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Custom Home Design

Building a home is not an easy task, and if you have not gone through the experience before, you may find yourself quickly overwhelmed by the depth of detail and decisions needed.  Many people have great ideas about what they want to put in their home, but when it comes down to it, they just don’t know how or where to begin.

Many are afraid that the costs associated with having an architect or designer may be too high, but in reality, one pays a doctor for medical help instead of prescribing their own medicine over and over till they get it right.  It is the same when building a home.  It is far easier and cost effective to design your house the right way, then to spend months trying to correct mistakes as they come up due to a lack of knowledge on how things work.

Why choose Pyranak Design Group?

While some people may design a home for themselves once in a lifetime, we do it several times a month.  We have the understanding and knowledge of how to get things done correctly.  We know the codes and requirements to build a home and we are up to date on the new advances in technology, which most people outside the field are unaware of, such as: structured insulated panels (SIPs), geothermal heating and cooling, green design, green roofs, plus many others to make your home more comfortable, quieter, durable and energy efficient. 

The homes we build at PDG not only meet and exceed energy codes and laws of today, but they will meet the energy codes and laws set down by LEED, the national rating program for energy efficient buildings, that are going to be published in 2006. 

Our homes are designed to save space by reducing attic and hallway sizes, giving you more livable space.  The green building innovations we recommend and incorporate are proven, non-experimental features chosen for their specific benefits of stronger, tighter, more durable construction, less maintenance, healthier indoor air quality, enhanced energy-efficient performance, and for their respect for the environment in their manufacture. These features are low-cost (adding less than 2% to the construction cost) or have a net savings to the project. Their up-front costs result in monthly energy savings, having a break-even payback of 2-5 years. After that, they continue to reduce monthly energy expenses indefinitely.

At PDG, we research the best methods of building a home so you don’t have to spend time on it.  We have large libraries of resource materials for visual references and nearly thirty years of experience when it comes to designing homes.  We have even helped clients find land to place their home on.

What sets us apart from other designers?

Programming

We first learn about your needs and wants, or what we call programming.  We get the “feel of the feel” you want, and work with you to make sure it is achievable before we ever start designing your home.

During the programming stage, we collect information on you, your way of life, your families way of life, your household needs, your budget and what you want to get out of your new home.  We analyze how you live now and what you want to do differently.

Often designers start designing a home right when you come in for a visit and you are stuck with their designs or you have to pay for significant changes you may want later on. We don't have a back-log of designs ideas waiting for a client to build them. Our designs originate in the specific criteria of each individual clients' projects.

Schematic Design

When we are ready to start designing your home, we design your house around you.  Everything from start to finish is thought out structurally, mechanically and budget wise to keep moving forward toward completion of your design in a proper and timely manor.

Construction Documents

Pyranak Design Group exceeds other design firms when it comes to construction documents.  While most designers will give you five sheets of design, ours can add up to 25.  We include in all our designs 3-D views as well as walkthroughs, enhanced detailed drawings, details and specifications specific to energy efficient features and Green Building Sourcing Guides which other firms simply don’t do for you.

 3-D Design

When you design your home with PDG, you get much more than plans on large sized paper.  During design of your home, we show you 3-D walkthroughs so we can see how everything looks before you start building.  This makes changes to things you are not satisfied with more cost effective than waiting till your home is being built and spending lots of money or materials you aren’t going to want to use.

We add furniture to your rooms so you can achieve a feeling of space and recognize areas that need to be enlarged or shrunk down a bit.  We give you the feeling that you are standing in your home and work to improve your feelings about it.

Enhanced Detailed Drawings

A building is composed of millions of individual parts; we approach a plan with describing how each two parts go together.  This gives builders’ confidence and understanding, and it gives you the ability to anticipate what every aspect of your home will look like. 

Not only do we specify how things should be done or go together in our details, but we tell the builder as well as yourself, what materials to use, such as caulks, wood types or stone types, so there is no confusion when it comes time to build.

Details and Specifications specific to energy-efficient features

Houston is far behind in the race to make a more energy efficient home.  Because of this, many builders do not understand how to construct homes using energy efficient methods.  While most designers think the builder can figure it out, we at PDG want to make sure everything is done correctly the first time, so we include in all our plans details and specifications specific to these energy efficient features.  This way you can be certain your builder is doing the job correctly with the correct understanding of how to do so. 

Green Building Sourcing Guide

Some builders have the tendency to stick with methods and materials which they have used before, or have an abundance of in their warehouses.  Sometimes they are not aware of newer methods to build a home at less cost or simply put, better.  They may tell the home owner that a specific material can not be purchased or it may take to long to order it, or perhaps a certain method may not be possible to achieve and the house should be built a differently than how the plans state.

At PDG we are aware of this, and have responded with our own Green Sourcing Guide.  In our Green Sourcing guide, we list the green products and materials used in your home.  We list the manufacturer and where to source them.  This allows you to be certain you get the materials you need for your home.  Our Green Sourcing Guide is a no excuses lists the home owner has to check the builder.  

While it is easy to say a home is energy efficient, it is harder to prove it.  Side by side testing of identical houses, one built with conventional sticks, the other built with SIPs and other energy efficient methods, materials and products which we typically incorporate into our designs, have been proven to cut power and maintenance costs down 50-70%.  We use the most up to date methods when designing and are constantly researching better methods of building.  Our designers have the most experience with using SIPs and other green building methods in the area with over 10 years of experience We are leaders in the field, and have been practicing these methods much longer than most firms have been around.

Designers will claim their homes are energy efficient because they use Energy Star appliances and techniques, which will allow one to list a home as green, but at PDG, all of our homes exceed Energy Star Ratings, which are the lowest of all green energy ratings out at this time.

We have evaluated over 30 different rating guides such as: the Austin Rating Guide, Florida Rating Guide and Portland Rating Guide and taken the best criteria from each to  come up with our own guide for Houston, which there is no official Rating Guide at this time, and we use it to evaluate every home we design and show the owner exactly how energy efficient and green there home is.  When the LEED guide for residential buildings is published in 2006, we are certain that all our homes will meet the criteria to be called a Green Home.

Creativity

Perhaps the most important thing that sets us apart is our design creativity.  Many clients that come to us have already seen one or even two different designers and are unhappy with the way things are going or the lack of ability of their previous designer to create a home of their liking.

PDG has been in over 36 different magazines and newspaper publications throughout its history.  We at PDG pride ourselves on our creativity and originality of our designs.  While some designers will tell you it can’t be done and you should think of another way to do things, we at PDG strive to make it happen within budget.  A large part of our creativity is seen when we create your home the way you want it, and are able to maintain the budget you have set.

What are you waiting for?

Pyranak Design Group is the right design choice for you and your home.  We design homes with styles such as Spanish Colonial, Central Texas, Mountain, Tuscan, Santa Fe, Louisiana, Contemporary and more.  We can help you design your home to its fullest capabilities.  If you have any questions or would like to set a date to speak with a Designer, please feel free to contact us at any time.