Home: The Second Story

Before You Break Ground, Do This First (Snack Sized Episode)

Episode Notes

In this snack-sized episode, we dig into the design selections process—what it is, when it should happen, and how to navigate it without losing your mind. Selections refer to everything from fixtures and finishes to materials, colors, and even the tiniest details like shower hardware. While the process might seem straightforward, we’ve found that it’s one of the most underestimated and overwhelming parts of a residential project.

We kick things off by addressing the myth that you can wait until construction starts to choose your finishes. All three of us agree: that’s a recipe for disaster. Waiting leads to rushed decisions, missed coordination opportunities, and unnecessary stress. Ideally, selections should be nearly complete before construction begins—especially for custom homes where every finish is chosen from scratch. That early clarity helps avoid delays and ensures smooth coordination with trades, especially for electrical and plumbing rough-ins that need precise placement information.

Taylor shares an anecdote about a friend’s renovation that stalled due to indecision. In contrast, her clients who made selections early had far fewer issues. Sheri notes that while many of her projects still begin construction before final selections are made, that approach requires a tightly managed process with little room for changes. Marilyn points out how timeline pressure is even more intense in her complex renovations, where rough-ins happen just weeks after demolition. For her, having all selections finalized early is non-negotiable.

We also explore how to tailor the process to different clients. Some love going to showrooms, others want curated choices. Part of our job is understanding decision-making styles—especially when working with couples who may differ dramatically in how they process choices. Marilyn mentions a worksheet in her residential workbook (linked below) that helps clients identify how they make decisions, which guides how we support them throughout.

On the technical side, we discuss how we track and organize selections. From massive Google Sheets to old-school binders and detailed fixture schedules, we all have systems that allow for internal review and clear communication with builders. We emphasize the importance of sign-offs, version control, and not relying on texts or post-its for critical information. It’s about building in checks and balances so nothing gets lost in translation.

We wrap by agreeing on a few golden rules: start with limited, natural materials like stone or wood, and always leave paint for last. Paint is flexible—tile and stone are not. And perhaps most importantly: don’t text your architect about hardware changes at 6 a.m. on a Saturday. You'll hear who has experienced that.

Find Marilyn's worksheets at her shop: https://www.runcibleshop.com/

Episode Transcription

Rec 2025_08_28_Design Selection_SNACK Draft Video

Speakers: Marilyn Moedinger, Sheri Scott, & Taylor Davis

[Music Playing]

Voiceover (00:03):

Everyone says how horrible it'll be to renovate or build your house, we're here to say, it doesn't have to be that way.

Join three seasoned architects as they interview homeowners who recently completed a large project, and ask them one simple question: what do you know now that you wish you knew before you started?

Welcome to Home: The Second Story Podcast.

Marilyn Moedinger (00:26):

Hi, and welcome to a snack size episode of Home: The Second Story. I'm Marilyn from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Boston, Massachusetts, along with …

Sheri Scott (00:37):

I'm Sheri from Cincinnati.

Taylor Davis (00:40):

And I'm Taylor from Birmingham.

Marilyn Moedinger (00:43):

Let's dive in. We're talking about the selections process, AKA choosing all of your fixtures, finishes, colors, materials, all that stuff, the process of it (laughs).

Sheri Scott (00:56):

And it is a process.

Marilyn Moedinger (00:58):

It is a process (laughs).

Sheri Scott (01:03):

Well, I think that's the main crux of part of our service is that we guide people through that entire process. And it is a service. It's so time-consuming and there's so many hours and so many decisions to make. Decision fatigue is real. By even the middle of the project, it's just too much.

So, I don't really know where to start. It's hard for me on the inside (laughs) to start, like where is the beginning of this whole selection process? And it's really during preliminary design; we start thinking about all of the things that we need to choose. But one of you, I think it was Taylor, has taught me the entire process is a game of refinement. You start big and broad and you just keep niching down into the details.

And for true custom homes, and we can probably do a whole another snack episode on what is a custom home versus semi-custom versus luxury, all of that, but in a true custom home, the homeowner literally makes the decision on every single thing, every single finish that goes into the house.

Taylor Davis (02:29):

So, I'll give a quick anecdote, you all know I like stories. I was sitting last week having a glass of wine with some friends, and a dear friend who did not use me for her project, and that's fine. I'm okay with that.

[Laughter]

Sheri Scott (02:43):

It's fine.

Taylor Davis (02:48):

That's absolutely fine.

