Service
New Construction
Who this is for
- You are building a new home in Greater Cleveland or further afield, and you want the interior to be designed rather than assembled from a builder's standard packages.
- You have an architect and a builder and no one holding the interior together.
- You are working with a production or semi-custom builder and want to push the selections well past the showroom menu.
- You want to move into a finished house, not a house you will spend the next year furnishing.
This is not the right service if the house is already framed and the selections are locked. At that point the useful service is Renovation or Design Consulting.
What is included
Plan review, before it is too late
We read the drawings while they can still change. Room proportions against real furniture, circulation, window placement against sightlines, closet and storage reality, and the lighting plan — which is the thing most often left to the electrician and most often regretted.
Interior architecture
- Millwork, cabinetry, and built-in design
- Ceiling, trim, and stair detail
- Kitchen, bath, and laundry layouts
- Lighting design and switching
- Tile and stone layouts drawn rather than described
Selections and specification
Every selection on the builder's schedule, named and documented: flooring, tile, stone, cabinetry, paint, plumbing, lighting, hardware, appliances. Delivered in the format and on the deadline your builder needs, which is the difference between a specification and a mood board.
Furniture and finishing
Developed in parallel with construction, not after it. We place every order ourselves and everything lands at our receiving warehouse, Delivery by the Falls, to be inspected and held until the house is ready. Long-lead upholstery and case goods go early enough to arrive with the certificate of occupancy rather than a season behind it.
Builder coordination and installation
Site visits, answers to the questions the site generates, and a full installation at the end — delivery, placement, styling, walkthrough, punch list.
How the engagement runs
01. Discovery Call
Thirty minutes by phone, at no charge. The house, the builder, the stage of the drawings, the timeline, and the budget.
02. Retainer and booking
We take a limited number of projects each year. The $5,000 retainer books you into our calendar, safeguards our bandwidth for your project, and is credited against your final invoice. New builds run long, so a build occupies a slot for its full duration.
03. Immersion
Questionnaires, meetings and working sessions about how you live — because on a new build there is no existing house to argue with, and the brief has to come from somewhere real.
04. Plan review and concept
Drawings reviewed and marked up, interior architecture developed, and a single coherent concept presented for the whole house.
05. Specification
Every selection documented on the builder's schedule and released on the builder's timeline.
06. Builder coordination
Through construction. We hold the design intent while a hundred people make small decisions on site.
07. Installation
Furniture, art, textiles, and styling installed before you move in.
Investment
New construction projects typically start at $1.5M in total project investment.
That is the total cost of the project — the build itself, the interior architecture, the finishes, the furnishings, and the design work. It is not a design fee. Design fees are quoted after the Discovery Call, based on scope: square footage, the number of rooms specified, and how early we join the project.
The retainer is $5,000, credited against your final invoice.
Questions about new construction
When should we bring you in?
Before the drawings are final. Every week earlier is cheaper than the week after. If the foundation is poured, we can still do good work; we just do it inside constraints that did not need to exist.
Will you work with our builder?
Yes. We are happy to work with any contractor or builder you have used previously. If you have not selected one, we can recommend builders we have worked with who know our process.
Our builder has a design center. Why do we need you?
A design center sells you the options that builder stocks, on that builder's margin, in an afternoon. We specify against your house and your budget across the whole market, and we hold the decisions together so the kitchen, the lighting, and the furniture were designed by the same person.
How long does a new build engagement run?
Twelve to eighteen months. It is the longest engagement we offer and the one where early booking matters most.
Do you design outdoor and secondary spaces?
Can we phase the furniture?
Yes, and most clients do. We prioritize the rooms you will live in first and schedule the rest against your budget.
Start a new build
New construction occupies a project slot for its full duration, so we book these furthest ahead. Design work currently starts eight to twelve weeks after a project is booked.
Hello@himandhisdesign.com · (216) 236-3883 · 5900 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102
Tell us about the home.
Every project starts the same way: thirty minutes on the phone, no charge and no pitch. You tell us about the house and what is not working in it, and we tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it. Most of our clients come back afterwards — for the next room, or the next house, or the one by the lake. We would rather begin something that lasts than close something that does not.
Or call (216) 236-3883
Monday to Friday, 9am–7pm