Needs assessment

What we work through

Function and size

Which rooms, how large, how they connect, how many people use them.

What is possible

What the plot and the regulations allow: coverage, height, siting. Local building code.

Quality expectation

The most important part, and the one most often left out — yet it is where much of the cost is decided:

• what finishes,
• what sound insulation between rooms and between dwellings,
• what floor feel is acceptable, Serviceability criteria,
• what energy level is the aim beyond the minimum.

Budget and programme

A realistic order of magnitude, and whether there is a fixed completion date.

If you do not know what you want

Entirely normal. A client does not necessarily know in advance what level of sound insulation they want — it is our job to help with questions and to record the answers.

The design brief is often produced in the first stage of the design, not before it. The design brief.

Why we write it down

Because an expectation stated verbally becomes a question of memory later. A written brief gives direction, is the reference point for decisions, and makes clear what changed when something changes.

What follows from it

The quality expectation translates directly into the build-up. If we do not know the expectation, we design to the minimum — and the occupant will notice. LGS build-ups.

The point

The needs assessment is not a formality but the compass of the project. Most “this is not what I expected” sentences sit on a missing or unwritten brief.