Marilyn Moedinger (02:48):

It is fine.

Taylor Davis (02:50):

It is — was bemoaning that they hadn't moved into the house after they had been working on their renovations. And one of the things they were talking about is how they struggled with making decisions.

And they had talked to some other friends who were clients, and the clients were mine. And they relayed to them that they were almost done making all the decisions before construction had even started. So, I think from a process perspective, the goal is to have all of that done regardless of in what phase you're making it, to get it done before you break ground is really the most ideal. If you're going to put a hard line, that's generally the right time to do it. That's the best line I can draw.

And then the process is going to vary from client to client. Some clients are going to want to go with you to 12 different showrooms, other places want us to go to 12 different showrooms, narrow it down to four or five selections and present it to them, whether that's windows or tile or faucets or whatever it is.

So, some of it is the temperament of the client, whether they're easily overwhelmed and don't want to do that stuff, whether it completely freaks them out (which is absolutely normal), or whether they're really decisive and have a really clear picture in their head of what they want.

Marilyn Moedinger (04:07):

Yeah, I think the thing there that I'm jumping up and down cheering for is: get it done before construction starts. So, there's this myth that like, oh, just quickly get a permit set out the door, get it under construction as fast as you can, and then later, you'll have time to pick out the tile and pick out the fixtures and pick out everything — disaster, that is a disaster.

So, I think where that comes from, at least in my experience, is more production builders where you can do that because they're saying, “Pick from one of these three tiles, pick from one of these two faucets,” and you pick one or the other that will already behind the scenes work with whatever they've got.

But if you're doing something custom, you have to know what it is because the contractors coming in, they're going to start raftings very early in the process. They need to know where the sconces go on the wall, next to the mirror, above the vanity. And if you don't know what the vanity is, what the mirror is, what the tile is, what the sconce is, you can't tell them where to put the electrical box, which they need to know very early in the process.

And I think that to me is, it's one of the biggest things that seems to be this sort of myth that's around that once you start construction, you'll have oodles of time, and it's just not a good idea. Just figure it out ahead of time, why would you leave that to chance?

Sheri Scott (05:30):

I 100% agree with both of you that that is the ideal (laughs). I will say in my practice 90% of the time, we are breaking ground and then diving into selections, and I do not think that is the best solution. So, in that case, in our case, in most of our projects, we have to be very purposeful in what we select and what we don't go back and change our mind about because of that reason.

If we're making lighting decisions before the electrician comes and pulls wires, you're not going back and changing that based on something else you choose later down the line, and that's one of the reasons why it's best to do it in the beginning, all at once, instead of fast-tracking which is choosing and passing it off, choosing and passing it off, it makes the process much harder.

We do make it work and we do end up with beautiful projects, but it is not the best, not the best process.

Marilyn Moedinger (06:32):

Well, I think also, part of the reason why I'm especially allergic to that way of doing things is because I do a lot of renovations, and renovations, you are at the drafting stage within two weeks of starting the project.

Sheri Scott (06:43):

Oh, interesting. Yes, because we have the whole foundation, framing, yeah.

Marilyn Moedinger (06:48):

Exactly. And so yeah, Sheri, when you said that, I was like, “Oh, right, so because you've got all the site work and utilities and you're digging foundations, I mean, you have months and months potentially.”

Sheri Scott (06:58):

Correct. We do.

Marilyn Moedinger (06:59):

I've got like a couple weeks. So, we go in there, we demo — even if it's down to the studs, we demo and they're in framing and draftings like almost immediately.

Sheri Scott (07:08):

Right away, interesting.

Marilyn Moedinger (07:10):

Yeah. And so, also with renovations, your hands are a lot more tied and especially the kind of renovations we do. We do super complex, super, old weird houses with very little … I mean, it's all this historic stuff, and we're trying to do something modern in a historic building, so we're trying to do all this stuff, and it's really, really complicated.

So, I think that's probably why I was like, “Oh, my God, no,” because obviously for us doing those renovations, you're in that stage much, much faster than if you're in a ground up. But like you said, you should still do it for ground up, but you do have a little bit more time (laughs).

Taylor Davis (07:47):

Well, you should do it for ground up and I also think there is some wiggle room. Like there could be a scenario where you're doing an addition or a renovation, and there's an underground thing that causes you to have to dig deeper foundations and you need to go back and revisit some of those selections based on costs. I mean, that happens pretty frequently too.

