Home Modifications – Our Process:
Insula Design Studio understands that the value and quality of your home play’s a tremendous role in the quality of your life. That’s why insula believes that evaluating your family needs and planning strategic home modifications early is the best choice to make. In making early evaluations and decisions regarding the quality of your living environment, you will be way ahead of the curve and prepared to address your desire to live more comfortably and safely while adding value to one of your largest investments, your home.
Our process begins with an introduction to you and your home; we call this the “Discovery Phase”. Like any building site your home has a specific context, spaces and elements in which a design solution will respond to. We take the initial step to meet with you “one-on-one” and create a survey of your home in what we call a “Home Safety Needs Assessment” or also referred to a home safety evaluation. If you are receiving home health care or acute care you may already have a home safety evaluation, that’s great, this will assist us in evaluating your situation more quickly.
We begin with a comprehensive observation of your home’s exterior and interior environment, the information we collect is compiled into a detailed report which is designed to assist you in understanding what we believe are important elements that should be considered for modification. A modification can range from no-cost solutions such as removing a throw rug to minimize a tripping hazard, to proposed solutions which could add value to your home while resolving an existing poorly planned or un-safe condition. This part of the process is critical in assisting you with making informed decisions regarding your goals and needs.
At Insula Design Studio we will work closely with you, your family and your network of care to evaluate your individual desires and design effective and integrated solutions to address your changing needs. Because each individual living environment and personal values are unique, we will prepare a custom solution that responds to your custom needs while keeping your budget and quality of life in mind. We work with you and your designated care team in a collaborative process to assure that our design solutions respond in the most positive way to each and every concern.
Design
Whether you are considering something as simple as changing door handles to expanding the footprint of your home we are here to help. A great design solution should take into account how you live and how a solution can seamlessly exist and respond to the existing context of your home, while solving the reason why you contacted us. We help provide clarity within the chaos when it comes to making choices on the thousands of materials and products available to choose from. We do this by working with you closely in the selection of materials and clearly informing you of the options to consider when choosing a new product. We will provide easy to read graphics so that you can clearly understand how the changes will look in your new home, this is important in the decision making process.
Construction
Once a course of action has been selected Insula Design Studio will work with you to select a qualified General Contractors and/or installers who will handle getting the job done and doing it in a way that respects your home and minimizes the impact of construction while you continue to live in comfort. We understand that a construction zone can bring along with it dust and debris which can be a very sensitive issue for our clients, we take the steps necessary to make sure we clearly communicate these issues with the construction team so that these concerns are fully addressed.
Managing expectations during construction and assisting you in understanding the process is extremely important and another phase we greatly enjoy. We take our role during the construction phase very seriously and we take the precautions necessary to protect your safety and comfort during this period. Communication is “King” in this business and we will endeavor to keep you and your HCP up to speed on day-to-day activities and what you should expect in the days ahead.
At the end of construction we sit down with you, your contractor and your support network to show you how to properly use all of the items installed, no matter how simple they may be. If necessary we will have suppliers of specialized equipment be there to show you all the features and proper procedures for using the equipment. After the construction is finished, Insula is not done; we will be there to work with you for the years to come to address any concerns you may have and provide solutions as your needs change.