Why people order the design of the facade

We have created 800 private facade projects for 760 clients over 13 years. Let's try to summarize why people order design and to whom we do not recommend ordering.

There are three initial situations:

• Already built a house - put up the walls, roof, windows, and what to do next? (58% of our clients)
• There is an old house with finishing, but it doesn't suit them (28%)
• Are only going to build - have a project of the house, but want to improve the facade (14%)

In the architectural design there is no detail of the facade.

If there is an architectural project, it is at best listed part of the layers of the wall. Often customers do not have a project at all.

Modern facade - a multilayered, depends on the performance of each operation in the pie, from the joints and fasteners, from the selection of base mixtures and accessories. In addition to walls, there are openings, platforms, steps, plinth, gutters, fences, chimney, blinds, roof overhangs, lighting, decors, terrace, carport. The list can be long. Instead of a facade project it is appropriate to say "exterior project".

Clients don't have information on finishing technology, and builders without a project make mistakes in execution details.

To survey a home before renovating or finishing

When ordering a facade design, the house is surveyed. This action in itself is beneficial - an experienced facade designer's eye reveals flaws that the builders didn't notice and need to be corrected or addressed in the finishes.

If the finish is cracked, if the tiles moved away, if there is mold on the rafters - the engineer will tell you why. Usually it is a design flaw, rather than "bad plaster" or "weak glue". It happens that the walls have just been built up, and the problems have already appeared.

It is important for clients to identify weaknesses and provide measures to ensure that the finish lasts a long time.

To make it beautiful by looking at the options

The first place to start is with people asking for beauty. The beauty needs to be done on a particular home, to the taste and dreams of the client's family. It is clear that there is no ready-made solution for this task, because style is born of proportions and ratios unique to each structure. From our experience, the boxes of houses are not very harmonious, they especially need a transformative "clothing".

The facade architect obviously gains more facade knowledge and experience than the architect who creates the layout of the house. He works knowing the market for technologies and facade materials, which allows him to create an optimal bill of materials.

In the design industry, in contrast to the architectural and construction industry, it is customary to create a realistic visualization. This is when they show not only a 3D shape of the house, but also calculate the finish in natural light. Everyone sees the finish close to reality beforehand and chooses with less risk, unlike the approach where the image is three-dimensional but conventional.

To avoid mistakes by the builders

Reliability of the facade for 30-40 years is the second requirement of customers, after a presentable appearance. Therefore, a good facade design holds not only on the style decision, but also on the engineering expertise.

Exterior finishes require more than interior finishes - a heavy facade is affected by gravity, corrosion, heating and freezing, solar radiation, and the bio-environment. Even a light wind acts vibration and loosens the fasteners in the walls.

There is such a thing as reliability "from sohka". Tile adhesive is taken stronger and smeared thicker "for reliability", but it comes off the base due to shrinkage. In the plinth lays a flexible mesh-fence, and it rusts in the alkaline environment and comes off with the entire lining.

The practicing facade engineer understands facade construction better than the foreman. Firstly, he is immersed in all kinds of documentation: he knows the limitations and weaknesses of the bases, materials and methods of installation. Secondly, he sees at construction sites what gaps in knowledge the workers have, sees the operation of facades when examining problematic projects.

The facade does not forgive mistakes because it "runs" a very long distance. Only in the individual project nodes can take into account the situation of a particular house and a particular finish, even if in its basis they are tested by state institutions, fixed in STO manufacturers.

To control the team

Having a detailed façade project, the owner is ready to control the execution. A substantive discussion with the foreman and workers becomes possible.

A more advanced option is to delegate control to our construction engineer. This is used by busy clients. The services of author's engineering and construction supervision should be distinguished from the author's supervision accepted in interiors. Here we are not talking about design supervision by an architect, but installation supervision by an engineer.

Facade projects include accurate calculation of the areas of coatings and moldings thanks to digital design. This is needed to negotiate with suppliers, to control the volume and cost of work. Manually counting all this is a pain in the ass.

With the project the owner sees what to do, how and in what amount, and the possible involvement of designers makes control even more professional.

To have experts select the type and method of finish

Designing helps you choose a finish in a balanced way, taking many factors into account:

• Client's desires and taste - to make sure the facade is individualized.
• Budget - to immediately calculate the cost of materials and work.
• Requirements for reliability - to choose components for life.
• Construction of the building - so the finish was suitable for vapor permeability, weight and fasteners.
• Climate region and energy conservation - to insulate or not insulate as calculated.
• Time of construction of the house - to compensate for residual moisture, shrinkage.

It happens that the facade assembly, on a large area, looks worse than the individual fragments, this applies to many panels and tile materials.

Cheap load-bearing walls have higher requirements for the finish layer. You need a reliable intermediate substrate and related installation operations. Thus, hidden in the construction phase, the price of the house tends to go up when finishing. In contrast, the "expensive" finish material is often cheaper to operate, in terms of lifetime, and does not require complex installation.

The real price of a facade

You don't immediately realize that facade finishing can be more complicated, longer and more expensive than building a house. It requires highly skilled workers, and routine tidy operations over a large area. Materials are expensive because they must survive in harsh conditions for many years without losing face.

In the beginning, it's easy to underestimate the cost several times over. If you take the cost of clinker tile, add insulation and another third for the rest, it doesn't yield a purchase price. And the cost of workers can't be estimated at the rate for tile installation, because that operation may only make up 20% of the total check for the work, because there are costs not related to the walls at all.

A solid finish is expensive. Exteriors don't cost hundreds of thousands, but rather millions of rubles.

To do or not to do

If the project of finishing costs only 5-7% of the total cost of the exterior, it is foolish to refuse - without it the same money will be spent, but with much less use - will not be as beautiful and not as reliable.

Do not order the design if it is a cheap finish, such as vinyl siding or block house. Don't order wood home design if you only plan to paint your home. Designing a piecemeal facade renovation can also be expensive. In these cases, use the builders' ready-made solutions.

Designing glazed metal structures (such as a conservatory) may be more justified from specialized manufacturers.