Helping You Make Better Decisions Before You Make Bigger Commitments
First of all, thank you for considering Landen Design Build.
Building a custom home designer Calgary acreage is one of the biggest financial and emotional investments most families will ever make. Before investing thousands of dollars in architectural plans or committing to a builder, we believe you should have the opportunity to explore your ideas and gain confidence that you’re heading in the right direction.
That’s exactly why we created our FREE 30-Hour Design Test Drive™.
Unlike many builders or designers who require substantial upfront design deposits before putting pencil to paper, we invest up to 30 hours of our professional design time to help qualified clients begin turning their ideas into reality.
NOTE: There are no design deposits required!
There is nothing to sign or commit to
No obligation to build with Landen.
No pressure.
Just professional guidance from over 40 years of custom home design and building experience.
What Can You Expect During the Design Test Drive?
Within approximately 30 hours of professional design time, we will begin transforming your ideas into a preliminary custom home design.
Depending on the complexity of your project, this typically includes:
- Preliminary to-scale floor plans based on your wish list.
- Preliminary exterior elevations.
- Preliminary 3D colour renderings.
- General room layouts and space planning.
- Preliminary discussions regarding budget and construction costs.
- Professional recommendations based on your building site and budget.
- Ideas that may improve functionality, resale value, and construction efficiency.
Most clients are amazed at how quickly they can begin to visualize their future home.
Our goal is to help you answer one very important question:
“Is this the home we really want to build?”
What Is NOT Included?
The Design Test Drive is intentionally designed to be a conceptual planning exercise.
These are not finalized construction drawings.
At this stage, you should not expect:
- Final architectural detailing.
- Structural engineering.
- HVAC layouts.
- Electrical layouts.
- Plumbing layouts.
- Cabinet shop drawings.
- Detailed construction notes.
- Permit-ready drawings.
- Final building specifications.
- Detailed trade tendering.
Fine detailing comes later if you decide to proceed with a full Landen design package.
The purpose of the Design Test Drive is to establish the overall design direction—not every construction detail.
Your Homework Before We Begin
The Better Prepared You Are… The Better the Outcome Will Be
One of the biggest advantages of our FREE 30-Hour Design Test Drive™ is that we spend our time designing your dream home—not trying to guess what you want.
The more information you provide before we begin, the more productive and enjoyable the test drive design process becomes and the more we can provide for you within the no-charge design hours.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers—that’s what we’re here to help with—but the following information will allow us to make the very best use of our 30 hours together.
1. Your Dream Home Wish List
This is probably the single most important piece of information you can provide. Tell us about your family’s lifestyle and how you envision living in your new home.
Think about questions such as:
- How many bedrooms?
- How many bathrooms?
- What type of bathrooms, “jack & Jill”? etc.
- Home office?
- Bonus room?
- Walk-out basement?
- Triple or quadruple garage?
- Covered deck?
- Outdoor living space?
- Mud room?
- Butler’s pantry?
- Wine room?
- Home gym?
- Theatre room?
- Hobby room?
- Workshop?
There are no right or wrong answers. This is your opportunity to dream.
2. Target Room Sizes
You don’t need to know exact dimensions. However, if there are rooms that are especially important to you, let us know approximately how large you envision them. One thing to look at is your present home; compare your existing home’s room sizes and decide if you need bigger or smaller rooms than you presently have.
Examples:
- Great Room
- Kitchen
- Dining Area
- Primary Bedroom
- Garage
- Shop
- Covered Deck
If you’ve seen a room you really liked somewhere else…
Tell us why.
3. Photos and Inspiration
Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Please collect images of:
✔ Homes you like
✔ Kitchens
✔ Bathrooms
✔ Fireplaces
✔ Staircases
✔ Exterior finishes
✔ Roofing styles
✔ Ceiling details
✔ Cabinet ideas
✔ Lighting
Pinterest boards, magazine photos, internet images, or photos of homes you’ve visited are all extremely helpful.
Even telling us things like “I hate this kitchen.” All helps us understand your style.
4. Sketches
Don’t worry if you can’t draw.
Neither could many of our best clients.
A simple hand sketch, even on a napkin, often communicates an idea better than a page of written notes.
We’ve designed many beautiful homes that started with stick figures.
5. Plans You Like
If you’ve found floor plans online that you like some parts of, but hate other parts of the plan… Bring them. Then tell us which parts of the plans you like:
Tell us:
- “I love this kitchen.”
- “I like this garage.”
- “I hate this hallway.”
- I like this exterior.
We’re not looking to copy someone else’s home. We’re trying to understand what appeals to you.
6. Property Information
If you already own your lot, please provide as much information as possible.
Examples include:
- Real Property Report (RPR)
- Land Title
- Site Survey
- Subdivision Plan
- Building Envelope Restrictions
- Architectural Controls (if applicable)
- Municipal setback requirements (if available)
The more information we have about your property, the sooner we can begin designing around it.
