The Approach
We provide a TOTAL service, from property find, feasibility, architecture, planning applications and negotiations, fully guaranteed cost plans - from budgets to guaranteed maximum price - site based skilled tradesmen and project managers all the way though your project. Not to mention our top tier maintenance and aftercare.
We provide a TOTAL service, from property find, feasibility, architecture, planning applications and negotiations, fully guaranteed cost plans - from budgets to guaranteed maximum price - site based skilled tradesmen and project managers all the way though your project. Not to mention our top tier maintenance and aftercare.
My Project | What is it?
Property Finding and Brief Appraisal
The first stage to our process, appraising your project brief!
Finding you a property – and offering free initial consultations. Lime are here to assist in the early stages of your project.
Project Appraisal | Free initial meetings with Mark & Jim, we’ll bring the coffee and a toothbrush!
Book a free initial meeting with Founder CEO Mark and our director of architecture Jim to discuss your project. We will come to you, with fresh coffee and a toothbrush, we will listen to you, define your wants and needs with you, and agree the next steps.
We will then undertake a brief research desktop appraisal of your project to define any constraints there may be, any required authority/regulatory permissions you will need, and importantly – what is the opportunity? We will then confirm this in an email to you with our recommended next steps to bring your project online with us. If there is more to discuss we will suggest we meet with you once more, again free of charge, to confirm with you in more detail what your project involves, and to confirm how our approach can best serve you in delivering it.
We offer the above as a non-binding no-obligation initial step in the process of your project. You are free to seek out our competition to compare our approach with theirs, and we are on-hand to answer any of your questions as you do this – which we will do honestly and with an open mind. If we feel your project would be best suited for another agent, we will tell you.
Property Find | Bespoke site/property discovery
If you don’t currently own a site or an existing building to work with, but you do have a budget in mind for purchase with an idea of how much you might want to spend making it your own– we can help you here too.
We can offer you our Property Find service. For a discreet standalone fee, we will do the leg work for you to find between 5-10 options for you to review.
We could also organise to meet you onsite to discuss with you our appraisal of the opportunities for each.
Book a free initial meeting with Founder CEO Mark and our director of architecture Jim to discuss your project. We will come to you, with fresh coffee and a toothbrush, we will listen to you, define your wants and needs with you, and agree the next steps.
We will then undertake a brief research desktop appraisal of your project to define any constraints there may be, any required authority/regulatory permissions you will need, and importantly – what is the opportunity? We will then confirm this in an email to you with our recommended next steps to bring your project online with us. If there is more to discuss we will suggest we meet with you once more, again free of charge, to confirm with you in more detail what your project involves, and to confirm how our approach can best serve you in delivering it.
We offer the above as a non-binding no-obligation initial step in the process of your project. You are free to seek out our competition to compare our approach with theirs, and we are on-hand to answer any of your questions as you do this – which we will do honestly and with an open mind. If we feel your project would be best suited for another agent, we will tell you.
Property Find | Bespoke site/property discovery
If you don’t currently own a site or an existing building to work with, but you do have a budget in mind for purchase with an idea of how much you might want to spend making it your own– we can help you here too.
We can offer you our Property Find service. For a discreet standalone fee, we will do the leg work for you to find between 5-10 options for you to review.
We could also organise to meet you onsite to discuss with you our appraisal of the opportunities for each.
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My Project 1 | Design + Cost
Right from the beginning
Design + Cost – right from the beginning?! Shaking up the traditional process!
Onsite Design Workshop with Director of Architecture Jim to provide you with estimated build costs against initial sketch designs. Kick off your project with Lime.
Project Feasibility & Design Concepts | Onsite Design Workshop + Initial Cost Analysis
Peace of mind and a safe pair of hands from the outset of your project? That’s the way it should be, and that’s what we promise we will deliver.
Our onsite design workshop with director of architecture Jim kicks off your project with us. Jim will attend your property/site to review with you the existing conditions, and to walk the course in conversation with you about what you can achieve. Then Jim will sit with you to review the feasibility of your design brief, and to sketch out by hand initial design concepts. For this you should prepare roughly 3-4 hours of your time, and all you need to bring with you is your thoughts and your vision.
Following Jim’s visit with you, we will carry out a more extensive review of local authority planning / building regulation requirements to ensure feasibility and to complete a report in PDF format. This will include our initial appraisal conversations, the outcome of the onsite workshop designs, a clearly defined route to getting you to onsite construction, as well as our estimation of construction costs - defined by our cost analysis and construction consultant team. The costs associated with the design options for your project will enable you to consider and decide on the approach you want to take. The problem with working with an architect only at this stage is that you don’t have cost certainty this early on. While the costs we provide are estimates, they will be precise so as to provide you with the certainty you need to decide on a design to take forward.
