Advice Hub / Project stages
From first ideas to construction: how a home project develops
If you have never commissioned building work before, it can be difficult to see what happens between an initial sketch and a builder arriving on site. Each stage answers a different set of questions, helping the project become clearer as you decide how to proceed.
This guide explains a typical residential design journey. Projects can overlap or revisit stages, and the work Built Together carries out depends on the appointment agreed with you. It is a way to understand the process, rather than a promise that every service is automatically included.
1. Set the brief and understand the starting point
The first task is to understand the property, your priorities, budget and timing. We discuss what you hope to achieve and what information is available.
The next work might involve a measured survey, reviewing planning history or identifying a particular issue for a specialist to investigate. The information needed for an existing terrace will differ from that needed for a new house on a sloping plot.
Your decision: what is the project trying to achieve, and what initial work will help you judge whether to pursue it?
2. Explore options through feasibility and concept design
Early drawings test ideas. They can help compare layouts, the scale of an addition or how a new home might sit on a site.
At this stage, focus on how spaces work and which compromises you are comfortable with. Moving a kitchen may improve its connection to the garden but affect drainage or another room. An option that adds less floor area may still deserve consideration if it meets the brief more directly.
Planning questions and initial cost assumptions should inform these conversations. Where an uncertainty could change the project substantially, agree how it will be investigated.
Your decision: which direction is worth developing, and what needs testing before more detail is added?
3. Develop the design and establish the planning route
The preferred design becomes more defined through layouts, elevations and other agreed information. This is the time to check that the proposal reflects your priorities and that the principal spaces work together.
The planning route may involve an application, prior approval or checking the position under permitted development. Where an application is needed, the relevant council’s information requirements help establish what drawings, reports and specialist input must accompany it.
Some projects benefit from pre-application advice. That can help identify concerns, but it is not a guarantee of permission. Read our planning routes guide for the main distinctions.
Your decision: are you comfortable with the proposal and the scope of the submission?
4. Read the decision and plan what comes next
Planning approval is a significant step, but it does not usually provide all the information needed to build. Check the approved drawings and conditions, including any requirements that must be addressed before work begins.
It is worth making a clear list of outstanding items and who is responsible for each. This may include further approvals, technical information, specialist design and arrangements affecting neighbouring property.
If you want to change the design, establish whether further planning action is needed before instructing the builder to carry out the change.
Your decision: what remains to be completed before the project is ready for construction?
5. Prepare the technical design
Technical design explains how the proposal is to be assembled. Depending on the project and appointment, this can include construction details, specifications and coordination with structural and other consultants.
Building regulations deal with matters such as structure, fire safety and energy performance. They are separate from planning. The appropriate building control process needs to be arranged alongside the required design work.
This stage also brings decisions that can easily be underestimated: window details, floor build-ups, service routes, lighting positions and the junction between old and new. Clear information helps reduce assumptions when pricing and building the work.
Your decision: are the important details and responsibilities sufficiently clear for the intended next step?
6. Obtain and review construction prices
A builder needs a defined scope to provide a useful price. Comparing prices is easier when each contractor has the same drawings, specifications and explanation of what is included.
Review exclusions and allowances as well as the total. For example, a price that includes a kitchen allowance cannot be compared directly with one that excludes the kitchen entirely. Our budget guide explains this in more detail.
The construction route affects how pricing and technical design fit together. Agree the intended approach and whether tender support or advice on a building contract forms part of the professional appointment.
Your decision: do the agreed scope, cost and programme work for you, and are the construction arrangements clear?
7. Build with the right support in place
Questions arise during construction, particularly when an existing building is opened up. Decide in advance who will review design queries, coordinate changes and advise you about their implications.
Built Together’s construction involvement can include answering contractor queries and reviewing key details where appointed. The level and frequency of visits should be defined. Occasional site involvement is different from continuous inspection, and it does not automatically include managing the builder or administering the building contract.
Agree who provides each role before work begins. When changes are proposed, seek clarity on design, cost, timing and any approval implications before committing to them.
Your decision: how will questions and changes be recorded, assessed and authorised?
8. Complete the work and understand your home
Allow time for finishing items, relevant completion documentation, operating instructions and an explanation of the systems installed. Depending on the contract and appointments, there may be further inspections and a process for addressing defects.
Keep the project information together. It will be useful for maintenance, future changes and any eventual sale. Responsibility for assembling and checking it should be agreed rather than assumed.
Questions about the journey
How long will it take?
That depends on the brief, surveys, decision-making, approvals, contractor availability and construction scope. A useful programme sets out dependencies and allowances for uncertainty. An application target date should not be treated as a guaranteed start date for the build.
Can we appoint you for an initial stage only?
We can discuss an initial feasibility or concept scope and what it will help you decide. The written proposal will set out the work included and how any later appointment would be agreed.
Who else might be involved?
Depending on the project, a structural engineer, surveyor, cost consultant, ecologist or other specialist may be needed. The appropriate team follows from the building and scope, rather than a standard list applied to every home.
Let’s find the right next step
Tell us where you are in the process and what you need help deciding. We’ll discuss your priorities and explain how we can help. The first conversation is free of charge. From there, we’ll arrange a site visit to understand the property in more detail and explore the next steps, with the scope and any charges explained beforehand.
Discuss your project, email us or call us.