LIGHTING & ELECTRICALS CONTRACTS & LEGALITIES
Da n Gr i m s h a w
is the Founder and Principal at Beam Development
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Mo re d e t a i l a t h e s t a r t , t h e few r h e a d c h e s d ow n t h e l i n e For design and construction specialist Dan Grimshaw, Founder and Principal at Beam Development, good planning is all about going deeper into the details.
hen it comes to getting a home-building project off the ground, detailing such things as where the light switches are going to go or what kind of flooring you want in the kitchen all feel like jobs to think about at some point down the line. However, put off such decisions at your peril. Failing to specify what you want and where it is to go before you start work on site is likely to lead to frayed tempers and an out-of-control budget. It may even put you off construction for life. ‘Spec’ing as you go’ can be overwhelming, with the whole construction timespan involving making thousands of decisions on the hoof, from bedroom storage options to picture lights, and leave you feeling like tearing your hair out. It will also, inevitably, involve frequent consultations with the site manager, which is a drain on resources and diverts funds from the efficient running of the site. Many would-be clients, influenced by TV shows or aspirational images on social media sites, have an image of the finished home of their dreams and assume the process will be as simple as going into a shop and walking out with a product. I BUILDmNOVEMBERm**
They may skip ahead to their fantasy of what the project is going to look like but with little understanding of the actual process of how to get there. They may not exactly know what architects or interior designers do, and why should they? So, for me, the key is helping make potential clients aware of what I call the ‘design gap’ – the gap between working from ‘planning’ drawings rather than ‘detailed’ drawings. While planning drawings are the principal output from the briefing, the sketching, designing and developing stages, detailed drawings go further and specify how a building is to be constructed and the fit-out of the project. A good detail-level plan will show how specific elements of the build will be constructed: the exact layout of lighting, units, fixtures and fittings and which materials, products and finishes are to be used. It will save time and prevent unexpected costs. However, too often, to save money or perhaps through failure to understand the whole construction process, people often opt to go without detailed drawings at all. Bathrooms are a case in point. You may have commissioned a design in principle without appreciating that a fully-designed bathroom is a huge amount of work.
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