That’s what makes us different. As a client, risk is your primary consideration – and cost is at the top of the list. When you work with us, we remove the risk of proceeding without cost certainty, using our experience and expertise to provide you with an accurate range of construction costs against initial hand sketch designs that enable you to proceed in an informed and risk-free manner. We guarantee that these costs are carefully considered, and given our due diligence, so that your end of your project costs can be very closely aligned to what we set out at this stage.
This is where Our Lime Guarantee sets in. As we say: A successful project starts and ends with a happy client.
Peace of mind and a safe pair of hands from the outset of your project? That’s the way it should be, and that’s what we promise we will deliver.
Our onsite design workshop with director of architecture Jim kicks off your project with us. Jim will attend your property/site to review with you the existing conditions, and to walk the course in conversation with you about what you can achieve. Then Jim will sit with you to review the feasibility of your design brief, and to sketch out by hand initial design concepts. For this you should prepare roughly 3-4 hours of your time, and all you need to bring with you is your thoughts and your vision.
Following Jim’s visit with you, we will carry out a more extensive review of local authority planning / building regulation requirements to ensure feasibility and to complete a report in PDF format. This will include our initial appraisal conversations, the outcome of the onsite workshop designs, a clearly defined route to getting you to onsite construction, as well as our estimation of construction costs - defined by our cost analysis and construction consultant team. The costs associated with the design options for your project will enable you to consider and decide on the approach you want to take. The problem with working with an architect only at this stage is that you don’t have cost certainty this early on. While the costs we provide are estimates, they will be precise so as to provide you with the certainty you need to decide on a design to take forward.
That’s what makes us different. As a client, risk is your primary consideration – and cost is at the top of the list. When you work with us, we remove the risk of proceeding without cost certainty, using our experience and expertise to provide you with an accurate range of construction costs against initial hand sketch designs that enable you to proceed in an informed and risk-free manner. We guarantee that these costs are carefully considered, and given our due diligence, so that your end of your project costs can be very closely aligned to what we set out at this stage.
This is where Our Lime Guarantee sets in. As we say: A successful project starts and ends with a happy client.
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My Project 2 | Planning + Max. Cost
Regulatory compliance and refined cost analysis
Gaining permission and securing a fixed cost for construction. Shaking up the traditional process!
Want planning approval and certainty of the absolute maximum your project will cost to build? Lime’s Listen / Define / Deliver approach does exactly that.
Project Planning | Local Authority Permission, Regulatory Compliance + Refined Cost Analysis
Customarily at this stage you are working with an architect only. You might have some early sketch design concepts but very likely you don’t know if any of these align with your budget expectations. Your next steps are therefore into the void. What we offer is different, and more in-line with what clients in Europe and the US expect as a minimum. Achieving local authority planning for a design you are happy with and that is clearly analysed in terms of construction cost – to provide you with guaranteed certainty of the maximum your project will cost to build.
You start this stage with costs estimates as well as sketch designs developed with us. This stage refines an approved design, and its cost, so that you can submit proposals to the local authority that are compliant with regulations, and that are within your budget. We take your preferred initial 2D wobbly line hand drawn sketch, produced in the previous stage and bring this to life and developing it in the 3D realm. We work with BIM 3D modelling software from the outset, so we can provide you with walk-thru animations for you to experience/consider in the comfort of your own home. This gives you a clear understanding of what the designs are and begins to illustrate what the details could be.
Throughout this stage of the process, we bring onboard our expertise for structural engineering, electrical and drainage, and wider construction consultants to ensure that we can not only achieve your local authority permission(s) – but also ensure that what we are submitting for planning/LBC is ultimately buildable in the most cost-effective way and within your budget. We also decide on how the designs will comply with building regulations and any desired extra/over eco-sustainability criteria we have agreed with you. Starting from – how will this be constructed? – wall/slab/roof build-ups, structural design, M&E requirements are considered, so that we are sure that what we submit to the planners can be built precisely to meet your expectations. Fundamentally we secure your vision.
Local authority permission does involve some risk. We will clearly define the levels of risk you are looking at with your designs, providing some mitigating ‘fallback’ options that we anticipate might be needed based on our experience and our research. The risks could be minimal, or these could be more pronounced - particularly when working with a grade listed building or in a sensitive historic context. Whatever the risk, we will define it so that you can proceed in an informed and considered manner.
