How I work

Design consultancy only

This page is the commercial basis of the practice. If a sentence here and a signed fee letter ever disagree, the fee letter wins.

Scope

Eamonn provides design consultancy: engineering advice, climate-control design, lighting design and layout. He works for private collectors, restaurants, bars, hotels and commercial wine-storage operators, and with the architects, interior designers and builders they appoint.

The engagement is advice and the documents that carry it. It is not a construction contract. Documents are design advice for your architect and consultants to incorporate, unless a fee letter expressly says otherwise. Permits, certification and the built result stay with the professionals and trades you appoint.

What I don’t do

  • Build, project-manage a site, or act as builder.
  • Fabricate joinery, racking or metalwork.
  • Supply cooling plant, lighting, racks or wine furniture.
  • Install any of that work.
  • Carry construction liability, a builder’s warranty, or the trade insurances for the works.
  • Direct your trades, or certify the build.
  • Replace your architect or interior designer.

Your own trades, and their insurances, cover construction, supply and installation. Warranties for plant and joinery sit with the companies that manufacture and install them.

Engagement options

Fees on enquiry. No prices are published, and none of these options starts until a fee letter is agreed.

Initial consultation

A short working session on the space, the collection and the drawings, and a view on whether a design package is the right next step.

Fixed-fee design package

A defined set of drawings, specifications and climate and lighting briefs. The fee letter describes the scope and the fee before design work starts.

Hourly or retainer advisory

For a live project that needs drawing reviews, answers and, where agreed, site reviews as the design develops. The rate, and any retainer, is in the fee letter.

Deliverables

What is included depends on the fee letter. A package can contain:

  • Drawings: layout of the cellar, racking, display and access.
  • Specifications and notes your architect can take into the project specification.
  • A climate brief: temperature, humidity, insulation and the performance the plant has to meet, for your mechanical contractor to design and install in detail.
  • A lighting brief: levels, colour, control and the protection of the wine, for your lighting designer or contractor.
  • Written comments on drawings prepared by others.

Shop drawings for fabrication stay with the fabricator. Eamonn does not issue construction certificates.

Process

  1. Brief

    You send drawings, photos and site measurements, and we talk through the collection and how the room will be used.

  2. Proposal & fee letter

    You receive a written scope, a fee, any travel quoted separately, and a clear list of what is not included. Design work does not start, and travel is not booked, until you agree the letter.

  3. Design

    Climate, lighting and layout are worked through, mostly over video, until the documents are ready for your team.

  4. Handover to your build team

    The documents go to your architect, builder and specialist trades. They price, supply, install and warrant the work.

  5. Site reviews if needed

    A visit to assess the structure, review the climate plant or sign off the lighting happens only when it is in the fee letter, or as a further visit quoted before it is booked.

Where I work

Anywhere in the world. I'm based between Australia and Ireland and consult on cellars across Australia, Ireland, the UK and further afield. Most of the design work happens remotely: you send drawings, photos and site measurements, and we work through the design over video calls. When a project needs someone on site, for example to assess the structure, review the climate plant or sign off the lighting, I'll travel to you.

Travel fees

Site visits outside my home city are charged separately from design fees. They cover return travel, accommodation and a day rate for time on the road. Every travel cost is quoted and agreed in your fee letter before I book anything, so there are no surprises. Where it makes sense, I group visits with other projects in the same region to share the cost.

FAQ

Why consult only?

So the advice is not tied to the sale of racks, plant or a building contract. Eamonn is not paid to supply the cellar. You choose the trades. The people who make and install the work are the people who warrant it.

Who carries the warranty?

Your builder, your joiner, your mechanical contractor, your lighting contractor, and the manufacturers they buy from. Eamonn does not manufacture, supply or install, and he does not warrant that work. If something in the build fails, the claim sits with the trade and the insurer who covered it. His responsibility is the design advice he was engaged to give, on the terms of the fee letter.

How does it work with your architect?

Your architect, or your interior designer, leads the project. Eamonn joins as the cellar specialist. He reads their drawings and gives them layouts, a climate brief and a lighting brief they can incorporate. He does not take their role, their contract, or their duty to you. Coordination goes through them so the cellar is resolved before it reaches site. Where a building permit or a structural engineer is required, that appointment is yours. He does not replace it.

Start a Project