MAKING GOOD



Eating the cost on mistakes is never easy. But clients are paying for professionalism and skill. If a designer is in error, then responsibility needs to be accepted. But determining who is in error can be tricky. If a client changes something or if a product comes in and the client disapproves, it becomes touchy. Is it just not sitting well with the client? Or, was it not properly presented to them? Did they accurately understand the finish, fabrics, building materials, etc.? A designer may eat a few thousand dollars each year on mistakes. This is just a cost of business that needs to be factored in. When you have to eat it client relationship plays into the process to a large extent. Hopefully the designer has laid the groundwork for open communication and fairness from the start.

• We find the right property to purchase, renovate or build.


• Create a Return On Investment prospectus


– (A Palumbo Design increases the value of the property 10% according to the top agents.)


• Provide FULL DEVELOPMENT and spearhead the project from start to finish.


• Welcome and find spec homes and development opportunities.


• Bring in the right architect specific to the project.


• Document existing conditions, floor plans and elevations.


• Zoning, code and cost analysis and budget development.


• Establish design vision.

Design:

• Assemble a team of professionals for project specific needs


• Develop floor plans, exterior elevations, sections, interior elevations.


• Select finishes, materials and do showroom visits.


• Get subcontractor quotes and further budget development.


• Solidify final design scheme, detail specifications, and revise fixed cost estimates.


• Full design-build and interior design services for each project


• Complete construction/permit drawings.


• Permit acquisition.

Project Manage:

• Manage the construction process from start to finish, with an emphasis on communication between all professionals.


• Zero in on economical, green and timesaving project solutions.


• Leverage multiple projects to ensure the highest quality workmanship and materials.


• Solve problems before they happen




By combining comprehensive design, architectural and construction services, our commitment is maintained in providing unique design, exceptional craftsmanship, unsurpassed project management and customer service. Palumbo’s personal approach to home renovation ensures quality, meticulous attention to detail and superb finishes that have become hallmarks of Palumbo Design.

Palumbo Design promotes the value of design-build project delivery systems and provides the effective integration of design and project management services.  Palumbo Design’s position statements on these issues include the following:

Best Value Selection

• Palumbo Design recommends that the basis for evaluating “best value” design-build proposals should be ”clearly articulated by the owner in the request for proposals” and “used in making the award.”
• Specific evaluation criteria allows Palumbo Design to provide proposals that maximize benefits and optimize solutions to the owner’s needs.

Qualifications of Palumbo Design as a Design-Builder

• Palumbo Design believes in the design-build team’s qualifications rather than the proposed bid, estimate or price charged and has 30 years of experience to prove full qualifications for the design-build team.
• According to Palumbo Design experiences, the lowest initial contract price does not necessarily equate to the best value to the owner. Palumbo Design will always show an array of quality products and materials that equate with the quality of the desired budget and outcome of the construction.

Integrated Project Delivery

• IDP refers broadly to an approach in which key participants collaborate on the project from inception to completion.
• Palumbo Design “actively” promotes integrated project delivery principles.
• Although the IPD multi-party model seeks to achieve effective project integration, Palumbo Design believes that most owners will find traditional design-build to be a more flexible and practical option.

“This project will ensure that we continue to deliver the world-class, luxury home experience clients have come to expect from Palumbo Design,” said Michael Palumbo, Principal of Palumbo Design. “The design of the entire estate represents a progressive departure from other homes in the area, with impeccable attention to detail that combines feelings of established openness, original touches, and smart amenities to exude contemporary extravagance.”



Dedicated to a full California modern experience, Palumbo’s redesign provides a variety of contemporary amenities coupled with amazing state of the edge features resourced from all over the world including; Germany, Italy, Greece and Sweden.
The redesigned experience has been designed for the connoisseur of homes with top-of-the-line technology integrated throughout the sexy pallet of white and dark chocolate Wenge wood, and dramatic automatic motion sensor lighting that turns on upon entry. Every switch, power source, and light fixture was meticulously placed for maximum accessibility.



The lucky new homeowner will be stunned walking onto a glass floor suspended over a very contemporary wood wine cellar, revealing a LED lit wine selection, to get to the main floor powder room door that opens electronically at the touch of a button.
Each element of the rooms’ complements the others, with pocketed doors and details found in elements like the imported electronic keypads that can also be controlled through an iPhone or iPad.