This is where we revise the estimated costs and make you our maximum construction cost guarantee with the input of all our team. From this point on, we take on all the risk, and all the liability. We believe that, if we’ve done our homework and applied our due diligence correctly – this is the stage we can provide you with a fixed maximum cost for the construction of your project. This is what stands us apart from the traditional route. You would need to go through the entire process of technical and construction detailed design and specification, taking months to produce, and proceed to a tender process, which could also take months, before you have any idea of a confirmed construction cost – and that still wouldn’t be a maximum cost, it would be a minimum. With our approach, you will complete this stage knowing that our designs are well thought through and ultimately realisable – and you will have a very clear idea of cost. You will know, what it is, how much it is – and you will know with absolute certainty that your vision will be delivered.
Customarily at this stage you are working with an architect only. You might have some early sketch design concepts but very likely you don’t know if any of these align with your budget expectations. Your next steps are therefore into the void. What we offer is different, and more in-line with what clients in Europe and the US expect as a minimum. Achieving local authority planning for a design you are happy with and that is clearly analysed in terms of construction cost – to provide you with guaranteed certainty of the maximum your project will cost to build.
You start this stage with costs estimates as well as sketch designs developed with us. This stage refines an approved design, and its cost, so that you can submit proposals to the local authority that are compliant with regulations, and that are within your budget. We take your preferred initial 2D wobbly line hand drawn sketch, produced in the previous stage and bring this to life and developing it in the 3D realm. We work with BIM 3D modelling software from the outset, so we can provide you with walk-thru animations for you to experience/consider in the comfort of your own home. This gives you a clear understanding of what the designs are and begins to illustrate what the details could be.
Throughout this stage of the process, we bring onboard our expertise for structural engineering, electrical and drainage, and wider construction consultants to ensure that we can not only achieve your local authority permission(s) – but also ensure that what we are submitting for planning/LBC is ultimately buildable in the most cost-effective way and within your budget. We also decide on how the designs will comply with building regulations and any desired extra/over eco-sustainability criteria we have agreed with you. Starting from – how will this be constructed? – wall/slab/roof build-ups, structural design, M&E requirements are considered, so that we are sure that what we submit to the planners can be built precisely to meet your expectations. Fundamentally we secure your vision.
Local authority permission does involve some risk. We will clearly define the levels of risk you are looking at with your designs, providing some mitigating ‘fallback’ options that we anticipate might be needed based on our experience and our research. The risks could be minimal, or these could be more pronounced - particularly when working with a grade listed building or in a sensitive historic context. Whatever the risk, we will define it so that you can proceed in an informed and considered manner.
This is where we revise the estimated costs and make you our maximum construction cost guarantee with the input of all our team. From this point on, we take on all the risk, and all the liability. We believe that, if we’ve done our homework and applied our due diligence correctly – this is the stage we can provide you with a fixed maximum cost for the construction of your project. This is what stands us apart from the traditional route. You would need to go through the entire process of technical and construction detailed design and specification, taking months to produce, and proceed to a tender process, which could also take months, before you have any idea of a confirmed construction cost – and that still wouldn’t be a maximum cost, it would be a minimum. With our approach, you will complete this stage knowing that our designs are well thought through and ultimately realisable – and you will have a very clear idea of cost. You will know, what it is, how much it is – and you will know with absolute certainty that your vision will be delivered.
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My Project 3 | The Build!
Where Construction Cost Comes Down
You have a fixed maximum cost from us – now we define the detail to confirm a reduced fixed cost for the build to get you on site. Continuing to shakeup the traditional process!
Getting you to site quicker than the traditional route with an efficient and cost-effective set of information? The Lime way…
Project Construction | Detailed & Technical Design Through to Construction
The cost comes down at this stage. That’s the way it should be.
Traditionally, once you have submitted your designs to the planners your architect advises that you enter a process of technical detailed construction design to gain building control compliance and to go out to tender to receive accurate costs for your proposals from building contractors. However, with us – you already have a maximum cost against your proposals, you have certainty that these will comply with building regulations as we’ve already done our homework in the previous stage, and fundamentally you have a design proposal that you know will be realisable. Therefore, we believe we can now proceed to site construction. This saves you at least half a year in time and offers significant cost savings.
This is the benefit of working with us. We have all the expertise in-house, and this has been fed into the process from day one. We have a clear idea of what the details will be and how we will construct the shell for your proposals. Therefore, we go through a much more discreet and deliberate process of detailing and technical design to provide our site team have the design clarity they need for construction. Our process ensures that we only produce the detail that is required –that the details we do produce are 100% correct and relevant and won’t require endless revisions once on site. This is by far and away a more efficient approach in comparison to the traditional route.
We will confirm with you all your fittings, fixtures and finishes to produce a construction pack of details and specifications to allow us to build out your proposals. Our architectural delivery team feeds all of this into the designs, with the input of the structural engineer, MEP consultant etc, to arrive at a concise and deliverable set of information – so that we can begin on site at pace.
