What a site walk tells us before we draw a line

Every project at the studio begins the same way: before a single line is drawn, two of us walk the lot with the owners. It usually takes two hours. It is the most useful two hours of the whole project.

The slope and the soil

A survey tells us the contours; walking them tells us how they feel. A slope that reads as gentle on paper can be too steep for a level kitchen without a retaining wall, and a retaining wall changes the budget. We look for where the ground is already close to level, where water will run in a winter storm, and where the soil changes colour or turns to rock.

On hillside lots in the southern part of the county, the soil report often decides more than the plan does. We note where the engineer should dig test holes, so the report answers the questions the design will ask.

The trees worth keeping

Coast live oaks grow slowly and shade generously. A house that steps around two good oaks will be cooler, quieter and better looking than one that clears them. We mark the drip line of every tree we would keep, because the foundation has to stay outside it.

The sun at four in the afternoon

In this valley the hard light comes from the west, late in the day, for six months of the year. We stand where the living room might go at the hour the owners will actually use it, and note where the shade falls. The answer often decides which way the house faces and how deep the roof overhang has to be.

What you receive afterward

Within a week of the walk you receive a short written summary: what the site allows, what it makes difficult, the questions for the surveyor and the soil engineer, and a fixed fee for the design work. If the site is better suited to an addition than a new house, or the reverse, the summary says so.

There is no obligation after the walk. Some owners take the summary to another architect; most do not, but the walk is worth doing either way.