Services
We Offer
C.A.G is committed to placing its expertise and innovative project delivery method at the service of its clients. We have build our company on the key values of respect, excellence, family, integrity and teamwork.
We find with many of our client doing a new building when we get involved right from the start we can not only help them verify that particular site is right for what they are trying to do – not only verifying that there is enough site but more often making sure the zoning is appropriate, there are utilities available and once all the check marks are right then helping to create a site plan that works with the building being designed and any natural features that might be overlooked by a civil engineer just trying to meet the program.
Often planning only looks at what is being requested today and not properly evaluating “what if’s or future growth”. We take the time to ask the right questions and dig deep into what the client is looking for today but what they might need five or ten years from now.
We have been asked to evaluate the structural integrity of a building, the quality of the electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems if parking will be adequate the accessibility of a building and if the building will be appropriate for the client’s needs. One of the main things that set’s our architectural firm apart from many is that we also are a construction company with true “hands on experience”. We can draw from that in our evaluations as well as work wit our sub-contractors in their expertise to provide real world knowledge and options with associated true costs in assisting our clients in making decisions.
We do admit that this is our favorite approach to architecture and construction. We know it isn’t right for every project but when we can bring the contractor entity in early (whether it is our C.A.G. Construction Company or another construction firm) we just see that the construction team member is very valuable. One of the owner benefits that our company does bring to every project is our hands-on knowledge of construction. SInce we are also a construction company our designs reflect the years of knowledge in construction we bring to the table. This translates into designs that are very “buildable” as well as trying to create projects that are very low in maintenance requirements.
Again being an architectural firm and a construction company we can rely on “real life” costs and data which most architectural firms have no true knowledge of We can very quickly and accurately develop budgets that we know how to work towards in our designs by educating our clients in this area. We work hard to establish a realistic budget and maintain it so that there is no “sticker shock” when our design is complete. Where many pure architectural firms have not thought about options in reducing costs “value engineering” since these things were not thought about in advance.
This is getting to the “fun stuff” of architecture. At this point we have done the hard work to know what the client needs by either a formal or informal space programming exercise that determines what the client needs in the space allowing our design to begin. This is when the client gets to start to see how the space will work for them. We can do this in 2-D and 3-D determining the clients ability to visualize a floor plan. Sometimes in this phase we hit a homerun right from the start and other times it may take multiple times to get to where the client is happy with the design. We will do whatever it takes to make sure the client is satisfied with the space programming result.
Just as the results from two different doctors will rarely be the same or have the same quality; the same can be said for the quality of construction documents from two different architectural firms. We take pride in developing construction documents that are easy for contractor’s to read and are very thorough so that when our drawings are bid, even the “low bidder” rarely has change orders from drawing errors. We also perform a very thorough effort of internal review and coordination with our team of engineers, making sure that our final construction documents are the best they can be.
Often this term is used to determine cost savings by a contractor once the project is over budget. By being an architectural firm that also provides construction we are constantly evaluating value engineering options as we develop our drawings. We look at value engineering as if it is our own personal project, not just stripping down a project so that it can be built to budget but evaluating options that we know are available that don’t impact the goals that our client had from the very beginning.