So, I wouldn't call it the most hard and fast rule, and there's certainly opportunities to change your mind and things that you can do. In an ideal world, that's where we would be with renovations and additions for sure too. Even the additions sort of straddle that ground between new construction and renovations.

So, I think timeline, like that's probably the most ideal way to do it, but it doesn't mean that it can't work other ways. It just may cause some other challenges or put some other conditions on your selections if you aren't doing it until a certain point.

I also want to hear about y'all's like how do you go about that with clients? Like I've said, we offer them lots of different options based on what their tolerance for decision making is or tolerance for being overwhelmed with X. How do you all go about that process too?

Marilyn Moedinger (09:02):

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it's about their tolerance for making decisions or their interest in making decisions.

And part of what I feel like one of my biggest jobs as a custom residential architect on these projects who offers full interior design is to get to know my client well enough to know what they're going to really care about and what they're going to want to be down in the weeds about, and what they're like, “Look, I just don't care, just give me two options and I'll just pick one because it's fine.” And that varies from client to client.

So, I think, some clients get really in the weeds about the cabinetry and some are way in there about tile or whatever. So, I think number one is knowing the owner from the architect standpoint. But I also want to say I have this piece that I wrote that's part of one of my packets, my residential workbook packet that I have. One of the worksheets is trying to figure out your decision-making style as an owner.

So, I think that's also really important, is for us to help coach people on how to make these decisions based on what kind of decision maker they are. And that becomes really interesting when it's a couple, because one member of the couple may feel (this happens a lot) better after the decision is made, so they’re just like, “Yeah, yeah, fine, that one, just pick that one, I'm done.” And the other one feels more comfortable, kind of, “Well, I don't know, I want to think about it some more, I'm not ready to make the decision.”

And that's two opposite decision-making styles. And opposites attract and it's great to have partners who are your complement, but when it's time to make a decision, then that can be a point of conflict. So, I think knowing yourself as owners, you go into it is also really important too, and we're there to help coach people.

Sheri Scott (10:50):

Another type of decision maker that we have right now is they want to see everything all together for every single decision. So, we have set up a corner of our office just to lay everything out because any decision that we make along the line, they want to see every decision we've already made. Which, it's been a lesson for me because it really does help, and it's nice, and we may carry that on for our next clients. We're always willing to learn from our clients.

So, speaking of process, I'm sure we all have little rules that we live by for process, and one of my rules for my clients is we always start with natural materials. So, if they have natural stone, natural wood, we start with those because those are limited options. You have limited option of stone that's going to work on the exterior of our building and our climate, we start with that, and then build from there.

I think on a lot of projects where you see and it's just like everything doesn't quite hang together, it's probably because they just picked their favorite things and didn't have a process to select those and to build on an idea. Do you guys have a process?

Marilyn Moedinger (12:07):

Well, I just want to add the opposite side of that because agreed, pick the things that have the least number of available choices to you, and the opposite side of that is leave paint color until the end.

Sheri Scott (12:18):

Yes, a hundred percent.

Marilyn Moedinger (12:20):

There are infinite paint colors. We will find the paint color. Do not show up with a chip of paint, a paint sample and say, “I need to find the tile that matches this.”

Sheri Scott (12:32):

Right. Oh gosh.

Marilyn Moedinger (12:33):

No. Do it the opposite way. Find the tile and we can match any paint in the world. So, take the pressure off yourself folks for paint. So, that would be the opposite of that. Like leave paint to the end because you can get it to match anything.

Sheri Scott (12:49):

Yeah, that's good, that's good. Also, in process, let's talk a little bit about how all of that data gets organized and who organizes it, and who hands it off to whom.

Taylor Davis (13:02):

That is a process that can be cumbersome, and the bigger your project is, the more bits and pieces go into that information bucket, and there's an internal process for us to handle it, but then there's the external handing off process that's associated with it too. So, it's not just to like do you have that email that said that I really liked that faucet? I mean, we do operate that way, but that's a really rough way to sort of have to organize everything.

So, I am kind of old school. so we keep a binder of all of the cut sheets and the selections and the notes from our site visits, and we use that during the construction documentation process too. Something that we can go back and refer to see if there are specific installation requirements or ventilation requirements or whatever that is that we're going to need. And so, keeping that hard copy, I can't sort through multi-page PDFs and get an effective answer.

So, we keep that binder, and then in order to transmit that material to the person who is pricing and building, we have kind of a double process that we hope is the thing that finds the mistakes. So, we have a schedule that we generate for … and a schedule is really just a list.

