| Phase | What it produces or decides | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-design (programming) | The foundation of the project, before any layout is drawn | Settle what the building must do before paying for drawings; weak briefs cause rework later. |
| Schematic design | Basic floor plans, site plans and elevations | Test layout and massing while changes are still cheap to draw. |
| Design development | Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and architectural details added; value engineering may occur | Lock in major choices and review cost before documentation begins. |
| Construction documents | A highly detailed set of drawings and specifications for building | The package a builder prices and builds from, so check it for completeness. |
| Permit and bidding | City or county review against building codes and zoning laws; bid documents if the work is bid | Allow generous time for review, since permitting is generally one of the slowest parts. |
| Construction administration | Site visits, submittal review and RFI responses, ending at the final certificate of payment | Keep the architect engaged until the project closes out. |
Phase descriptions follow Stonehaven’s overview of the architectural design process and Leeb Architecture’s simplified design-process guide.
Architecture and building project phases run from programming through design, documentation, permitting, construction and handover, and each phase fixes decisions that the next one must carry out.
This page follows a project in that order and shows how each drawing set drives a construction decision. For the design stages in more depth, start with the architectural design phases guide, then use the sections below to jump to the stage you are in.
Where to start on a building project
Your starting point depends on how much is already decided. A person with only an idea needs a different first step from someone holding drawings and looking for a builder, and skipping ahead usually moves a problem rather than removing it. Match your situation to the decision that comes next.
- You are still deciding what to build. Begin with programming and a study of the plot. A guide to site analysis for architecture shows what to check before the layout is drawn, because the site shapes what the program can realistically hold.
- You are deciding whether to reuse an existing building. Read about what is adaptive reuse architecture before committing to demolition, since the existing structure becomes part of the brief.
- You are budgeting for design services. Fee structures vary, and the page on how much do architects charge explains the common approaches so you can compare proposals on equal terms.
- You have drawings and need a builder. Your next choice is the delivery route, covered under the builder section below, together with the paperwork that goes with each route.
- Work is already under way. Go straight to the construction and handover sections, where the architect’s role during building and the closeout steps are explained.
A useful way to see the whole journey is the broad view taken by BIMobject’s project guide, which describes three main phases of a building project: design, build and maintain. The architect’s detailed stages sit inside the design phase and the construction administration that overlaps the build phase. Keeping both views in mind stops a design-stage decision from being treated as someone else’s problem during construction.
Design phases: from program to coordinated design
The design phases turn a need into a drawn building, and they do it in a deliberate sequence of increasing detail. Each stage should answer questions the previous one raised, not reopen settled ones.
Programming and scope
The pre-design phase, also known as programming, is the foundation upon which an architectural project is built. It comes before any layout, so it is the cheapest place to find out that the ambitions and the available resources do not match.
The core document is the program. As Vera Iconica’s process guide puts it, the program is the list of rooms and functions, with the square footage each needs. Write it as a list a stranger could check a drawing against. A room that appears on the plan but not in the program deserves a question, and a program item missing from the plan is a defect to fix at this stage.
The same guide describes the architect as the hub of the project, coordinating engineers, consultants and the permitting jurisdiction. That coordination role starts here, so choose an architect you can talk to plainly about priorities, because every later trade-off refers back to them.
Schematic design
Schematic design is where the program first becomes a building. According to Stonehaven’s phase overview, its output typically includes basic floor plans, site plans and elevations. These drawings answer three questions at once: how rooms relate, how the building sits on the plot, and how it will look from outside.
Read these sheets critically rather than approving them quickly. If you are unsure how to interpret the symbols and room outlines, the guide to how to read a floor plan is a practical companion, and the page on types of architectural drawings explains how plans, elevations and sections relate to each other. Walk through the plan as a user would, from arrival to the furthest room, and note anything that feels cramped or indirect while changing it still costs only drawing time.
Design development
Design development takes the approved layout and makes it buildable in principle. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and architectural details are added during this phase, which is why it is the moment the engineers’ needs begin to push back on the architect’s plan. A duct route or a structural member can alter a ceiling height or a wall position that looked settled.
The same phase is also where value engineering may occur, according to Stonehaven. Value engineering is a review of how to reduce cost without giving up what the project is for, and the page on what is value engineering in construction explains how to judge such proposals. Treat the end of design development as the point to settle major decisions, because the next phase draws every system in detail and late changes then ripple across several sheets.
Construction documents, BIM and permit review
This stage turns a developed design into instructions that a builder can price and a reviewer can approve. It is also where drawing quality has the most direct effect on construction cost and conflict.
Construction documents versus design drawings
Design drawings and construction documents answer different questions. Schematic and design-development drawings communicate intent: layout, appearance and the main systems. Construction documents, by contrast, are what architects produce during the construction document phase as a highly detailed set of drawings, supported by specifications, for the building work itself.
In practical terms, a design drawing lets you decide whether you like the building, while a construction document lets someone else build it without asking what was meant. For an owner, this changes how to review. At earlier stages, test whether the building meets your needs. At this stage, test whether the set is complete and consistent, for example whether a room named on a plan appears with the same name wherever else it is referenced.
Where building information modeling fits
Building information modeling, usually shortened to BIM, is the digital route to the same documentation. In BIMobject’s description, the design phase of a digital construction project normally consists of three main steps: concept design, data input, and showing a 3D model to the client.
The data input step is the one that distinguishes a model from a set of lines. Information goes into the model along with geometry, so the design can be examined before it is built. For an owner, the practical benefit is the final step: viewing a three-dimensional model is often easier than reading plans, especially for anyone unused to drawings. Ask whether your project team works this way and what you will be able to see at each review.
