Our Proven 7-Step Process

Over the past 20+ years, we have honed our interior design and renovation process. Each stage is outlined briefly below.

The 7 Renovation Stages

Click the arrows beside each heading to expand the information.

Discovery

When you first reach out to Krista Hermanson Design & Construction, a KHD team member will connect with you to set up a discovery call. During this call, we will discuss your dreams for your home, gather information about your family and your project, and establish if your project fits with Krista Hermanson Design.

After our initial discovery call, Krista Hermanson will meet clients over Zoom or in their homes to discuss project goals and priorities further and her visions for the space.

During this stage, we will ask some of the following questions:

Where is your property located?
How long do you plan on living in this home?
Who lives in the home? This includes furry family members.
Has your family evolved to a different stage of life and, therefore, a different set of needs?
What is it that you are hoping to accomplish?
What design problems need to be resolved?
In what ways does your home lack in function?
Do you have enough storage space?
Do you have enough room to cook and gather as a family in your kitchen with an appropriate space for all the activities that take place here?
Are walls separating you from enjoying sharing your space?

Please note: We cannot accurately quote at this stage, but we can discuss similar interior design projects and give ballpark budgets.

Listen Hard

The get to know you phase. We believe that humans are wired for connection, and we love connecting with people on a deep level. Our goal is to understand our clients’ true desires for their lives and to facilitate that through the power of space and a little hygge. We have long conversations with our clients to clearly define their vision for their homes. All occupants have needs, and each one will be given thoughtful consideration within the design.

We believe a home should be reflective of its occupants and the things that bring them joy. Some clients prefer simple, clean lines in their interior design, and some prefer more opulent luxury interior design selections or a mix! This process invites you to truly examine how you want to feel and how you want your home to facilitate that feeling.

Our professional, process-driven designers will then assess your home and explore multiple interior design solutions to meet your functional and aesthetic needs. If necessary, we’ll bring in an engineer to explore how the structure can be modified to provide optimal utilization of your space.

Once we have decided we are a fit for one another, the Interior Design Agreement is signed, and we get to begin the really fun part—designing your newly envisioned home!

Concept & Design

We call the first part of this step a Design Concept Meeting, but it’s more like Christmas morning for your home. Based on our great conversations, we’ve pulled multiple options that we think you will love. Your job is to come in, drink great coffee, eat scrumptious treats, and tell us what you like and don’t. ?

This is often the first time you visit the studio, and we love having you in our house!

During the first half of this meeting, we will walk you through each floor plan we’ve envisioned and solicit feedback. The second half of this meeting is to review your proposed finish options from floor to ceiling. Our industry connections and expertise give us access to a wide range of materials that are not always shown in the supplier showrooms. We factor budget, durability, lifestyle, occupants, and return on investment into every residential renovation plan.

We take all of your feedback and prepare for the next phase, which is to come back into the studio for Design Development Meeting(s), where you’ll view layouts of your space and samples of paint, wallpaper, flooring, hardware, tile, and much more. During these meetings, you will select materials, and we will finalize your designs.

Depending on the project’s scope, there can be 1-3 Concept & Design meetings.

TRADES DAY

A unique feature of Krista Hermanson Design is that we are a licensed prepaid general contractor, which means we manage the renovation projects we design. Following the completion of the design phase, we invite our preferred tradespeople, who are experts covered by insurance and WCB, to your home, where we walk them through our plan for your space. With the drawing set in hand, the designer leads the trades through the home. Questions are answered, materials are reviewed, installations are discussed, and everyone can see the job site and gather necessary information.

Our favourite part about this is that we typically schedule only one trades day. We don’t have a plumber coming one day and the electrician coming another to quote the project. It’s all done in one day!

Our trades give KHD their quotes, and we add them to our construction software (CoConstruct by Buildertrend) to create a comprehensive and accurate budget. Each element is itemized line by line so that you can see exactly what each item costs.

Budget Review

This meeting takes place in our downtown Calgary interior design studio, where the detailed renovation budget is reviewed with you.

Once we have finalized the numbers, we invite you back to the studio for a Budget Review Meeting to discuss your project’s specific costs and scope options. This is a joyous meeting filled with excitement, but sometimes, reality hits, and hard decisions about the project scope must be made. The itemized budget allows you to select what will bring the most value to you without losing the feeling of the interior design.

After the scope is finalized, we sign the Construction Agreement.

At this meeting, we will also review your construction schedule that shows each weekly construction activity so you know exactly what to expect through each part of the construction and when. This allows you to plan your movements.

Families often schedule vacations during renovations so they can get out of town while we handle the details. We do not suggest living in the home during a renovation.

We give you a firm start date and completion date. Our interior design and construction projects run on schedule.

Construction

From site protection and demolition to inspections and approvals and the last finishing item, the KHD construction team treats your project with the utmost care. Our site supervisors and coordinators manage every aspect to maintain our excellent standards and to ensure we finish your project right on schedule.

Post Construction Aftercare

In addition to completing your job with a client satisfaction walk-through, we check in with you after you’ve settled in to make sure all is well with your new space. We only partner with established professionals who warranty their work. The Krista Hermanson Design team is only a phone call away!

Many of our clients are repeat clients because of our commitment to excellence and service – some clients return to complete as many as five major projects! Most of our new business is by referral from happy former clients. This is something we are very proud of and continue to appreciate!