Architectural designers play the vital role of visualising and creating detailed plans for a building or a structure. If you’re embarking on a construction project for your dream house, selecting the right designer, who can transform your vision into reality, is an important task.

So it’s never lost on us that our clients go through a vigorous decision making process before we’re hired. We recently sat down with new clients, Dali and Damien Festa, to discuss their decision-making journey and experience thus far, as they prepare to break ground next month on their fresh modern farmhouse.

These two are lots of fun, with a clear vision for their forever-home located in Damien’s highschool stomping grounds in NW Calgary.

Is this your first custom design build?

This will be our second custom build. Our current home was built by Damien’s father and this time round, by his cousin of Palisade Living Ltd., a small-volume home builder.

How did you learn about McDowell & Associates?

After finding our ideal lot (in Collingwood) for our next home, we shifted our focus to finding an ideal firm to design it. We have a number of friends who have built custom homes in recent years, so we began to ask about their design experiences.

We were especially impressed by the designs and recommendation by friend’s currently building in St. Andrews Heights. They used words like "calm”, “easy,” “precise,” “classically modern” to describe the experience and style of working with McDowell & Associates. They too were seeking a traditional-style home that will feel timeless twenty years from now.

We checked out Al’s website and Instagram feed, loved what we saw, and knew a chat was in order.

How did you go about selecting your architectural desiger?

In total, we interviewed three architectural design firms. With Al, after a pragmatic exploratory call, he scheduled an in-person meeting with us. We brought our builder along, whose opinion, questions, and comfort-level was inegral given the interplay ahead. We all left that meeting feeling at ease, understood, and confident with Al’s experience, vision, and process.

Our new home is not only going to be larger and a new aesthetic for us, but we’re really looking to enhance the architectural elements this time round. This is why we’re working with McDowell & Associates; what we’ve come to understand is when you invest in a premium design firm, not only are their designs more elevated and intricate, but the specificity of their designs will diminish the margin of error for the builder — reducing time, waste, and costly mistakes. Not to mention, the quality of the trades and vendors they recommend will help to ensure our design plan comes to life in the best way possible. So besides helping to make the custom build process more seamless, it also makes financial sense for us.

What’s surprised you the most at this stage of the home building journey?

Like with any new construction, we've had a few pre-build challenges that are new situations for our builder. In our case, the existing home is being moved from the lot before construction can begin. Al’s team has been an incredible resource. There’s comfort that comes with their 30 years in the business, there’s little they haven’t seen or managed, so having this team provide solid gold guidance beyond our home’s design, has been phenomenal.

Describe the process of seeing your original ideas translated by Al’s team come to life on paper.

The first thing we did was complete a heavily detailed survey. It honed in on our budget, project scope, and timeline. It extrapolated our inspiration, our tastes, our must-have’s, some of our loftier wishes too.

Two weeks later, we were reviewing sketches that captured exactly what we wanted. We were amazed at how the modern farmhouse we had imagined, was now on paper, right there. Checking all the boxes from go.

Who is the Dreamer and who’s the Realist?

”How clear the differences became in working through the design of this build! Though we can both fall into one category and the other depending on the day, when its come to this home build, I’m definitely more the Realist, and Damien is the Dreamer. Al astutely blended our visions in the most harmonious way, a Christmas miracle.” — Dali

If you could describe the experience with McDowell & Associates in three words, what would they be? 

Their “experience” and “guidance” with our pre-build phase has been exceptionally supportive — and we haven’t even broken ground yet.

We’d also say “practical elegance.” The suggestions we are given are intentional, budget-driven, and rooted in function while never feeling like we’re compromising on form. This sage-like vision is deeply reassuring which, to anyone who has stood at the cliff of a new build, is invaluable on many, many levels.

We look forward to sharing the Festa’s beautiful home-building journey unfold with you, from groundbreaking to possession. As with all client’s, we’re deeply grateful for their trust, their business, and their precious time in sharing their design journey with you here.