Architects first. Then, if you want it, your main contractor.
Paradigm is a practice of architects and structural engineers, and that is how most of our work is delivered: we design, we obtain the consents, and we tender the building work to a contractor. On selected residential projects we go one step further. Paradigm is appointed as main contractor, and the team that drew your house builds it, under one agreement with you.
The gap between the drawing and the building is where most projects go wrong.
No handover, no blame
When design and construction are separate contracts, every problem on site becomes a question of whose fault it is. With Paradigm as main contractor there is one firm, and the person who detailed the junction is the person who answers for it being built.
The design survives the build
Good details get value-engineered away by builders who did not draw them. Ours are built as drawn, because we are the builder.
Engineering in the room
Our structural engineers are part of the team. When the steel arrives and the opening is 40mm out, the answer comes from the people who designed it, that afternoon.
A price you can hold us to
You receive a scope of works and a fixed price before we start, with the exclusions written down. Changes are priced before they are made.
From the approved design to handing over the keys.
- 01Design and consentsThe architecture is designed, engineered and consented first, exactly as it would be on any Paradigm project. You can still choose to tender it at this point.
- 02Scope and priceA room-by-room scope of works with a fixed price, a programme, and what is excluded. We walk through it with you line by line.
- 03AgreementA single written building contract between you and Paradigm, with stage payments tied to work completed, and the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor appointments made in writing.
- 04On siteOur site team and trades, people we have worked with across many projects, run by the architect who designed the scheme. Weekly progress notes with photographs, and a named person to call.
- 05CompletionBuilding Control sign-off, the compliance declarations, the health and safety file, and a defects period during which we come back and put right anything that needs it.
Homes we have designed, within reach of the studio.
Extensions and remodels
Rear and side extensions, whole-house reconfigurations, kitchens that open to the garden.
Lofts and roof spaces
Loft conversions and attic rooms, with the structure, insulation and fire strategy designed and built by one team.
Where
Hertfordshire and North London, within an hour of our studio at Bricket Wood.
Cover
Contract works and public liability insurance in place for every build, with certificates provided before we start.
We build what we have designed
Paradigm acts as main contractor on projects where we are also the architect. We do not take on building work for other practices' drawings.
Selected projects
We take on a small number of builds at a time so that the architect who designed the scheme can be on site. If we cannot give your project that attention, we will say so and tender it instead.