References
Design & Build · Paris
A single contract for design and works. A committed price, a committed schedule, one party responsible: us.
The model
The traditional set-up scatters responsibility across 5 to 15 contracts. We concentrate it into a single one.
Our architects design, our works division executes, and we coordinate every trade on site. You approve the key milestones — we carry everything else: schedule, budget, quality, administrative procedures and co-ownership formalities.
To understand both set-ups in detail, read our comparison: general contractor or architect plus separate firms?
References
A general contractor is a firm that commits, through a single contract, to designing and delivering your entire project: architectural studies, permits, selection of the companies, execution of the works, coordination of the trades and handover. Where traditional project management designs and then supervises, the general contractor carries an obligation of result: the price signed is the price paid, the schedule signed is the schedule kept, and one single party answers to you for the whole.
This model — design & build — reverses the usual logic of the building trade. You no longer juxtapose an architect, a cost consultant and a dozen firms with distinct interests: you entrust the project to an integrated structure that designs what it knows how to build, and builds what it has designed. In Paris, where period buildings, co-ownership regulations and access constraints complicate every project, this unity of command tangibly changes how the works unfold: decisions are taken internally, quickly, without the question ever landing back on your desk.
At W.A.R.D, this leadership covers every trade of a renovation — up to sixteen crafts coordinated on a single operation — from strip-out to finishes, technical packages included.
In the traditional set-up, you sign a project-management contract with an architect, then a separate contract with each company — five to fifteen signatures depending on the scale of the project. Each is responsible for its own package; no one is responsible for the whole. When the plumber is waiting for the plasterer who is waiting for the electrician, the arbitration falls to you. When one package overruns, so does the cost.
| Criterion | Architect + firms | General contractor |
|---|---|---|
| Contracts to sign | 5 to 15 | 1 |
| Responsibility for the result | Diluted per package | Single and global |
| Price | Estimated, adjusted by variations | Committed at signature |
| Point of contact | Several | One |
| Disputes between trades | Yours to settle | Absorbed by the lead |
Both set-ups have their legitimacy: one favours the designer's independence, the other the client's security. To choose with full knowledge, read our honest comparison of the two formulas: general contractor or architect plus separate firms.
A well-run project is a project without surprises. Here are the steps every project entrusted to W.A.R.D follows, from the first conversation to the handing over of the keys.
You describe your project — we reply within 48 hours. A site visit allows us to survey the existing space, identify the technical constraints (structure, networks, co-ownership) and frame your expectations in terms of style, use and budget.
Our architects draw the project: plans, choice of materials, technical specifications. In parallel, we establish a complete costing, trade by trade. This simultaneous work is the heart of design & build: nothing is drawn that cannot be built within the stated budget.
You sign one document, which commits the price, the schedule and the scope of the works. From that signature onwards, site contingencies fall within our project management — not within a succession of variations.
Prior declarations, co-ownership authorisations, protection of the common areas, organisation of access: we carry the administrative and logistical procedures specific to Parisian buildings.
The trades follow one another to a schedule we hold week after week. You approve the key milestones; we manage the daily life of the site, quality checks and the interfaces between crafts. On the real duration of a renovation in Paris, we have published concrete benchmarks: how long an apartment renovation takes.
Joint inspection, clearing of reservations, delivery of the technical documents — then the legal guarantees take over, backed by our €5,000,000 ten-year warranty insurance.
Curious to know where your project would sit? Request an estimate: answer within 48 hours.
A general contractor's contract is only worth the strength of the commitments it contains. Ours are simple.
The difference lies less in the promise than in the structure: when design, execution and coordination fall under the same contract, there is no longer any space where responsibility can be lost.
Owners of Haussmann apartments, hôtels particuliers or duplexes who want an exceptional renovation without carrying its mental load. Le St Georges (145 m² in Paris 9th, five months, eight artisans), Le Marquis (a 130 m² duplex in Versailles, six months) or Le Vénitien (240 m², seven months) belong to this family of projects: complete renovations where the owner approves the choices and discovers the result.
For an investor, every month on site is a month of rent lost; the committed schedule becomes a financial parameter. La Main d'Or (90 m² in Paris 11th, delivered in three months) illustrates what a tight execution makes possible. On budget, our published ranges give a first benchmark: €500 to €900/m² for a refresh, €1,200 to €1,800/m² for a complete renovation, €2,000 to €3,500/m² for the high end — an observed average of around €1,500/m².
Boutiques, offices and premises open to the public, where deadlines are dictated by the commercial opening: the Newcop (110 m², three months) and Livy by Etam (300 m² delivered in one month) boutiques, a 270 m² I.T. workplace designed and delivered in design & build in four months, a 210 m² medical office brought up to ERP5 public-access standards with eleven artisans, or the Dior offices (380 m², four months, under a confidentiality agreement). All of these projects can be explored in our portfolio.
Paris 16th, 227 m²: a former law firm to be transformed into a family residence. A major renovation, ten months on site, sixteen trades coordinated — our record — from asbestos removal in the floors to the final finishes. One contract, one schedule, one responsible party throughout the operation.
This project sums up what the general contractor model brings to a complex Parisian operation: the sixteen crafts followed one another without a moment's drift because a single lead carried the design, the budget and the calendar all at once. Discover the Le Trocadéro project in detail, before-and-after included.
FAQ
A firm that carries your entire project — design, execution, coordination — under a single contract, with a commitment on price, schedule and result. This is the design & build model.
The traditional set-up multiplies contracts and dilutes responsibility package by package. Here, one contract and one party responsible for the result. The full comparison is here.
Yes, contractualised at signature. Contingencies are absorbed by our project management — not by variation after variation.
High-end residential, retail and boutiques, offices and workspaces (including ERP public-access standards) — in Paris, Cannes and Miami.
Our published ranges: €500 to €900/m² for a refresh, €1,200 to €1,800/m² for a complete renovation, €2,000 to €3,500/m² for the high end. Request an estimate — answer within 48 h.
Real-world benchmarks: 3 months for 90 m², 5 months for 145 m², 10 months for a major renovation of 227 m². Our detailed duration benchmarks are here.
