Process
What is a design-build contractor?
Short answer
A design-build contractor handles both the design and the construction under one contract, so one company is accountable for the drawings, the budget and the finished work. The traditional alternative splits those roles between an architect and a separately hired builder.
What changes in practice
Under design-build, pricing happens alongside design rather than after it. That is the practical difference most homeowners feel: instead of paying for drawings and then discovering the design costs 40 percent more than the budget, cost feedback arrives while decisions are still cheap to change.
It also removes the gap where responsibility hides. When a detail does not work in the field, there is no argument between designer and builder about whose problem it is.
What a design-build process looks like
Our projects run in a consistent sequence:
- Consultation and site measure, with an honest budget range
- Design and material selections, priced as they develop
- Fixed proposal with an itemized scope
- Permitting and scheduling before demolition
- Construction with one point of contact and a written schedule
- Final inspection, punch list and warranty
When to hire an architect separately
Design-build is not always the right answer. Complex structural additions, historically regulated properties and highly bespoke architecture can justify an independent architect leading the design, with a builder bidding it afterward.
We work either way — building from another party's drawings, or designing and building in-house — and we will tell you honestly which suits your project.
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