How Long Does It Take An Architect To Draw Plans

For an architect, designing homes is part of their job. And conceptualizing a custom residential design often involves different timelines and requirements based on the client’s preference. So how long does it take an architect to draw plans? Is there a standard answer to this question?

To find out more about this, we urge you to read further as we’ll tackle more into this topic in today’s article.

Getting To Know The Process Of Drafting Your Dream House

There are many things that go into drawing up plans for any type of house or building. Architects spend years studying building codes, structural integrity, and engineering of structures before they are even able to begin their designs.

Depending on how complex the design is and the size of the structure, the timeline for drawing up plans may vary depending on many factors. However, how long will the house plan to be completed will also be dependent on the client’s decision-making abilities. That’s because the plans usually involve the collaboration of draftsmen, engineers, plumbers, electricians, government officials, and most importantly the home owner.

And setting a specific time period is not that easy because any duration that is forcibly specified will often cause the architect to overlook many building code provisions. Moreover, a complacent residential plan can lead to poor execution. Which is why homeowners should also be allowed to review the plans carefully and that the architect should accept suggestions for minor edits before commencing the building process.

Here is a breakdown of the whole house plan drawing timeline:

Initial Contact And Conversation With The Client – This is also called the brainstorming phase between the architect and the homeowner which can take a few weeks to a couple of months. During this period, the client will review the architect’s portfolio to determine if he/she is the best one to handle the project and discussing the schedule and budget of building or remodeling a house.

Filling-Out A Questionnaire – Once the client and the architect have come into terms with the basic details of the project, the client will have to complete a form that provides more information to the architect about the goals, needs, and other specifications about the client’s dream house. And this process takes about 1 week to complete.

Documentation And Information Gathering – In this phase, the architect will conduct site visits to evaluate the existing conditions of the place while coordinating with surveyors and geotechnical engineers to get a better assessment. Aside from that, they also need to contact with the city’s government agencies that are responsible for the records of the residential property and building code ordinances.

Drafting A Diagram Of The Home Building/Remodeling Project – In this phase, the architect will create a schematic design based on the information collected from the previous phases, cross-referencing the diagram, and filtering it to create physical diagrams. Several meetings are required for a period of 2 months so the client will be able to go through the several designs concepts carefully until a specific plan is chosen for 3D modeling.

Design Development And Acquisition Of Permit Documents – The architect will organize assemblies and develop specifications like the materials, plumbing, electrical, and appliances as well as complying with the structural engineering documents. This takes about 1 month to complete.

Submission Of Permits And Building Construction Documents – Once the necessary documents are submitted, the construction of the building starts, which can take weeks to complete.