Pillar & Perch is an architecture-led design build firm, guiding every project from the very first concept drawing through move-in day. Our process — Design, Render, Build — is what sets us apart. The same team that designs your home builds it, ensuring your vision is never lost in translation.
Pillar & Perch is a true Design + Build company
Architects & Builders Creating Custom Homes in Charlottesville, Virginia
Our Custom Home Process:
Design, Render, Build
Our design process is extremely unique for residential design and construction. It begins where all great homes do: with architecture. We meet with each client to learn their goals, lifestyle, and design preferences, using that insight as the foundation for everything else.
From there, our architects start designing your floor plan. This step is one of the most critical stages of the entire project. It can take several iterations to get everything just right. At this stage, it is important to take the necessary time to get exactly what you want as changes after construction begins can be costly, both in time and money. After a floor plan has been approved, the project shifts to designing the look and feel of the home.
Graphic specification boards and pictures of materials come next, giving a visual to see all of the selections at once. 3D renderings then allow the project to come to life.
The goal is getting the renderings to match the chosen selections as closely as possible. These selections not only help to visualize what the end product will look like, but they also help with pricing and give confidence that the chosen selections reach the original project goals.
The ability to see what a home will look like in 3D, combined with specific design selections, gives you a level of clarity and confidence in your future home that few firms can offer.
The final step in our process is to start building the home. By going through an in-depth design process before construction begins, the actual building becomes much more seamless.
Traditional design processes often leave too much to interpretation, and when a change needs to be made it’s either too costly or impossible. Our process helps clients avoid this mistake by upfront clarity about what the home will look like by the time we break ground.
Watching the project take shape becomes fun and enjoyable because there are fewer unanswered questions.
Our Documents
We immerse ourselves in your vision, ensuring that results resonate with purpose and passion.
01. Introductory Discussion & Proposal
Tell us about your project. Schedule a time to meet for an introductory discussion about your goals. Whether you're searching for property, already have a build-site selected, or have an existing house to renovate, this meeting will be the basis for us to prepare a custom proposal to accomplish the design and documentation of your project.
02. Design & Documents
We actively pursue our client's participation and input in our designs. We design the project with you, through an iterative process of design workshops, and presentation meetings. The final spaces, layouts, details, finishes, fixtures, appliances and styles are determined with your input and approval. This allows for collaborative, creative problem solving and a streamlined, fully informed decision making process. Our goal is to fit the project to your lifestyle. The project documents are the communication tools that we create to explain the design, record decisions, and provide the instructions to build.
03. Price and Contract
Understanding what your project will cost requires a complete design, with every decision accounted for, and a well described plan for building. We work with you during design to make those decisions. Our documents record those decisions and fill in the spaces between with the instructions necessary to build. Pricing takes all this information into account to establish the project cost; our commitment to build your project for a specified price.