FAQ

We design across five overlapping categories: residential (single-family homes, additions, gut renovations, new construction), mixed-use, commercial, hospitality, and urban design. In practice, much of our work thrives in the overlap between categories—whether it’s a residential renovation that doubles as an adaptive reuse project, or a commercial space designed to serve as a neighborhood anchor. If your project doesn’t fit neatly into a category, that’s usually a good sign we should talk.

We’re based in Chicago and currently accepting projects in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and California. Most of our work is in the city and surrounding suburbs, but we’ve built long-term relationships with clients who own property in other markets we know well.

We have a sensibility, not a style. The work often leans modern and minimal, with an emphasis on clean lines, natural light, and materials that age well rather than follow trends. The approach is never imposed. A 19th-century Queen Anne in Chicago and a net-zero villa in Michigan should not look like they came from the same template. The throughline is how a building responds to its site, its light, and the people who’ll live or work in it.

A principal is involved in every project from the first conversation through construction and move-in. This isn’t a sales pitch; it’s how the studio is sized to work. You’ll also have a project architect coordinating drawings, consultants, and the contractor. We’ll introduce the team at the start, so you know exactly who to call about what.

moss Design was officially incorporated in 2009 as an architectural practice. Over time, the work expanded to include construction, development, and brokerage. We have been licensed general contractors in Chicago since 2015, licensed real estate brokers since 2014, and active as property developers since 2015. Our principal, Matt Nardella, has been working in architecture since 1999. He was licensed in California in 2004, Illinois in 2005, and Michigan in 2015.

Most architecture firms hand you drawings and wish you luck. We’ve built up the licensing and experience to take on more of the chain. We’re a licensed general contractor, licensed real estate brokers, and we design and fabricate furniture and millwork in-house. On any given project, you can hire us for just architecture, or have us take on a larger role in the process. Fewer handoffs means fewer things lost in translation, tighter cost control, and design intent that survives all the way to the finished space.

We step in as builders when the project benefits from a single point of accountability — typically on smaller-to-midsize residential and interior projects where coordination is the biggest risk to the schedule and budget. For larger or more specialized projects, we’ll recommend contractors we trust and stay closely involved through construction administration. We’ll talk through which model fits your project at our first meeting.

Yes. We have an in-house licensed broker who can help you search, evaluate, and negotiate. Because we’re also your architect, every property is vetted through a design and feasibility lens at the same time. That tends to steer people away from sites that won’t actually support what they want to build.

All of it, if you want. We believe the best interior design is just good architecture continued — cabinetry, lighting, plumbing, fixtures, tile, fabrics, furniture. We also design and fabricate our own line of free-standing furniture and built-in millwork, which means we can create custom pieces without going through a third party.

Yes. Not every project needs the full menu. Common entry points are a feasibility study before you buy a property, a schematic design package to test ideas, or interiors-only work on a space designed by someone else. Most projects begin with a master plan, which includes site analysis and sets the direction for everything that follows. We’ll scope it to what’s actually useful for you.

It means we design every project to use less energy, last longer, and feel better to live in. We make those decisions early, when they’re practically free to make. In practice, that looks like: orienting the building for daylight and prevailing winds, specifying a tight, well-insulated envelope, optimizing heating and cooling systems, choosing materials with low embodied carbon and long lifespans, and designing for water and stormwater. If done correctly, sustainability can be as simple as making decisions in the correct order.

Some choices cost more upfront and pay back in operating costs and comfort (better insulation, efficient mechanical equipment, insulative glass). Others cost the same or less if you decide on them early (orientation, window placement, simpler massing). The honest answer is that a thoughtfully sustainable project is typically 5–10% more than a baseline build of the same size. However, that can be quickly recouped with dramatically lower utility bills, more comfort, and a building that will be desirable decades from now. At your request, we can model the tradeoffs for your specific project rather than quoting averages.

We’ve designed all of them, including a net-zero project in Michigan. Whether to formally certify depends on your goals. Sometimes the certification itself matters (resale, tax incentives, a client’s mission), and sometimes the better choice is to design to the standard without paying for the paperwork. We’ll lay out what each one actually requires before you commit.

Older homes are where the biggest gains are available. Chicago’s housing stock includes a lot of beautiful but leaky, single-pane buildings. Adding insulation, sealing gaps, upgrading the building envelope strategically, and electrifying mechanicals, where appropriate, can cut energy use by half or more without changing how the building looks. Renovations are a major part of what we do.

Designing with the site in mind gives you the best return since that is essentially free. Beyond that, improving the insulative value of the building envelope gives you the next best value — the envelope outperforms almost everything else dollar-for-dollar, and that includes high-performing windows and glazing. Next is the equipment: high-efficiency furnaces, heat pumps, water heaters, condensers, and hydronic radiant systems. Only after those items are addressed should photovoltaic solar panels be considered. With incentives, their payback is quite short, but only after you’ve reduced demand. A small array on an efficient house does more than a big array on a leaky one.

A typical residential project moves through six phases: pre-design and site analysis, schematic design, design development, pricing, construction documents and permitting, and construction administration. From the first conversation to move-in, most full residential projects take 9–24 months. That breaks down to 5–9 months for design, pricing, and drawings, 2–4 months for permitting in Chicago and most other jurisdictions, and construction is the rest. We’ll provide a project-specific schedule once we understand the scope.

Before, if you can. A few hours of feasibility study before you close on a property has saved more than one client from a very expensive mistake. If you’ve already bought, that’s fine — we just start from where you are.

