Questions we answer before we draw

We design homes for people who intend to live in them — not simply houses that photograph well. Our clients value clarity, thoughtful design, and an architect who will push back when a decision isn’t right for the house.

We are a good fit for clients who want to be involved in the decisions without having to become the architect.

Our practice is focused primarily on private residences, with construction values typically beginning at ₱25M. We also take on select boutique mid-density residential projects where the same level of design discipline can be applied at a different scale.

We typically engage on private residences with construction values beginning at ₱25M. It’s a starting point rather than a hard floor. The more useful question is whether the brief, project, and studio align — which is what a first conversation is for.

We primarily work across Metro Manila, Rizal and the East Manila hillside, and Nuvali and Southern Luzon, including areas such as Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Antipolo, San Mateo, Timberland, Havila, Nuvali and Santa Rosa.

For projects outside these areas, tell us where the site is and we’ll let you know if the project makes sense for our studio.

And we’re not a fit for clients comparing architects primarily on the lowest fee.

Yes. We’d rather establish that in the first month than the fourth.

If we don’t think we’re the right studio for the project, we’ll tell you honestly. Where we can, we’ll point you toward an architect who may be better suited to what you’re looking for.

Most custom projects begin with a Clarity Session — a focused, paid session to understand the site, brief, priorities, constraints, and what the project actually needs.

It gives both sides a chance to determine whether the project and the studio are aligned before a full commission is scoped.

It’s a working session, not a sales presentation.

We use it to understand how you intend to live, what you’re trying to achieve, what the site is asking of the design, and where the difficult decisions are likely to be.

You leave with a written read of the project that you can act on, whether or not you continue with us.

If the project and studio align, we use what was established during the session to scope the full commission.

If they don’t, you still leave with a written read of the project and a clearer understanding of what should happen next.

Yes. The Clarity Session fee is credited in full against your design fee if you proceed with a full commission.

No. Early is when the useful decisions get made.

Site selection, orientation, budget, planning priorities and the overall approach to the house can all benefit from being considered before construction is imminent. The earlier the right questions are asked, the more options remain open.

Our capacity is intentionally limited, so start dates depend on the current project schedule.

A first conversation will tell you honestly where your project would sit and what the next available opening looks like.

The principal architect remains involved throughout the project.

That’s the point of a studio our size. We take on a limited number of projects so the person responsible for the design is also present for the decisions that shape it.

A full commission typically runs through four phases:

01 · Schematic Design

We establish and test the right direction for the house — its relationship to the site, climate, movement, proportions, and how the household actually lives.

02 · Design Development

The chosen direction is pressure-tested and resolved. Plans, sections, materials, details, engineering and cost are developed together.

03 · Contract Documents

The design is translated into a complete set of documents that can be priced, permitted and built from.

04 · Construction Administration

We stay involved during construction through scheduled site visits, contractor queries, shop drawing reviews, clarifications and punch-list work.

Each phase has a formal sign-off before the next begins. The reason is simple: the cost of changing a decision multiplies with every phase it survives.

We test the initial schemes against the site, climate and how your household actually lives.

The phase typically includes floor plans, site planning, elevations, perspectives and a budgetary cost estimate. You choose a direction; we then refine it.

The selected scheme is developed in greater detail and pressure-tested against the realities of construction.

This includes detailed plans and sections, perspectives, material studies, outline specifications, coordinated engineering and an updated cost estimate.

Everything gets drawn properly.

The phase produces the full architectural set, coordinated engineering drawings with the appropriate professional seals, final specifications and schedules — the documentation a contractor can price and build from and a permit office can process.

We stay involved after the drawings are complete.

This typically includes scheduled site visits, responses to contractor queries, shop drawing and submittal reviews, clarification sketches, payment certification and punch-list work at substantial completion.

Site visits are scheduled checkpoints, not full-time supervision.

Decisions, roughly on time, from someone empowered to make them.

Our process is designed to surface expensive decisions while they’re still relatively inexpensive to change. That only works when those decisions get answered.

You can. Clients change their minds.

The difference is what phase the change happens in. A change during Schematic Design may cost a conversation. The same change during construction can mean redesign, delay, additional materials and real money.

We don’t discourage change. We make sure you understand its consequence.

A full commission carries the design from the first site walk through construction administration.

Architecture

Site and orientation strategy, planning, massing, sectional design, envelope development and material detailing.

Engineering coordination

Structural, sanitary, plumbing and fire protection, electrical and lighting, and mechanical ventilation where applicable. Each discipline is coordinated with the architecture and sealed by the responsible professional.

Documentation

A permit-ready package consisting of the architectural and engineering drawings, specifications and schedules required for the project.

Construction administration

Scheduled site visits, contractor queries, shop drawing and submittal reviews, clarification sketches, payment certification and punch-list work.

The goal is one architect carrying one set of decisions through the project, rather than a series of disconnected handoffs.

No.

We design it, document it, and administer the design through construction. We are not the contractor and we do not manage the contractor’s workforce, schedule or construction operations.

No.

