Instant Success : Computers and fax machines can take a homeowner through construction or a remodel on a moment’s notice. And quick action can save time and money.
Bob and Doris Leclercq wanted to have a second home built in the desert. They did it the familiar, low-tech way.
Every weekend, the Dana Point couple drove two hours to Rancho La Quinta, a golf community in Palm Desert, to make decisions about the house they were raising. After a year of driving back and forth, they had modified the original floor plan in several ways.
They converted a dining-room sliding glass door into a window, extended the walls of one of the bedrooms to created a large den, laid 2,000 square feet of marble, changed the orange-peel wall texture to a smoother wall finish, installed 23 more lights in the ceiling and added a pool, barbecue and outside bar.
“My husband’s an engineer,” says Doris Leclercq. “He’s very detailed, and we made lists of everything we wanted to see when we were there.”
The Leclercqs wanted the hands-on experience and to be at the site as it evolved. But their Rancho La Quinta neighbors, Andy and Joan Fimiano, whose primary home is in Balboa Island, took a different route. They made their lives easier (and less traveled) during the yearlong construction of their desert retreat.
They bought a fax machine.
“The fax machine helped so much,” said Joan Fimiano. “I didn’t have to drive out to the desert just to look at drawers for an entertainment center. I’m good at looking at blueprints, so the designers drew me pictures and faxed them to me. I was able to get an idea of the configuration, shape and zoning of everything.”
For their 3,200-square-feet house, the Fimianos selected an alarm system from a fax they were sent, then faxed back the signed agreement with the security company. For their backyard, they were faxed choices of pools and spas and landscaping sketches.
Angie Hill, director of Rancho La Quinta’s design center, sent descriptions of chandeliers and other decorating choices, which Fimiano said yea or nay to over the phone.
“In decorating, I’d call Angie Hill and say, ‘I’d like to put in plantation shutters,’ and she and her staff would send me the price,” Fimiano says. “We did about $70,000 in upgrades, and the majority of it was done through the fax. I pick out the marble floors in person and the black stone [for] around the pool, but for general scheme ideas, price approvals and agreements were done through the fax.”
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Andy Fimiano travels a lot for his work reconditioning commercial buildings, and his wife found that faxing him sped up the process.
“The faxes have been a life saver,” she says. “Eight years ago when we built our house in Balboa Island, we did it the old-fashioned way. We gave our architect a floor plan, and we oversaw everything in person. It took so much time.
“The fax machine saves time and the duress of travel. You receive the information in the privacy of your home, and you fax back your response,” she says. “I had never had a fax machine before, but waiting for the mail takes two to three days, and even with express mail, you have to wait.”
Hill, the designer at La Quinta, says faxing sketches back and forth and teleconferencing have become commonplace throughout the industry. She says they are viable alternatives for those who don’t want to visit their property over and over.
“Most of our work is for clients out of the area, and everyone wants it faster. Ten years ago, you’d have to mail a bid, wait three days for it to reach the client, then five more days to receive it back. Now with faxes, we can have agreements backed and signed in one day,” Hill says. “I call the client and say, ‘You’ll be receiving a photo of what we’re talking about. When you get it, you can call me with your reaction.’ ”
In designing from a distance, there’s always room for error, say homeowners and the professionals who work with them. But, designers contend, the problem is not with the equipment.
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“In designing a home, everything is approved with plans and drawings. There are limitless possibilities as to what we can do. There are so many details that need to be addressed,” Hill says. “Errors might occur because the client is not able to visualize what it will look like when it’s all done.
“Design is harder to do through the mail or fax when considering an emotional item that needs to be touched, but with construction, [the clients] should be able to see it on paper and make a choice,” Hill says.
When it comes down to the tangible, the stuff you really have to touch and feel to know if it’s right--fabrics and floor tile, for example--overnight services bring them to the client’s door in a day.
But the fast pace toward technology help doesn’t stop there.
Computers can walk a homeowner through a remodel or construction.
Hal Spragg of Anaheim founded the Business and Design Forum, a computer database that connects professionals in the design and building industry to homeowners in need of builders, architects, interior designers, remodelers, suppliers--in short, anyone dealing with building and design.
Architects can send to Spragg’s system files with a sketch of someone’s home, which Spragg in turn sends on to the client, who brings them up on his or her home computer screen.
Spragg says there are many software programs used for drawing, from simple layouts to something complex enough to design an airplane.
Computer users--with or without artistic talent--can use software programs to design and decorate their idea of the perfect home, from floor plans to tableware. The software creates realistic, three-dimensional images.
Professional CAD--computer-aided design--programs can cost $5,000, but Spragg says there is shareware on bulletin boards that you can download with a modem for around $50, or you can purchase do-it-yourself computer software programs at most computer stores for $40 to $100.
Once the home is built on the screen, a computer user can tour the space, turning on lights and checking out details and viewing the room from different angles, from a bird’s-eye view to a zoom in.
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Homeowners can visualize specific wallpapers, window treatments, furniture, rugs and decorative items by downloading a manufacturer’s catalog and imputing ready-drawn merchandise into their virtual room.
Instead of imagining the chair of your choice in a fabric pattern, you can go to the material menu, click on one of 50 fabric choices--from plain vanilla to vivid florals--and watch it pour into the chair.
Some door manufacturers offer 600 choices on the Internet, and there are thousands of options for plumbing fixtures and kitchen appliances. Import one into your digitized room, and see if you like it.
In the same experimental way, you can see the colors, textures and materials on the walls, floors and ceilings, and, if you don’t like them or how they work together, change them instantly.
There’s even software smart enough to tell you if the refrigerator door won’t clear the kitchen table.
Some professional designers use digital cameras to take pictures of rooms that will be remodeled. The images are imported into a software program, and clients can see several redesign schemes. Move a wall? Replace a window? Re-cover a love seat? Install a ficus tree? See what it looks like before the workers are called in.
Some software programs will compile shopping lists as they go. Homeowners get, in advance, a more precise estimate of what their dream home or room remodel will cost for materials and labors and the amount of time needed to complete the project.
Digital do-it-yourselfers can also export their home designs to professionals to communicate in better detail what they want.
Eileen Ina Klein, an interior designer at Eileen and Associates Interior Designers in Laguna Hills, knows about computer-aided design. She has used AutoCad 11 and 12 programs for five years.
“AutoCad is the greatest innovation for anyone in the creative industry today,” she says. “Along with the fax and telephone, the computer expedites a project. Some clients can’t conceptualize, so the more visual information they can see, and the faster you can send it, the sooner they can grasp the idea and know what they are paying for before the work starts.
“It’s a blessing,” Klein says. “The guesswork is gone.”
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From Housewares to Software
Here’s a sampling of some of the more popular software programs do-it-yourselfers can use to design their interior or exterior space. Each is available in IBM and Mac formats at most computer stores:
* Better Homes and Gardens Planning Your Home, $40
* Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening, $40
* Design Estimator, $50
* Design Your Own Home: Architecture, $50
* Design Your Own Home: Interiors, $50
* Design Your Own Home: Landscapes, $50
* The Home Depot Home Improvement CD, $40
Shareware catalogs that offer home design or landscape programs:
* CWI Shareware, (714) 632-5782
* The Software Labs, (800) 569-7900,
https://www.softwarelabs.com
