(Photo above: custom home under construction at Pronghorn | courtesy of Aperion Management Group)
Custom homes are the bee’s knees, and rightfully so! With construction activity on the rise again and limited real estate inventory in Central Oregon, more homeowners are turning to planned unit developments to build their custom dream homes. Builders, Homeowners Association (HOA) management professionals and the design community in Bend are striving to build sustainable communities that people want to call home.
However, when buyers look at these developments they can sometimes be intimidated by the architectural review process or design guidelines. These processes are in place to maintain the character of the community and consistency of the homes, ensuring the architecture and landscaping, in all their subtle detail, work in harmony with the natural settings of the community, allowing owners to purchase into a community that fits their design style (i.e. modern, craftsman, northwest lodge, etc.).
While it’s obvious that the architect, builders, homeowner and community HOA are involved in a custom home design review process, there must be someone that coordinates these efforts, which can fall on the HOA’s volunteer committee, who lack the resources to efficiently handle the work load this process can entail. A qualified management company can help shoulder some of this burden and get homes going vertical quicker. So what exactly is design review and how complicated is it?
Below are the four steps to the Custom Design Review process, as outlined by Aperion Management Group, an HOA management company to custom home communities at both Pronghorn and Crosswater:
- The pre-design meeting is an opportunity for owners and their design team to discuss their vision as it relates to the establish guidelines. This step helps prevent the wrong style of home being submitted or something grossly out of line with the approved guidelines.
- The preliminary design review is an initial construction document review that includes elevations and site plan review. There are several key elements that are reviewed in this stage to ensure the owner is on the right track with their design, the home’s location, building heights, the general design concept and the general massing of the home.
- The final design review is when the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) reviews the full construction documents and proposed materials for the home. This review is not in place of the permit process required by the City or the County and does not focus on code requirements, but rather if the home fits into the overall character of the community.
- Finally, during construction the ARC and managers conduct regular inspections to ensure the home is built to the approved set of plans. Field changes must be submitted and are reviewed by the committee should anything change.
All of these steps could be daunting but they really don’t have to be. With communities like Pronghorn and Crosswater, the benefits of having a HOA management company, like Aperion, to oversee the full process means that benefits can be seen from the homeowner, HOA and builders. The homeowner has one point of contact, ensuring that every owner goes through the same process and the homes that are built are consistent in character and design.
The community HOA can rest easy as an HOA management company will oversee the full administrative process from beginning to end while ensuring consistency and timely responses to owners, contractors, and design teams. They will facilitate communication with the ARC, who are volunteers, and obtain decisions that keeps the process moving. This also helps builders, since the one point of communication means timely responses that get them to work quicker. Quality contractors that follow the guidelines and build quality products, develop reputations in the communities which results in new contracts for many of them.
Another key component to a successful design review process is employing qualified design professionals (architects and landscape designers) to serve on the committee as paid consultants. This helps prevent committee volunteers who may not have the right experience from making decisions on the approval of new homes. The HOA management company helps coordinate all parties through each phase of the submittals and the consultants bring a level of experience to the process that reinforces the guidelines.
After the design review process is complete, construction can begin. Construction brings its own challenges and can require steps of the design review process to be repeated for changes to the original designs. While it may seem to some that design review is an arduous process, just remember, the quality of architectural character and site planning for each custom home contributes to making any planned unit development community a more attractive and valuable place.
Aperion Management Group, LLC is Central Oregon’s first and only Accredited Association Management Company (AAMC) that specializes in Homeowners Association (HOA) management and was recently recognized by the Central Oregon Builders Association as 2015 new member of the year.