7. Existing Site Information
If your property is an acreage, any of the following information can be very helpful:
- Existing well reports
- Pump test results
- Water quality reports
- Septic reports
- Existing utilities
- Gas line information
- Electrical service location
- Well location
- Septic field location
- Existing buildings
- Tree locations
- Slopes
- Drainage concerns
- Driveway location
- Easements
- Utility Rights-of-Way
Every piece of information helps.
Note: we also offer a no-charge site assessment report for qualifying projects!
8. Your Budget
Don’t worry…
You don’t have to know exactly what your home will cost. In fact, that’s one of the reasons we’re meeting. However, having a realistic investment range allows us to design a home that fits both your dreams and your budget.
Our goal isn’t to design the most expensive home possible.
Our goal is to design the best home possible within your investment comfort zone.
9. Your Timeline
Help us understand:
- When would you like to start construction?
- Do you already own your property?
- Are you selling another home?
- Are there financing deadlines?
- Are there seasonal considerations?
Knowing your schedule helps us plan ours.
10. Questions
Bring lots of them. No question is too simple. One of the biggest benefits of working with Landen Design Build is that you’re drawing on over 40 years of custom home building and custom home design experience. So. If you’re wondering about something… Simply ask us.
The More We Know…
The Better We Can Design. The goal of the Design Test Drive isn’t to create just another house.
It’s to create your home.
That begins by understanding how you and your family live today—and how you’d like to live tomorrow.
Greg’s Builder Tip
One of the biggest mistakes people make is spending months looking at hundreds of floor plans without ever writing down what they actually want. I encourage every client to spend a few evenings creating a detailed wish list before we ever begin designing.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it usually changes throughout the design process.
But having a wish list gives us a tremendous head start and helps ensure we spend our time designing the right home for your family—not just the first home that comes to mind.
We can help you with this by providing one of our standard fill-in-the-blanks forms to help you think of things you might not have thought about.
What Happens Next?
Once we’ve received your wish list and then completed your preliminary design, we’ll sit down together and review everything.
Together we’ll discuss:
- What you love.
- What you’d like to change.
- Design improvements.
- Budget considerations.
- Construction options.
- And whether you’d like to proceed with a complete architectural design package.
If you decide to continue, only then will we ask you to commit to a design engagement agreement, where we mutually agree on a fixed design budget. Then we’ll move into the detailed design phase and begin developing permit-ready construction drawings.
If you decide not to proceed…
That’s perfectly okay. There are no hard feelings. No sales pressure.
No obligation.
We simply hope the Design Test Drive has helped you better understand your project and make a more informed decision. (See also our copyright use of the test drive plans)
Our Design Philosophy
At Landen Design Build, we believe:
People don’t need pressure…
They need guidance.
That’s why we’ve invested thousands of hours refining our design process over the past four decades.
Our goal isn’t simply to design beautiful homes.
Our goal is to help families make better decisions before construction ever begins.
Understanding Copyright
While the Design Test Drive is provided at no charge to qualified clients, the drawings, renderings, concepts, and designs we create remain the intellectual property and copyright of Landen Design Build.
These preliminary plans are provided solely for your personal evaluation and to assist you in deciding whether to proceed with a full design package.
They may not be:
- Used to obtain pricing from other builders.
- Given to another designer or architect for ideas or completion.
- Copied, modified, or reproduced.
- Used for construction by another builder.
- Distributed without the written permission of Landen Design Build.
If you decide not to proceed with Landen, we completely respect that decision. However, our preliminary concepts remain protected by Canadian copyright law.
Like any professional designer, architect or creative professional, we invest considerable time, expertise and experience into every design we produce. We ask that our no-charge design work be respected in the same manner.
While we sincerely hope it never becomes necessary, Landen Design Build will take appropriate legal action to protect its intellectual property should our copyrighted designs be used without authorization.
Why Do We Offer This Service?
It’s simple.
We believe an educated client makes better decisions.
Better decisions lead to better homes.
And better homes create happier families.
Our Design Test Drive has helped hundreds of clients move forward with confidence, knowing they fully understand both the opportunities and the investment before construction begins.
We hope it does the same for you.
Welcome to the LANDEN Experience
We appreciate the opportunity to work with you and look forward to helping you transform your ideas into a home that’s uniquely yours. As a custom home builder south of Calgary foothills, we are committed to creating homes that reflect your vision and lifestyle.
Whether you ultimately build with Landen or simply want us to do finished plans to have some other builder do the construction, we are happy to do just your design work, or better yet, help you through the entire build process. Either way, you will gain a better understanding of your project with our design test drive. We hope this experience provides value, clarity, and confidence.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to earn your trust.
Greg Genereux
President
Landen Design Build
403-619-4734
landendevelopment.com
Before We Begin…
Please Bring These Five Things to Your First Design Meeting
✔ Your wish list.
✔ Photos of homes you like.
✔ A realistic budget range.
✔ Your property survey or site plan (if available).
✔ An open mind.
“Some of our best design ideas have come from conversations that started with, ‘What if we tried this instead?'”