Like if you look at a set of drawings, it'll say fixture schedule, and most drawings, you'll see it's like a spreadsheet and it shows, it's got all the different columns for whatever that type of selection is. It may have the model number, the color, the finish — all of those things are in that schedule. And once that schedule goes on the drawings, that's our understanding of what those pieces are.

The owner gets to see those and confirm them, but then we also generate schedules from our vendors. So, if we are going to our plumbing supplier, they're generating a schedule too, and we can crosscheck that to make sure that we're all on the same page.

So, the builder is getting both of those documents and we're sort of helping sort through. If they said they wanted polish nickel and it shows up in chrome, we can make sure that we've got sort of all of those things aligned.

There's lots of different pieces and we want to double check all the time to make sure … that doesn't say we don't make mistakes, but we try and incorporate a process (and I think all of us do this) that minimizes what the opportunities for those errors are.

Marilyn Moedinger (15:34):

Yeah, for sure. I have a huge Google Sheet, basically a Google Sheets document that I share with the owners, and we use that to track absolutely everything in there, down to the shower hardware, down to everything.

And there's a little column that says yes, no, or it's just blank, and that's where the owner can say yes or no. And we use that to structure our meetings, we use that to remind everyone and they have access to it all the time. So, when they're sitting there Tuesday at 10 o'clock and they're sitting there going, “Wait, what did we pick for that bathroom?” They can go into that and look.

Now, at the top (and this is crucial), there's a big green box that when it goes … well, it's white until it goes green. When we turn it green, that means this schedule has been superseded and is now in the drawings because we don't keep it updated in both places.

So, once the Google Sheet is approved and everything, then we take all of that and put it into our drawings. Then the drawings become the document of record, and the Google Sheet has been superseded, and the drawings become the law.

The good thing about the Google Sheet is by the time that all the stuff is moved from the Google Sheet to the drawings, the owner sees it in the drawings. They're like, “Oh yeah, I've seen that before.” Everything is familiar, everything is fine, they've had their hands on everything and approved everything.

That is a nice point, for us as practitioners, to get everyone's buy-in, get everything organized and then move into the drawings that need to communicate things to the builder, and I think that's really actually incredibly important because you cannot go on the text chain of like, “Can we change that faucet from this one to that one?”

I mean, we're doing projects with six or eight bathrooms (laughs), and we have 10 projects going on at once, we need to keep on top of that, and so that's how we do it.

Sheri Scott (17:36):

Great. I've learned something from each of you. To build on that, we also have sign-offs. So, when we finish … you know we work hand in hand with the builder and before the builder orders the whole plumbing order, we sign off on it, and then we have our clients sign off on it also.

Sometimes, they don't ever look at it because they trust us and I always tell them, “Please look at it,” because like Taylor said, we do still make mistakes and they're the ones that that know that have their heart into it. So, yeah, we have everybody sign off on it before final orders go.

Marilyn Moedinger (18:20):

And that, I just want to say is like a tried-and-true way of doing architecture. It's in sort of more formal jobs called submittals or things like that, and it just boils down to checks and balances. And I think we've covered a lot of ground today from how to make decisions, I think we should do another “snack” on how to actually make decisions, I think that's a whole interesting topic.

But I think it also boils down to making sure (and this is my message to homeowners) that your team, whether it's your designer, your architect, if you have one, your builder has a disciplined process for tracking this stuff. Because if they don't and if it's a bunch of little notes on post-it notes and texts and scraps of paper-

Taylor Davis (19:04):

Please don't text us with your hardware changes.

Marilyn Moedinger (19:08):

Yes, please don’t.

[Laughter]

Taylor Davis (19:10):

That is my note to everyone. And on Saturday morning at six o'clock in the morning, I very much appreciate your thought process, but it is not going to make it into the drawing set.

Sheri Scott (19:23):

That's funny. Marilyn, you mentioned your workbook that you made. You want to tell us and our listeners where they can find that?

Marilyn Moedinger (19:30):

Yeah, so it's runcibleshop.com, and I have all sorts of downloadable resources. And one of them is this 50-page workbook where all these, sort of, worksheets and things like that. I just updated it and added a few new things. So, yeah, I've got mini books on there and other resources and stuff, so yeah, go check it out. Thanks, Sheri.

Sheri Scott (19:50):

Yes, that’s great.

Marilyn Moedinger (19:51):