Designing a Steak House on a Hamburger Budget

JLC ??JULY 1989 Every house has a budget. One customer’s garage may cost more than another’s house, but each has a budget. When I sit down with clients to begin the design process, I need to know the budget to determine whether their desires are realistic. It’s the customers’ job, of course, to state their needs and what they can spend. But the issue is clear to me as the designer: Either they state their needs and desires, and I tell them what it will cost; or they tell me what they want to spend and I tell them what they can get. But they cannot set both the requirements and the budget. It is the role