For a residential renovation or new construction, plan on 5–9 months of design and documentation, plus permit time. Commercial and hospitality projects vary more. We pace design to your decision-making, not the other way around. Rushing the design phase is usually where projects go wrong.

More involved early, less involved later. During design, we’ll meet regularly to review options and make decisions that will drive the project. During construction, the majority of the work is on the construction crews and us. You will get weekly updates and decisions only when something legitimately needs your input. Clients who try to be hands-off in design and hands-on in construction usually end up with a result they don’t love.

Yes. The drawing software we use natively builds the project in three dimensions as we develop it. The visualization helps us ensure the design is fully coordinated while allowing us to output views in three dimensions. For projects where it helps, we can produce more realistic renderings, walkthroughs, and physical study models, but that will add some cost. The goal is for you to understand exactly what you’re approving before drawings are submitted for a permit.

All of our work will be billed to you transparently on an hourly basis. We can estimate a fairly tight fee range for the initial Feasibility Study and Master Planning. After we have the Master Plan finalized, we will have a better idea of what the project is and the remaining associated costs. The fee structure is the most fair we have found, where you pay us for what is required to complete the project, no more, no less.

Construction costs will vary widely depending on the project type, site conditions, your decisions and current economic conditions. Generally speaking, our residential projects typically range between $275–400 per SF of developed area, and up. Commercial and hospitality vary more widely. If you’re not sure where your project fits, the honest first step is to develop a Master Plan so we can assess it based on reality rather than on written ideas or a scope of work.

Our fee covers our design work, drawings, permit submittals, coordination of the rest of the design and construction team, and construction administration. Billed separately are fees for third-party consultants (structural and MEP engineers, surveyors, expediters, specialty designers), permit fees themselves, and reimbursables like printing or material samples. We’ll lay this out in writing before you sign.

When we’re the builder, you’re paying us for construction in addition to design. Construction is usually structured as a ‘cost-plus’ arrangement, with full transparency on subcontractor bids. When we’re the developer, the financial relationship is different again because we’re carrying project risk. We’ll walk through the model that best fits your project.

Very well — we file in Chicago constantly. We handle our own zoning analyses, work directly with the Department of Buildings, navigate the Self-Certified Permit Program where appropriate, and have working relationships with expediters when a project benefits from one. We’ll tell you upfront whether your project will sail through or hit friction.

Yes — Queen Anne renovations, greystones, workers’ cottages, and projects in landmark districts. Historic work has its own rhythm: you’re designing for the Commission on Chicago Landmarks as well as for the client, and the right move is usually to embrace the building’s character rather than fight it. Some of our most satisfying projects are renovations of buildings most people would have torn down.

Yes to all three. We handle zoning analysis early so you know what’s allowed by right and what would require relief, and we’ve taken projects through Zoning Board of Appeals hearings, ADU approvals, and planned developments. These add time and cost — we’ll be candid about whether they’re worth pursuing for your project.

By treating them as design problems instead of constraints to apologize for. A 25-foot lot can produce a much better house than a sprawling suburban one if you design for it. Party walls become privacy assets. Alley access shapes a great kitchen. The climate demands a serious envelope, which we’d be specifying anyway. Chicago rewards architects who actually know the city.

Same process, different logistics. For Michigan, Wisconsin, and California projects, we travel for key milestones and lean more on construction administration via video and trusted local trades. The design rigor doesn’t change.

A significant share of our work is renovation and addition — including some of the projects we’re proudest of. New construction is rarer in Chicago than people think; the more interesting question is usually what to do with what’s already there.

Adaptive reuse means converting an existing building to a new use — a warehouse becoming residences, a corner store becoming a restaurant, a single-family home becoming a duplex. It’s almost always more sustainable than tearing down and rebuilding, and it usually produces a more interesting building. If you own something with good bones in a good location, it’s worth the conversation.

That’s most of what we do on older homes. The trick is knowing what to keep, what to restore, what to replace — honestly, with something contemporary — and where to add modern systems invisibly. Done well, the new and the old strengthen each other instead of competing.

Yes. Construction administration is part of our standard scope. We visit the site regularly, respond to RFIs, review submittals, certify pay applications, and ensure the design intent is being followed according to the plans. The drawings are only worth what gets built from them.

Things will come up; older buildings, especially. When they do, we’ll lay out the options, including cost and schedule implications, so you can make a clear-eyed decision. We don’t disappear when problems show up; that’s when an architect earns their fee.

Yes, we’ve built long-term relationships with contractors, structural and MEP engineers, millworkers, masons, and specialty trades across the Chicago area. We’re happy to recommend, and we’ll tell you frankly who’s a fit for your project type and budget.

Just the basics: where the property is (or where you’re looking), what you’re trying to accomplish, a rough budget range if you have one, and any constraints or deadlines you’re working with. Inspiration images are welcome but not required. If you don’t know yet, that’s also fine. Figuring it out is part of what we do.

Yes, our initial consultation is complimentary. We’ll spend about an hour understanding your project, walking through how we work, and answering your questions. If it’s a fit on both sides, we’ll follow up with a written agreement.

Yes. Our website shows a representative selection, including final photos and design background, and we’ll share project-specific case studies once we understand what you’re looking for.

Life happens. Our agreements are structured so you can pause or end the engagement at logical phase breaks without penalty. You will pay for work completed, not work projected. We’d rather you pause and come back than push through a project that isn’t right for the moment.