May 2025
Leap into May with us! (No, Andrew did not jump out this window, and It’s a huge tilt/turn from Sublime, btw.)
May always feels like a launchpad-projects are picking up speed, and there’s a buzz of possibility in the air. We’re excited to keep building momentum with our favorite builder friends and all kinds of new clients, and we’re always open to meeting new collaborators who share our passion for creative, efficient solutions. If you’re curious about what we do or want to team up, don’t be shy-reach out and say hello!
Warmly,
Andrew and the Graphite Team
Why Budgets Feel Daunting (And Why They Shouldn’t)
Let’s talk about the “shopping cart” phase of your project-that exciting but occasionally overwhelming moment when dreams meet reality. During schematic design, we’re not just sketching ideas, we’re balancing your vision with practical budgeting.
We loop in builders early to flag potential cost hurdles before designs are finalized. Their input ensures we’re not designing something that’s beautiful on paper but impractical to build.
At this stage, we’re adding all your “wish list” items to the design cart-the finishes, the layouts, the special touches that make a space uniquely yours. But when we pass these ideas to builders for initial pricing, we brace for sticker shock. This may be the first time clients have seen real pricing the things they’ve been dreaming of, and it can be hard. Schematic design isn’t about locking in final costs; it’s about testing feasibility so we can refine, prioritize, and ensure your project stays on track.
Rest assured: We’ve done this many times, and had great luck in navigating this delicate milestone. The prime task is to reconnect with your project’s core priorities. If we can’t have everything we can think of, what DO we want, to make the project successful, on a budget that works with the assigned finances? We’ll look for things to cut, things to save for later, things to splurge for. It’s a sometimes tender process, to reckon with the reality, but it’s successful, if we are serious, careful, and rigorous.
Project Progress: Phoenix Nest First Blower Door Testing
Great progress continues at Phoenix Nest! MHB has installed all of the windows, and we're now moving forward with a preliminary blower door test to assess the airtightness of the building envelope before final finishes go in.
This trial run is a critical quality assurance step: the blower door test uses a calibrated fan to pressurize or depressurize the structure, to -50 Pascals, allowing us to quantify air leakage rates and pinpoint weak spots in the envelope. By conducting this test at this stage-after window installation but before drywall and interior finishes-we can identify and address any significant leakage paths while access is still straightforward.