A commitment to excellence is apparent in all aspects of the home, including the state-of-the art windows from Schüco, a German company and worldwide leader in window technology and design. Palumbo chose Schüco windows to ensure that every room in the house would be flooded with light as it defined the character of the home. Energy efficiency is just a bonus once you catch the amazing view of the 300-foot infinity moat encompassing the entire house, including the guesthouse, around the property that leads to both sides of the zero edge swimming pool. The amazing moat will be incredibly alluring at night designed to look like a river of lit water.
Providing the right technology support is essential, and the redesigned Palumbo home delivers. The home theatre has a 123-inch projector screen complete with its own powder room and wet bar adjoined to the wine cellar. The sitting room that also connects the theatre and wine cellar is a perfect place to be used as the cigar room or poker room.



“I believe in a full-service experience while at home, blending genuine convenience with efficient luxury,” said Mike Palumbo. “While we strive to deliver a residential product without equal, it is the personality of my style and the commitment of my team that makes a Palumbo Design truly distinctive, and keeps our customers coming back for more.”



ABOUT THE LAUREL WAY PROJECT
Located at Laurel Way in Beverly Hills, the Laurel Way estate has 5 bedrooms and a 1 bedroom guest house with gym, steam shower, pool table room and full 4 seasons penthouse suite with all the amenities; on 1 acre; 3,500 square feet of extensive upper deck patio space; 300-square foot moat surrounding 90% of the house; 9 fireplaces with an 18-foot linear fire pit on the master deck with a wall of glass looking into the zero edge infinity pool; 6-person Jacuzzi; and parking for 6 cars in the museum garage. The Laurel Way Project also features a heated infinity pool with a fabulous view of Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

FINDING HIS LEGS IN THE WATER

Michael Palumbo will be the first to tell you he works with a different mindset than your average person. As a kid in California he wasn’t an avid surfer in the water, he raced cars. He won awards for his racing and then began working for his father’s construction company to pay for his car-racing career. After taking up construction with his dad, he still apprentice with his mother in the interior design world, where she was considered one of the best in the industry. “I learned how to swim real well when it came to creating a beautiful home inside and out,” says Palumbo, grinning. “I learned how to swim upstream real fast.” Entrepreneurship came to him as naturally as athletics. “I always had my own business,” he says. During high school it was Window Washing. “The summer before college, I made like $40,000,” he says. “I went to college to major in business but I was already running a successful business.” Once there, he couldn’t stay. “I was in class, and I thought to myself, ‘This is a huge waste of time. Not only is it costing a ton of money, I’m not making any money.’” Architecture may have been a better fit, but true to his restless enterprising nature, Palumbo charted his own course in the design-build profession. He knew how to swim, but now he wanted to surf – his own way.

Designers who also are builders are nothing new, but very few deploy their construction crews in the service of their design as opposed to a sole architect, and that is precisely the approach that Palumbo settled on. More than half of Palumbo’s work is for or with architects, and the company has created a niche for itself by partnering with Los Angeles’s most prominent modernist firms.

Palumbo didn’t set out to become a designer/builder, he started out as a General Contractor. “I just sort of followed my nose,” he says. In 1983, he arrived in Alhambra amid the Reagan era. “I met a ton of architects. Nobody was very busy. But it was a good opportunity for me because I was able to network with all these guys and start building and designing in another direction than how my father had been doing it.” And that gave Palumbo the idea for a different kind of building company. “I had always worked in the construction industry,” he explains, and his notion of design and architecture had always been entwined with the construction process, in part, thanks to his mother including him on her interior design work. “I never had a strong desire to just sit and draw pictures.” Putting an architect’s aesthetic sense and design skills out on the jobsite made Palumbo a hit with La’s top modernist firms. “And that,” he says, “became a really good business plan.” In short order he established a new category in the industry: Palumbo Design – a Design-Build company.

“I am the ‘Master’ and the other principals are architects, superintendents and subcontractors. Because I am overseeing it all as a project manager and hold the main vision I am able to keep everyone working cohesively towards the same goal. In the long run, it saves money.” With a skilled designer on the jobsite, the architect can safely put more detail on his drawings. “It is here where I can think about door jambs; and consider the look, feel and placement of the type of cabinets.” When he intends minor building components to align, Palumbo says, “I don’t have to communicate it to the electrician or the plumber or the tile setter. It’s just done.” Of course, a good architect on the team expands Palumbos’ range as a designer, but good design also pushes the abilities of the architect. “We’re always exploring new territory,” says Palumbo, who relies on the architect for feedback on constructability while the developer focuses on cost and keeping within budget.