Your Home Planning Guide
Whether you are leaning toward a custom design or a pre-designed plan, or have not decided, this guide shows what happens next: what unfolds between now and move-in day, what you will be asked to decide, and what you need to bring to each step.
Whether or not you have run the numbers yet (our Cost Calculator can help), the path is the same.
Answer six quick questions and the guide adjusts to where you stand, then builds a one-page roadmap you can keep.
How it typically goes
A new house usually unfolds in this order, whether the design is custom or begins from one of our plans. You settle the lot and a budget. With your architect you write a short design brief: the rooms you need and a square footage target the budget can carry. The architect turns that brief into a design in stages, from rough plans to a fully drawn set, bringing in engineers, an interior designer, and often a builder along the way so pricing keeps pace with the drawings. If your community has a design review board, it approves the design before the county issues a permit. Then the builder builds, with your architect visiting the site to see that what is built matches what was drawn. Design through permit typically takes most of a year; construction takes another year or more.
Where do you stand today?
Four things worth understanding first
The lot comes first
A good house starts with the land: where the sun rises, where the street is, what the neighbors see, how water drains. If you are still looking, bring your architect in before you buy. An hour on a candidate lot can save a year of compromise.
Your budget has five parts
Land, construction, site work, professional and permit fees, and a contingency. Owners who plan only for construction are the ones who run short. The chart below shows how the house budget typically divides once land is set aside.
The team arrives in order
You do not hire everyone at once. The architect comes first and helps you choose the rest at the right moment. A builder engaged early, before drawings are finished, can price as you go and prevent surprises.
Start with a design brief
A good brief has two parts: a program, which is simply the list of interior and outdoor spaces you need, and a square footage target, set by what your budget can carry rather than by wishes. The Cost Calculator helps you find that target. Everything the architect draws is measured against this brief.
Review boards are part of the path
In a planned community or resort, an architectural review board approves your design before the county issues a permit. Geoffrey Mouen serves as town architect and review board member for several communities, so you will hear how that process works from the reviewer's side of the table.
How the house budget usually divides
Typical ranges for a custom house in Central Florida once the land is paid for. Every project differs; the point is that construction is not the whole number.
Building your team
You hire one person first, the architect, and the rest of the team is assembled around the design as it takes shape, each member joining at the point where their work can inform the drawings rather than redo them.
| Who | What they do for you | When they join |
|---|---|---|
| Architect | Leads the design, coordinates everyone else, represents your interests through construction | First, ideally before you buy the lot |
| Surveyor | Boundary and topographic survey, tree survey where required | Pre-design |
| Builder | Pricing, scheduling, and building the house | Schematic design, if you want early pricing; bidding otherwise |
| Structural and civil engineers | Foundation, wind design, drainage and grading | Design development |
| Interior designer | Finishes, fixtures, furnishings | Design development |
| Landscape architect | Grounds, pool setting, planting, outdoor rooms | Design development, earlier on a difficult lot |
| Review board | Approves the design against community guidelines | Before permit, sometimes with an early concept review |
The seven phases, from your side of the table
Every new house goes through these phases in this order; a pre-designed plan shortens the first three. For each one: what it is for, what you bring, what you decide, and what you receive. Durations are typical ranges for a custom house; complexity, review boards, and how quickly decisions are made all move them.
Choosing an architect
Questions to ask
Have you built in this community or with this review board? Who will I work with day to day? How do you handle budget as the design develops? Can I speak with two recent clients and one builder you have worked with?
What a proposal should contain
The phases above, named. What is included in each and what is not. Which consultants are in the fee and which you hire separately. How changes are handled. How often you will meet.
How fees are structured
Three common structures: a percentage of construction cost, a fixed fee per phase, or hourly with a cap. Full-service custom residential work is often quoted as a percentage in the low to mid teens, but the number matters less than what it covers. Ask what happens if the scope changes.
Your roadmap
Your timeline, phase by phase
Your next three moves
Ready to talk it through?
A 30-minute call with Geoffrey Mouen. Bring whatever you have, even if it is only a lot and a question. You do not need a finished brief or a final budget to start. You will leave with a clear next step, whether or not you work with us.
Book a callThis guide is general information about the residential design and construction process. Permits, licensed professionals, and community approvals are required for any project, and requirements vary by site and jurisdiction. Durations and budget ranges are typical, not promises.