How do you charge for designing a project?

For our full-design projects, our design fee is calculated as a percentage of the projected construction costs. Projected construction costs are calculated based on price-per-square foot from both past construction bids from Licensed General Contractors as well as from past appraisals from Licensed Real Estate Appraisers.

For our retroactive-permit projects, our fee is calculated as a price per square foot. The price per square foot varies depending on structure type.

How much experience does Terra Projects have with permits?

We have permitted $3,000,000 of construction, and have successfully prepared over 80 permit applications.

Can you ensure that the construction sticks to a precise budget?

Typical to the industry, the General Contractor and the Patron have a direct contract which can stipulate terms for building costs. We do not guarantee that our projects will be built for any specific construction budget. The cost of labor and materials (the construction budget) vary too much for us to make any construction-cost guarantees.

Can I design with you and collaborate on the project?

No and yes. For our full-design projects, we have our prospective patron complete our Patron Brief. This communicates to our team the patron’s desires in a brief document. Desires can include estimated square footages, the estimated project budget, the estimated construction budget, the desired use of the property as well as any goals the patron has for after the project has been completed. After this is completed, and only after we have made our portfolio of past projects available to the patron, we then assume full design and creative control for the project. The Patron leans on us for our expertise and we make project design choices that constitute the ultimate look and feel for the finished project. This is a classic example of the patron-artist working relationship made prominent during the Italian Renaissance.

What projects are you legally able to design?

The short answer is that there is absolutely no-limit to what our team can design conceptually. This includes large-scale retreat centers, museums and homes. In fact we have designed all three of those project types; the drawings, renderings and/or pictures of those projects can be found here.

The longer answer is that despite our founder being trained and earning his Bachelors in Architecture (BArch)- our company is a design studio, not an architecture practice and not an engineering firm. Other consultants will 100% be needed on projects that intend to go through the permitting process.

Depending on the municipality and project type (i.e. commercial projects, international projects Et al), the project team will shift, at times needing a P.E. (Professional Engineer), Energy Consultant, Soils Engineer , S.E. (Structural Engineer) or an A.O.R. (Architect Of Record) to ensure full municipal compliance.

For a full overview of what we can put through permitting please refer to this form. Note that for any built work we work with outside talent fulfilling the P.E. (Professional Engineer) and/or S.E. (Structural Engineer) roles.

Do you have anyone on staff internally that is a registered architect?

Our founder, David Irwin has met the academic requirement of architectural licensure, has worked in the industry for over a decade and is in the process of completing his licensing exams needed in order to become registered in the state of California. Currently he does not hold this registration, and we partner with an A.O.R. for al civic and commercial projects and for all international projects that are going through permit approvals and construction.

Residential projects as described in the California Professions Code do not require an A.O.R.

What is the difference between a piece of architecture and a building?

As the late architect and artist John Hejduk has outlined, “If it has a soul, it is a piece of architecture. If it does not, then it is a building.”

Have a question you don’t see answered above?

Contact us here.

Note: all the information above is for educational purposes and is to be used as a general rule-of-thumb. We encourage you to do your own research.