Most of our projects are located in Baltimore County, but we've done work in Baltimore City, in Harford, Carroll, and Anne Arundel Counties, and as far away as Maine.

Yes. The initial meeting with a client is complimentary, usually at the prospective client's home or the project site. Following that meeting, a fee proposal is developed, outlining the scope of the project and the services required to complete it.

For the typical residential addition or renovation, the process starts with a visit to the client's home to meet the client and to determine their needs. A fee proposal is presented within a few days of that meeting and, if it is accepted, the work begins with the documentation of existing conditions (measuring and photography of the areas of the house that will be affected by the project). That information, together with a list of the client's wants and needs, becomes the basis for the schematic design(s), which includes floor plans and elevations. Once the client has decided on a design for the project, the work enters the design development phase, during which enough construction information is added to the drawings to allow for preliminary cost estimating by several contractors. Those builders usually have suggestions for reducing costs, improving the process, and so on, which can be incorporated in the next phase of the project, construction documentation. In this phase, the construction drawings are completed in preparation for filing for a building permit and for construction. The last phase of our work is construction administration in which we are available to answer questions or do site visits during the construction process.

The length of time a renovation takes is entirely dependent on the scope of the project, and on the quality of the preparation for the project. A tiny bathroom remodel can take forever, for instance, if the selected tile or plumbing fixtures are not on site when needed. It's important not to compare new construction timelines to renovation, however. Any time there is demolition to undertake and protection of existing construction to be considered, the project will take more time.

We generally provide a fixed fee for most or all of the phases of our work, which are broken down in our proposal. We find that that makes it easier for our clients to budget for their project. However, sometimes the scope of work has not been sufficiently defined to be able to do that and the proposal is for work done on an hourly basis, at least until the scope is narrowed down.

This may seem obvious, but our clients tell us that what they value most about Hiser + Kopits Hiser Architects is that we listen. The foremost complaint I hear about other architects is that they don't seem to hear what the client is saying about what they want. What I enjoy most about my work is the collaboration with my clients and their contractors. It is really fun working together to develop creative solutions to the client's residential dilemmas.