CONSULTING SERVICES
Historic Home Search Assistance
Trying to choose an historic home to purchase for yourself? Within our service areas, we're happy to join you to visit prospective properties to help you understand both what can be done (physically and legally) and roughly what you can expect those changes and/or updates to cost.
We love historic homes and love to visualize a new life for them...so have us join you to evaluate up to three (3) visits to prospective homes at no charge...yes...free! We're certainly happy to visit as many as you like, but beyond 3 we charge a small hourly fee for each visit.
How Can
We Help?
Home Use Scenario Exploration & Usability Optimization
How Can
We Help?
Designing a home is part aesthetics, part space planning, part magic cube - fitting the pieces you want into a constrained space...but it's also a place that needs to support the life (and lifestyle) you want to live. Architects are artists and space planners and they know the constraints that building codes demand.
Unfortunately, while they're usually great at planning for the light and spaces you've asked for, what they aren't trained in is how to assure that your spaces meet your detailed needs through exploring time and motion studies or usability. What this entails is us helping you think through all the scenarios - coming home from work...getting up and showering and dressing...how each of your family members goes throughout each of their days - accounting for where things are stored, accessed, how often, and how each space in the house supports your family, work, school and social life.
Architectural Advocacy
How Can
We Help?
Architectural plans are hard to truly understand:
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Is that room really big enough?
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Are the closets big enough and in the right places?
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Should a door open to the left or right or even be a pocket or barn door?
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Are those halls wide enough?
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Can the Dining Area feel cozy for Date Night yet still work for larger dinner parties?
Driving the design process for our own and client's projects, we work with Architects all the time. Let our experience help guide you through your process as an independent second opinion on your architectural plans. We will review the plans your architect proposes and give you (and them) feedback to both catch issues early on and to verify that the plans match your stated objectives.
Just a few hours of our time reviewing plans and attending meetings with your architect can help save you cost, headaches, and anxiety by having an independent expert advocate with no conflicting objectives of our own. In fact, the costs of our services are generally offset by project savings.
Eco and Smart Home Specification Assistance
How Can
We Help?
Green technology is evolving quickly...it's hard for everyone to keep up. We specialize in fitting new technologies, materials, and finishes into historic homes, so we can help homeowners, architects, and builders learn about and select the most efficient (and cost efficient) options.
With nearly 15 years of experience in Green Building, Eco+Historical can help specify:
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Non-toxic finishes and sealants
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Insulation
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Water and energy efficient plumbing fixtures and systems
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Efficient LED lighting that's still warm and comforting
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Smart lighting controls that are easy to use
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Smart Home systems
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Solar thermal and Solar Photovoltaic recommendations
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Smart irrigation systems for gardens and yards