All our in-house consultants are then on hand throughout the build to monitor progress and ensure that what is being built is as it has been designed. This approach ensures that cost variations to the contract are minimal – ideally non-existent – and we can therefore agree with you a confirmed fixed contract construction cost for the build before we start works that will be less than our maximum construction cost from My Project 2.
The cost comes down at this stage. That’s the way it should be.
Traditionally, once you have submitted your designs to the planners your architect advises that you enter a process of technical detailed construction design to gain building control compliance and to go out to tender to receive accurate costs for your proposals from building contractors. However, with us – you already have a maximum cost against your proposals, you have certainty that these will comply with building regulations as we’ve already done our homework in the previous stage, and fundamentally you have a design proposal that you know will be realisable. Therefore, we believe we can now proceed to site construction. This saves you at least half a year in time and offers significant cost savings.
This is the benefit of working with us. We have all the expertise in-house, and this has been fed into the process from day one. We have a clear idea of what the details will be and how we will construct the shell for your proposals. Therefore, we go through a much more discreet and deliberate process of detailing and technical design to provide our site team have the design clarity they need for construction. Our process ensures that we only produce the detail that is required –that the details we do produce are 100% correct and relevant and won’t require endless revisions once on site. This is by far and away a more efficient approach in comparison to the traditional route.
We will confirm with you all your fittings, fixtures and finishes to produce a construction pack of details and specifications to allow us to build out your proposals. Our architectural delivery team feeds all of this into the designs, with the input of the structural engineer, MEP consultant etc, to arrive at a concise and deliverable set of information – so that we can begin on site at pace.
All our in-house consultants are then on hand throughout the build to monitor progress and ensure that what is being built is as it has been designed. This approach ensures that cost variations to the contract are minimal – ideally non-existent – and we can therefore agree with you a confirmed fixed contract construction cost for the build before we start works that will be less than our maximum construction cost from My Project 2.
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My Project | Maintenance & Aftercare
In-life maintenance and concierge services
Want to turn up to a roaring fire with your choice of music playing? We can do that.
Your project doesn’t end when we hand you the keys, we are invested in making sure you are 100% even years after you are in!
Project Aftercare | Maintenance and Concierge Services
At Lime our duty of care continues even after the construction phase is complete and Practical Completion has been issued, if you want it to.
Its fundamental to us that you start and end the process of architecture and construction happy. This means we want to continue to refine our processes and services, and what better way to do that than by continuing to assist you as you live in your property?
Not only can we offer you discreet maintenance assistance, but our ongoing concierge offering allows us to continue to stay in touch with you so that we can be aware of any snags or issues you have as you settle into your new home.
Our concierge service comes in three tiers, premium, elite, bespoke. For a breakdown of services offered for each get in touch with us and we can discuss your requirements.
At Lime our duty of care continues even after the construction phase is complete and Practical Completion has been issued, if you want it to.
Its fundamental to us that you start and end the process of architecture and construction happy. This means we want to continue to refine our processes and services, and what better way to do that than by continuing to assist you as you live in your property?
Not only can we offer you discreet maintenance assistance, but our ongoing concierge offering allows us to continue to stay in touch with you so that we can be aware of any snags or issues you have as you settle into your new home.
Our concierge service comes in three tiers, premium, elite, bespoke. For a breakdown of services offered for each get in touch with us and we can discuss your requirements.
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Our Lime Guarantee
BENEFIT FROM OUR REVOLUTIONARY 5 POINT GUARANTEE
At Lime we offer you our 5 point guarantee, which is shaped directly by our integrated collaborative and more efficient design and construction processes.
- One point of contact from concept design to construction completion and beyond, with an integrated directly employed Lime team offering project appraisal, architectural design right through to tradesmen on site and aftercare when you are in the completed build;
- Dedicated and continuous cost analysis from the outset – providing you with absolute and unmatched cost certainty of the construction of your project at the initial stages of design – not months or years into the process;
- An architect with 20+ years’ experience of working in the industry, with an expertise in contemporary zero carbon design and RIBA Conservation Architecture accreditation, thereby placed within the top 175 architects in his field. Architectural design that is focused on the client, their wants and needs, and that delivers the ‘WOW’ - showstopper feature architecture - that you can be proud of;
- Construction consultants with hundreds of years of experience and expertise between them, intent on taking pride in providing the highest quality performance and finish to your building on completion, and who feed into and help shape the design process from day one;
- Ongoing care and assistance once you are in – we don’t only care about delivery, we can also be on hand at the drop of a hat to assist you with any maintenance, snagging issues beyond practical completion and indeed, personalised concierge services to ensure you get the most from your property.
