Designing from abroad: Design only or Design and Build

Dear owner,

Many of the people who come to us are planning a home or a villa in Indonesia while living somewhere else. They walk the plot once or twice, then follow the design from another time zone. This letter explains how that works at BODE Design, and how to choose between our two ways of working.

One point of contact

From the first sketch to handover you have one point of contact: one person who knows the brief, the drawings and the cost plan, and who brings in the architect, the engineers or the quantity surveyor whenever they are needed. Coordinating the disciplines is our part of the work, so your time goes to the decisions.

Seeing the design from far away

Drawings are precise, and they take practice to read. That is why every stage comes with views you can understand without a drawing in your hand: a 3D massing model at concept, then renders from schematic onwards. A line drawing and a render of the same view show both the geometry and the light.

Decisions, written down with their dates

Each of the seven steps ends with sheets you can hold and a decision that is yours. We send the drawings, the updated cost plan and a short note of what is ready for your decision, and we record each decision with its date. Months later, everyone can see what was agreed and when, which is especially useful when the conversation spans continents.

Design only

With Design only, BODE Design is a standalone design service, paid by stage, from the brief to a tender-ready pack. The pack is yours to take to the market, and you choose the builder. Tender management by BODE Procurement can be added, so the pack is issued, bidders' questions are answered and the bids are compared, with the Owner's Estimate as the benchmark.

Design and Build

With Design and Build, the design is joined to construction by BODE Construction in one package: one contract, one team and one point of contact from the first sketch to handover. For an owner who visits from time to time, this keeps the whole project in one conversation, with the people who drew the house working beside the people who build it.

Which path suits you

Both paths share the same seven steps and the same standard of drawing. Design only suits owners who want to tender the build themselves or already have a builder in mind. Design and Build suits owners who want a single contract from sketch to handover. Either way, pre-construction project management can be added to plan the programme and coordination before the first day on site.

Send us the plot, a few photographs and a list of rooms, wherever you are. We will reply with a brief, a first cost plan and the next step drawn out.

With warm regards, the BODE Design team