Home Design & Remodeling for the East Bay

Thoughtful residential design for new-builds, additions, remodels and beyond.

SDL Residential Design has grown from a humble design firm in Sonoma in 2014 to an experienced design team helping clients in the East Bay and throughout the Bay Area.

We provide a full service solution for clients looking to build a new home, guest house or ADU from the ground-up, expand their existing footprint with an addition or simply renovate their kitchen or bathroom. We work with our clients to create a design (including 3D renders), introduce you to contractors, and work with specialists like structural engineers to finalize the construction drawings required for a building permit from East Bay cities & counties. We also work with you to pick out interior design & finishes, and produce layout and installation drawings for your contractor. Then during construction we’re on-hand for you and your contractor to provide additional details and problem solving if issues come up.

We pride ourselves on working closely with our clients from the beginning until project completion, providing as much knowledge, opinion, and coordination as needed. Behind us is a large network of professionals who are ready to support our clients and their projects.

Questions? Contact us for a free consultation.

Lowe@SDLresidential.com
(707) 508-8828

Our Services

A black new build home looking over Sonoma Valley.
A new kitchen remodel, featuring blue cabinetry and a white stone top, and a dramatic marble backsplash behind the range.
A variety of colorful specs and materials chosen and laid out on a table for interior design.
An image of architectural plans rolled up on a table

Plan Drawings

A man on a ladder surveying a house
A wall inside a permit office, showing zoning maps
Houzz logo with green geometric icon and text
Five-star rating icon with the number 5.0 in yellow.
Five red square icons with white stars in the center
Yelp logo with red burst symbol on the right and black text on the left.
SDL Residential Design in Sonoma, California, United States on Houzz
SDL Residential Design in Sonoma, California, United States on Houzz
SDL Residential Design in Sonoma, California, United States on Houzz
SDL Residential Design in Sonoma, California, United States on Houzz
SDL Residential Design in Sonoma, California, United States on Houzz

“We just completed our second project with SDL and were thrilled with the results, once again. Sam is great at listening and bringing your vision to life. He suggests additional elements graciously (take it or leave it) that really make things shine. The 3D renderings his firm now does are super helpful for envisioning the final look and feel.”

— EMILY W. - CLIENT

Featured Projects

Our Process

  • Pre-Design

    We’ll start with permit history research to understand site constraints, followed by an on-site dimensional survey. Then, we’ll review your project goals & budget to lay the foundations for the rest of your project.

  • Schematic Design

    Initial concepts are worked out, with your first look at plans, sketches and volumetric studies to help you get a feel for your project. Presenting multiple options, we’ll work with you to help you arrive at a design direction you’ll love.

  • Design Development

    Your project’s vision comes to life. We’ll collaborate to select fixtures and finishes, including visits to vendors. We’ll create a set of detailed plans, including 3D renders to dial in the specifics. Once the estimation set is ready, we’ll set up contractor interviews to find the perfect fit for you and your project.

  • Permitting

    With a general contractor picked and a rough estimate in hand, we’re ready to produce a final set of permit drawings. We’ll be working with any specialists that are required such as structural engineers and Title 24 energy calculation specialists. Finally, document preparation and permit submittal.

  • Construction Support

    Construction begins. We’ll help tie your project together with finer interior design details, including furniture selections. We provide extra details in response to any changing or found conditions. All the while, advocating for you to ensure your project’s vision stays on track during construction.

FAQ

  • This depends greatly depending on the type of project. Refer to the individual service pages for more detailed information. However, to give you a general idea, for a major remodel & addition project or the design phase to permit submittal usually takes between 4-6 months (2-4 months for smaller projects), depending on the decisiveness of the client, the availability of specialists like structural/ geotechnical engineers, and how quickly a contractor is chosen. The permit review time varies greatly between different jurisdictions and on the type of project. However that time is valuable; during that period we produce extra construction details for your contractor and finalize the interior design so that your contractor can hit the ground running once your permit is approved.

  • Depending on the age and condition of an existing structure it may be cheaper to remodel an existing building rather than build new, especially in dense urban locations. However remodel projects can easily become a ‘Ship of Theseus’ where you might spend more in labor to replace parts than you would have spent in new building materials.

    As this question might require heavy consideration depending on the project, we can determine what the best path for you is through an optional Building Feasibility Study in the early stages of a working together.

  • After a free consultation to evaluate the scope of the project, a total design fee will be created on a flat fee basis. This flat fee is then split up between the different phases of the project, giving you financial runway as we work through the project.

  • Depending on the scope of a project you may decide to live elsewhere during construction if possible. Although living in your home during construction is often viable, there are some drawbacks:

    1. Interrupted services like electricity, water, gas and sewer can be inconvenient, although you’ll likely have forewarning of outages.

    2. Noise during construction is a big detractor for those who work from home, but if you’ll be at work during the working day then this shouldn’t be an issue.

    3. Making your home’s entries and hallways clean by the time you get home can eat into valuable time laborers could be using to finish your project, which in our experience also extends a project’s timeline by 15%.

    4. That increase in time also equates to an increase in cost, again about 15%.

  • We certainly do! Before we embark on any project we will always offer a free consultation so that we can get to know each other and see if we’ll be a good fit. If so, we’ll be happy to provide design services, including consultation, for projects big or small.

We’d Love to Hear About Your Project

…or give us a call at (707) 508-8828