We administer the design during construction, but construction management is a separate responsibility. The contractor remains responsible for their workforce, programme, means and methods, procurement and day-to-day site operations.

No.

Our construction visits are scheduled checkpoints intended to review progress, clarify design intent and identify issues that require architectural attention.

They are not continuous or full-time site supervision.

Said plainly, because assumptions here get expensive.

Our standard scope does not include:

Several of these can be handled by specialists we can help you identify and appoint. We’d simply rather establish who is responsible for what before the project begins.

Interior architecture and the architectural elements of the house are coordinated as part of the design.

Full interior design, FF&E, loose furniture, styling and procurement are outside our standard architectural scope and are typically handled by a specialist interior designer.

Landscape design is outside our standard architectural scope. We can coordinate with a landscape architect where the project requires one.

We produce and sign the required architectural and engineering documents within our scope.

Permit filing, follow-through and administrative legwork are handled separately.

No.

We produce budgetary cost estimates at relevant design stages and update them as the design resolves. Detailed quantity take-offs and bills of quantities are typically the work of a quantity surveyor.

Usually, yes.

We can work alongside interior designers, landscape architects, feng shui consultants, contractors and other specialists you’ve already chosen.

Tell us early. Coordination is easier designed in than retrofitted.

Yes. We can work with a contractor you already trust.

Our role remains the same: we document and administer the architectural design, while the contractor remains responsible for construction operations, manpower, procurement and means and methods.

We coordinate the design across the disciplines within our scope.

Structural, MEPF and other required consultants need to work from a coordinated architectural direction. Drawings that don’t agree with each other cost money on site, so coordination is treated as part of the design rather than left for construction to resolve.

Fees are proportional to the scope of work and construction value, and are quoted per project once the brief is clear enough to price honestly.

We don’t publish a rate card because a number without a scope attached isn’t information.

Because no two custom houses carry the same scope, complexity, site conditions or level of involvement.

We would rather price the actual work required than give you a generic percentage that may have little relationship to your project.

Yes, at the level appropriate to each design phase.

We produce budgetary cost estimates during design and update them as the project becomes more resolved.

Detailed quantity take-offs and bills of quantities are outside our standard scope and are typically prepared by a quantity surveyor.

We review the change before proceeding and explain what it means for the fee, timeline and deliverables.

Scope can adjust. The value of the work does not.

Because the fee is not the only variable.

Good architecture is measured in decisions: what gets designed, what gets resolved, what gets coordinated and what gets prevented from becoming a problem on site.

We would rather establish the right scope and deliver that well than reduce the work simply to make a number look attractive.

A typical project takes approximately 4–6 months for design and 12–24 months for construction, although the construction period depends heavily on the scope, site and contractor.

The design phases have firmer edges than construction does. We can control our process; construction is affected by more variables.

The biggest factors are usually the complexity of the brief, site conditions, decision-making, consultant coordination, permitting, contractor availability and procurement.

Our process is designed to keep decisions moving before they become expensive delays.

The programme moves with the decisions.

We can structure the process, provide the information needed to make a choice, and identify what is holding up the next phase. But we cannot make decisions on your behalf.

We deliberately limit the number of active projects so that the principal architect can remain meaningfully involved.

Capacity is limited by design, not by a lack of interest in taking on work.

The design already exists. That’s the whole difference.

MET Editions are build-ready residential designs developed by the studio and offered as defined packages. Because the design work has already been completed, an Edition can move faster and is offered at a published price.

A custom commission begins with your site, your brief and the way your household intends to live. The design is developed specifically for you.

Everything else about how we work — our standards, design discipline and attention to buildability — remains the same.

Because the design decisions have already been made.

You’re not commissioning the studio to develop a new house from first principles. You’re selecting an existing design and moving into the appropriate adaptation and documentation process.

Yes.

Unlike custom commissions, MET Editions have published prices by home and package.

The extent of modification depends on the Edition and the changes you’re requesting.

Tell us what you need changed and we’ll determine whether it remains an Edition or becomes better treated as a custom commission.

Bring it to us.

We can review where you are and tell you honestly whether the project is something we can meaningfully take forward.

Our role is not to simply draft or model a design someone else has already decided. If we take on the project, we need to be responsible for the architectural decisions that make it work.

Our work is architectural design, not drafting-as-a-service.

If we’re commissioned to work on your house, we take responsibility for the design decisions — testing the brief, challenging assumptions, resolving the site and climate, coordinating the disciplines and developing the project into something that can actually be built.

Possibly — but we would rather reduce unnecessary scope than compromise the decisions that make the house work.

Our approach is already based on restraint. We don’t believe value comes from adding more, and we don’t believe reducing the fee should automatically mean reducing the quality of the thinking.

That’s normal.

You don’t need to arrive with a finished design. You need to know enough about how you want to live, what matters to you and what you’re unwilling to compromise on.

The design process exists to turn those things into a house.

Because construction is not the same as design.

A contractor is responsible for building the project. The architect is responsible for thinking through what should be built, why it should be built that way, and how the different pieces need to work together before construction begins.

Our job is to make the important decisions while they’re still drawings — when they’re clearer, cheaper and easier to change.