Terms and Conditions - Bungalow Company

Mission

Our mission at The Bungalow Company is to provide our clients with a design that works well on their building site and reflects their lifestyle. We provide a great starting point for many of our customers to tailor a home to their lifestyle.

We also embrace the idea that all building sites and client needs are different. We have developed a studio of experienced design professionals to aid in the modification and customization of our designs. Because the customization process can vary in complexity, time and costs, we have detailed the process and milestones in the customization of our designs.

Proposal / Deposit

The proposal includes the stock plan cost, cost of design modifications, cost of structural engineering changes required for your region and an estimated time of delivery. Once you have agreed to the proposal, The Bungalow Company will collect a deposit for your project.

A deposit for the amount of the stock plan fee is required to get your job activated on our project schedule. The balance is due upon completion of the plans and prior to their shipment from our office.
If your project spans over the course of 2 months, you will receive progress billing at the end of each month. Payments on progress billings are due upon receipt.

Schedule and Project Phases

Purchase Plan (Deposit)
Begin Design
Design Development Phase
Client Review and Sign Off
Structural Engineering Phase
Construction Documents Phase
Incorporation of Structural Engineering
Quality check
Printing/ Shipping

Design Development Phase / Client Review and Sign Off

A Bungalow Company designer will work with you to complete the design modifications outlined in the proposal. When you are satisfied with the design, you will be issued a copy of it and asked to sign and date the plan and return it to The Bungalow Company.

Structural Engineering Phase

Every region of the country has unique soil, wind, snow and seismic characters that affect the structural system of any building. Additionally, every building code has different formulas and factors to design structure with. Therefore, most plans need to be engineered by a professional engineer to meet your regional conditions and specific building code requirements. A stamped and sealed plan with calculations will expedite approval of your plans in the building and planning departments. In many cases, a concise structural design by a seasoned structural engineer can save on construction cost. The Bungalow Company has created relationships with a variety of structural engineering firms throughout the country which are licensed in every state and can provide the required expertise to fast track you project.

When working with The Bungalow Company, an estimate for engineering will be provided on your project and you will pay the engineers invoice direct with no mark up from The Bungalow Company. Our design team will incorporate the engineering information into final plans and provide a final quality check before shipping your project.

Engineering may not always be required by your local building department, however, The Bungalow Company strongly suggests that it be done. Building a home is one of the largest purchases one ever makes and proper structural engineering ensures timeliness of production and peace of mind knowing that your job is done right.

The Bungalow Company will issue the approved design to the structural engineering firm, which will commence work based on the approved design. The Bungalow Company encourages you to review the design thoroughly before approving it as changes later in the game can delay the schedule and incur additional costs. Your new home is The Bungalow Company’s priority – the sooner change requests are made, the more efficiently and cost effectively they can be incorporated into the plans.

Building Code Information

The Bungalow Company plans have been designed to conform to the Uniform Building Code (UBC) and the International Residential Code (IRC). Many states have modified the basic code for their region which may require modification for the plans to comply.

Construction Documents Phase through Shipping

During Construction Documents, The Bungalow Company will modify the technical drawings to reflect your design and incorporate the structural engineer’s work into the construction documents. At this point the nearly completed plans will be issued and checked one more time by the structural engineer and returned to The Bungalow Company for a final quality control check and coordination.

Once The Bungalow Company has completed final review and is satisfied, we will call to verify the number of plan sets, shipping address, collect final payment, and package your plans to ship. Please note: the structural engineer’s final invoice will arrive separately and will be bound by their terms and conditions.

DESIGN WORK FLOW

Customer Support

During the bidding, permit and construction process The Bungalow Company is available to you to answer any questions, provide clarifications and solutions to problems. We require the client and their representative to discuss field alterations with us and our consulting engineers. Seemingly small structural alterations can have a dramatic impact on design and are not advised without review by The Bungalow Company and our consulting engineers. Beyond the structural impact of field changes, there can also be code violations, which if not addressed through the proper channels, (e.g. building department and any other reviewing association) can prove costly both in dollars and time.

The Bungalow Company makes every effort possible to deliver a perfect set of plans and has a zero defects policy, however, human error does occasionally occur. If you discover an error, please contact your project manger at our office immediately and we will expedite a solution or clarification to the situation. The Bungalow Company prides itself on resolving questions or errors as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Changes

Although we make every effort to accurately estimate our work, design is a creative process and changes will occur. We encourage our clients to make the changes that will make their new home exactly what they want. These changes are much more cost effective during design rather than construction. In the event that the project is taking additional hours, your project manager will submit a change order to you detailing the proposed additional

costs and impact on the schedule. The client will then authorize the work by returning the signed change order to our office or decide not to proceed to with the additional changes.

Meetings

If you are a local client or wish to travel to our studio we will include a free (1) one-hour meeting to discuss your design modifications. If your building site is in within 30 minutes of our office, we will be glad to conduct the meeting on site. Additional meetings and site visits will be billed by the hour with a 1 hour minimum.

Plans

Upon job completion, the client will have a choice to receive four (4) full-sized sets of prints OR 1 full-sized set of vellums. Each additional set is $30 at the time of shipment.

COPYRIGHT / REFUND POLICY

All of the plans on our website – www.thebungalowcompany.com , digital data, and construction documents are protected under the Federal Copyright Act, Title XVII of the U.S. code and Chapter 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The Bungalow Company retains title and ownership of the original documents. The blueprints licensed to you cannot be used or resold to any other individual. Reproduction of these home plans, either in whole or in part, including any form of copying and/ or preparation of derivative works thereof, for any reason without prior written permission, is strictly prohibited. The purchase of a full set of home plans in no way transfers any copyright or other ownership interest in it to the buyer except for a limited license to use that set of home plans for the construction of ONE (1), and only one dwelling unit.

The purchase of additional sets of that home plan at a reduced price from the original set or as part of multiple set packages does not convey to the buyer a license to construct more than one dwelling. Similarly, the purchase of reproducible sets carries the same copyright protection. To use any plans more than once, and to avoid any copyright /license infringement, it is necessary to contact the Bungalow Company to receive a release and license for any extended usage. Whereas a purchaser of reproducible is granted a license to make copies, it should be noted that as copyrighted material, making photocopies from blueprints is illegal.

Estimation sets are for estimation or due diligence only as indicated on the estimation drawings. A purchase of an estimation set in no way authorizes the buyer to build, modify or create derivative work from estimation drawings under any circumstances. A buyer of an estimation set is not authorized to build using the estimation drawings or to create final building plans or blueprints using all or part of the estimation drawings unless and until the buyer purchases a full set of plans.

If you modify this or another of our plans, the modified design is not free from the original designer’s copyright. The sale or reuse of the modified design is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of The Bungalow Company. Also, be aware that any modifications to the plans relieves the designer from liability for design defects, errors, omissions and voids all warranties expressed or implied.

Copyrighting and licensing of home plans for construction exists to protect all parties. It respects and supports the intellectual property of the original designer.

Copyright protection for architectural designs and plans has been reinforced over the past few years. Willful infringement of copyrighted architectural designs and plans could result in damage awards of statutory damages up to, but not limited to, $150,000 or more, plus attorneys’ fees.

Refunds

Please be sure that the plans you order will work for your project as our home plans are non-refundable.
We are happy to exchange the original set of plans for another one of our designs, however we require the originals to be returned to us and full reimbursement for costs incurred for shipping and handling.