Method/Strategy & Management
Discipline V
Strategy & Management
One record of every decision, across one project or many.
The Position
Projects are lost in the decisions, not the drawings.
A house is built from several hundred decisions — finishes, substitutions, allowances, changes — made by different people on different days. When nobody keeps them in one place, the budget moves without anyone choosing to move it, and the design changes without anyone choosing to change it.
We keep one record. Every decision the owner makes is written down, dated, and tied to what it costs and what it changes. The record is the owner’s, it travels with the project, and it settles most disagreements before they start.
For owners with more than one property or more than one phase, the record becomes a program: which project first, in what order, on what budget, and what each decision upstream means for the ones that follow.
Who This Is For
A Good Fit
- Owners running a project from a distance
- Owners with several properties or a phased program
- Owners whose project has many decision-makers — family, partners, a board
Not A Fit
- Business or organizational consulting — the work is the property, not the company
- Disputes already in litigation — we are not legal representation
- Engagements the owner will not personally take part in
The Lifecycle
Diagnostic
The project, the people deciding, and the decisions already made — read and written down.
Decision Record
One dated record of every choice, tied to its cost and its consequence.
Program Plan
For more than one project or phase: the order, the timing, and the budget for all of them.
Phase Review
At each phase, decisions read back against results, and the next phase set.
Engagement
Retainer
MonthlyStanding representation across a program or a project from a distance.
Scoped Engagement
Per programA program plan, as one written document.
Principal Hours
By the hourThe principal’s reading of one decision, one change, or one disagreement.
Terms are set out in the letter of engagement.
Every engagement begins the same way.
Begin The DiagnosticAdjacent Disciplines
What This Engagement Covers
Maison de Thu is a design and owner's-side house. We hold design, owner's-representation, and diagnostic engagement contracts.