Frequently asked questions
Can I edit the home?
For 2021, you are not allowed to edit the home other than furnishings & Interior Finishes. No major manipulations of the inside or outside as the home is already built.
Can I remove vegetation?
The canvas is yours, but remember part of the judges criteria is if you listened to the client. Part of these solutions will be the give & take of new elements vs. existing elements just like real world projects. Design with purpose!
How many people are signed up and do I have a chance to win?
We are expecting to receive well over 60 entries this year. This doesn't mean that it should discourage you to enter. If you feel overwhelmed, team up and come up with a project for a group a 4 or less. Our goal is that everyone can put together a solution and come to our class to compare and contrast how the finalists solved design vs. your own solution. Remember the top 8 designers will be ranked and put into print so even if you are not a finalist, you may have a good shot and being named one of the top designers in the country!
What if I have other questions?
Go to the forum below and ask away. We will do our best to respond quickly and it could be a question that others have so do not be shy.
Can we go over a million dollars for the budget?
Although the name of the project is "The Million Dollar Pool Design Challenge", you are welcome to exceed $1 million dollars with the design as there will be no need to prepare costs. Keep in mind that the judges will be judging on practicality and if the construction could actually be achieved in a real life situation. Keep it somewhat reasonable.
Due to privacy, we have told the real customer that we will not release the very detailed drawings on the home so the pool studio, pdfs, ,topography and sketchups are the only files we have permission to share. It's our hope next year to have a site that will have a full set of architectural drawings with a little more detail.
O.K. I am guessing then that all the materials shown on the house are correct and should not be changed as well?
The general architectural theme of the home needs to be protected as hill country contemporary but if you have skins or materials loaded that will present better, feel free to change the materials on the home.
just for clarity, the PDF plans don't actually match the Sketchup file, nor the poolstudio file, on purpose?
Unfortunately there are a few minor instnances that the .pdf drawings differ from the sketch up and pool studio. You found one and another is the added office in the walkout basement. My best answer is to use the drawings that will best suit your design. Because of the sheer time amassed already putting this competition together, we had to find a client that had all of the files we needed available and that would sign off on us using them and there were a few tweaks they made that didn’t make all of the drawings. In the future competitions, we will push to make sure the drawings all sync up perfect to make it as easy as possible for our competitors.