Navigating Home Design Costs with Michael Sweebe | 124

About this episode

Jon Clayton interviews architect Michael Sweebe about managing home design costs and the tools available for homeowners.

Fixing Budget Misalignment in Residential Projects. A conversation with Michael Sweebe on Build Cost Estimation. Host Jon Clayton interviews residential architect Michael Sweebe of Sweebe Architecture about the common problem of homeowners’ design goals outpacing their budgets and the lack of early tools to define scope and estimate costs. Mike shares how his childhood experience in an unsuitable apartment shaped his focus on homes as expressions of memory, identity, and aspiration, and how 20 years in commercial practice led him to residential work. He explains how a COVID-era, space-by-space cost spreadsheet helped him give live ballpark project costs, preventing clients from spending money on drawings they couldn’t afford to build. That approach evolved into Scopify, a free homeowner app (beta) that estimates “soup to nuts” build costs by U.S. postal code and delivers pre-qualified leads to architects, reducing unbillable qualification time. Today’s Guest Michael Sweebe is a practicing architect & the founder of Sweebe Architecture. Mike’s practice specialises in residential architecture & interior design – designing homes that bring families closer together. Mike is…

People in this episode

Host: Jon Clayton

Guest: Michael Sweebe

Topics covered

• home design
• budget estimation
• residential architecture
• cost management
• client communication

Keywords

• budget misalignment
• build cost estimation
• residential projects
• homeowner app
• architect leads

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sweebe Architecture

Products: Scopify

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