Permit and code review
Before building can begin, the drawings go to the local authority. Leeb Architecture notes that the city or county reviews them to ensure they comply with building codes and zoning laws, and that the permit phase is generally one of the slowest parts of the construction process.
That makes permitting a scheduling issue as much as a paperwork one. Do not plan a start date until you know how the local review proceeds, and keep the design team available to answer reviewer comments, since reviewers check the drawings against building code and a clear, complete set gives them less to query. The page on how to get a building permit sets out the application steps in more detail.
Choosing how to hire the builder
The way a general contractor joins the project affects when builder knowledge reaches the design, how prices are obtained and how responsibility is divided. The decision is worth making before documentation begins, because it determines what the documents must contain.
Design-bid-build
In the traditional route, the design is completed first and contractors then bid on it. The bid package described by Leeb Architecture generally includes an advertisement requesting bids, instructions to bidders and a bid form, alongside the construction documents themselves.
This route suits owners who want to compare prices on a fully defined scope and who can accept that the builder sees the design only once it is complete. Its weak point is that builder input arrives after the drawings are finished, so any buildability issue found by bidders comes late. The comparison of design-bid-build vs design-build goes through the trade-offs in full, and the page on types of construction contracts explains the agreements that follow either route.
Design-build and early contractor involvement
Design-build brings design and construction together under a single team rather than separating them by a bidding stage. Related, but not identical, is early contractor involvement, which Vera Iconica says it prefers: its approach is to bring the contractor onto the team in the early phases of design. Its stated reason is that cost estimates are more likely to be accurate at each phase when the builder takes part.
The firm also observes that the standard sequential process is becoming less common for custom residential work. For an owner, the lesson is to ask any prospective team how and when the builder’s knowledge enters the design. Early involvement suits projects where cost certainty and buildability matter from the start, while a fully bid approach suits those with a stable, well-defined scope and a strong wish to compare competing prices.
Construction: the architect, the builder and the schedule
Once construction starts, the drawings stop being proposals and become instructions. The architect and the builder each have a distinct job, and understanding the split avoids both gaps and duplicated effort.
What the architect does during construction
The architect’s work continues as construction administration. Stonehaven describes this as involving regular site visits, reviewing submittals and responding to requests for information (RFIs). Submittals are the products and samples the builder proposes to use, and RFIs are the questions that arise when the drawings are unclear or conditions on site differ from what was assumed.
This is where the quality of the documents shows. A complete set produces few RFIs, and a thin one produces many. Keeping the architect involved gives the owner a professional who can say whether a substitution or an on-site fix respects the design. If scope changes are proposed, the formal route is a change order, and it helps to understand what is a change order in construction before the build begins.
The build phase and site coordination
BIMobject says there are four steps within the build phase: making a work plan, tracking time and cost, handling materials, and carrying out the construction itself. The sequence shows that construction is managed as well as built, with schedule and budget tracked alongside the physical work.
That management role usually belongs to a project manager, and the page on what does a construction project manager do explains the day-to-day duties on site. As an owner, the most helpful habit is to ask for the schedule in phases you can follow, so you can see where decisions will be needed from you before work is held up.
Early physical work is also where earlier drawings become visible. Foundation drawings in the construction documents govern what is poured, and the guide to types of building foundations explains the options those drawings choose between. Because a foundation is hard to alter once placed, questions about it belong in the earlier design phases, not on the day of the pour.
How long a building project takes
No single duration describes every building. Vera Iconica’s guide begins by saying that the process is long, and that is the honest planning assumption, with the length depending on the building, the team and the approvals involved.
It is more useful to plan by phase than by a headline total. The design phases run in a fixed order, each needing owner decisions before the next can begin, so slow approvals at the schematic stage delay everything after. The permit stage deserves particular attention because, as Leeb Architecture notes, it is generally one of the slowest parts of the construction process.
To get a realistic schedule for your own project, ask the architect for a phase-by-phase timeline that shows when your input is needed, then ask the contractor how their work plan fits after the permit. Where the contractor joins early, that conversation can happen during design instead of after it. Treat any promised end date with caution until the permit review is complete.
Handover and closeout
A building is not finished when the last trade leaves. The architect’s construction administration services only finish when the project is complete and the final certificate of payment is issued, so closeout is a defined stage, not an informal goodwill gesture.
Two documents shape this stage. The first is the inspection list of defects and unfinished items, explained on the page about the construction punch list. Walk the building with that list before final payment, since leverage is greatest while payment is still outstanding. The second is the record of what was actually built, and the page on what are as-built drawings covers why it differs from the original construction documents once field changes accumulate.
Handover also begins the maintain phase in BIMobject’s three-phase view, so keep the final drawings, specifications and approved submittals somewhere they can be found later. They answer most questions that come up when the building is altered or repaired.
Frequently asked questions
Is building information modeling mandatory?
Not everywhere. BIMobject notes that BIM is a requirement for public procurements in some nations, so check the rules for your own jurisdiction and client type instead of assuming it applies.
Does every project follow the standard phase sequence?
Firms adapt it. Vera Iconica reports that the standard process is becoming less common for custom residential work, so ask a prospective team how they tailor the phases and where the contractor joins.
What is a project scope, and how does it differ from the program?
BIMobject defines a project scope as a written statement describing the vision, goals and work needed in a construction project. The program is narrower: the list of rooms and functions the building must contain.
What does a bid package contain?
Leeb Architecture says the document set generally includes an advertisement requesting bids, instructions to bidders, a bid form, the bid documents, an agreement and a payment bond.