Studio DesignMiami Design District
Visit the showroomStart a project
Visit the showroomStart a project

How it works

Six phases, with dates on them.

You get a programme in weeks, not adjectives. What happens, when, what we need from you, and what has to be decided before changing it becomes expensive.

The programme

The amounts and the exact payment dates live in your signed proposal. What this page fixes is the moment each one happens, so nothing arrives as a surprise.

  1. 01

    Conversation

    Duration: Week zero, 45 minutes

    A free conversation at the showroom or by video. We listen to how you use the space, what is not working and what you have already decided. You leave with a realistic range and an honest read on scope, including the times when the honest read is that your project is a kitchen and not a renovation.

    We deliver
    An indicative range, a first view of scope, and a straight answer on whether we are the right studio for the job.
    We need from you
    Plans if you have them, photos of the space if you do not, and a budget range you are comfortable saying out loud.
    Payment
    Nothing. This phase is free.
  2. 02

    Survey and concept

    Duration: Two to three weeks

    We measure the space ourselves rather than trusting a plan drawn years ago. From that survey come two layout options and a first material direction, presented together so you can see what each decision costs and gains. This is the cheapest moment in the whole project to change your mind.

    We deliver
    Measured survey, two layout options, a first material and finish direction, and a programme in weeks.
    We need from you
    Access to the property for a morning, and one session with everyone who has a say in the decisions present at the same time.
    Payment
    Design fee, invoiced at the start of the phase.
  3. 03

    Drawings

    Duration: Two to four weeks

    Shop drawings, elevation by elevation, with every joint, switch, socket, return and grille located before anything is cut. Appliances and stone are fixed here, because a fridge chosen later is the classic fifteen millimetres too deep. Nothing goes down to the shop without your signature on the set.

    We deliver
    Full shop drawing set for approval, finish samples, and the appliance and stone specification fixed in writing.
    We need from you
    Your comments in one pass, then your signature. Changes after signature move the date and can move the price.
    Payment
    Balance of the design fee on issue of the approved set.
  4. 04

    Fabrication

    Duration: Eight to twelve weeks

    The set goes to our shop in Miami and the material is ordered. Lacquer takes longer than veneer because curing cannot be hurried, and stone and specialist appliances are the two items that most often move a date, so they are ordered first. You get a weekly note on where things stand.

    We deliver
    Cabinetry built in our shop, a sample panel approved in the final finish before the full run, and a weekly progress note.
    We need from you
    Stone slab selection at the yard, with you present if you want to be. Otherwise nothing: the decisions are already closed.
    Payment
    Deposit on release to the shop, with material and appliances ordered against it.
  5. 05

    Installation

    Duration: One to three weeks on site

    Our own crew installs, with floors, lifts and common areas protected before the first piece comes through the door. In a tower the schedule is built around the service elevator window and the loading dock, agreed with your building in advance rather than negotiated on the morning.

    We deliver
    Installation by the team that built the piece, site protection, daily clean down, and everything scribed to the walls you actually have.
    We need from you
    Access, a parking or dock arrangement, and the rooms cleared of anything you would rather not have moved by someone else.
    Payment
    Balance on completion of installation.
  6. 06

    Handover and after

    Duration: One week, then twelve months

    We walk the finished work with you and write the punch list together, item by item, in the rooms rather than over email. Then we close it. Twelve months later we come back, because the first year is when a hinge settles, a door drops half a millimetre and a lacquer finish tells you what it thinks of the humidity.

    We deliver
    Written punch list walked with you and closed, care and maintenance instructions per material, and a return visit at twelve months.
    We need from you
    An hour to walk the work with us, and a note of anything you spot in the following weeks.
    Payment
    Final invoice when the punch list is closed, not before.

The awkward questions

The parts nobody puts on a website.

Can we live in the house during the work?

For a kitchen on its own, usually yes, with a temporary setup elsewhere in the house for two to three weeks without a counter or a sink. We tell you which weeks those are before you commit, not once the countertop is out. Dust barriers go up at the start, work runs to your building hours, and the loudest tasks get scheduled into blocks so you can plan around them. For a full renovation with floors and plumbing moving, most families move out for the middle stretch, and we say so at the survey rather than at week four.

How do you work with our architect or contractor?

We issue shop drawings your architect can mark up and hold tolerances they can specify against, which usually makes the job faster rather than slower. We do not take over their scope and we do not disappear from it either: the millwork sequence is written into their programme, with the dates we need walls flat, floors down and services in place. If there is a conflict between a drawing and site reality, we raise it in writing the week we find it.

What will our building ask for before letting anyone in?

Every association has its own list, so we ask management for it in writing before we fix a date, then assemble it with every trade entering the property. In practice it tends to include a certificate of insurance naming the association, a service elevator reservation and loading dock window, agreed working hours, a protection plan for common areas, and a list of the people coming in. A permit is a separate matter and depends on what is being moved rather than on what is being built.

Handover

What the last day includes.

  • A written punch list, walked with you room by room, with a date against each item rather than a promise to look into it
  • Care and maintenance instructions per material: what cleans a lacquer, what stains a stone, what a veneer does in a room that gets full afternoon sun
  • Hardware adjustment on the day, and again whenever a door needs it in the first year
  • A return visit at twelve months, booked rather than offered, because the first year is when everything settles

Start with the conversation.

Forty five minutes, free, at the showroom or by video. You leave knowing the range, the programme and whether we are the right studio for the project.

180 NE 41st Street, Miami FL 33137. 305 942 7801

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