Existing Conditions" from which to work. There will be a charge for that.