The Steps Home…Always Evolving
The Latest on Our Process Steps
As of today, this is the latest version of our steps — our carefully built roadmap to guide you through your home renovation or new build. Each step isn’t just a phase on paper; it comes with its own clear deliverables, so you always know where we are and what’s expected next.
We’re in the process of pulling together some great visuals and images to show exactly what each of these steps looks like. For now, it’s just words — but they’re important words. Because at the end of the day, you’re putting your trust in us to help you invest a substantial amount of your money into one of your most important assets: your home.
So please, take some time to read through these steps carefully. Ask us questions. We want to make sure everything feels transparent, comfortable, and aligned with your goals.
And stay tuned — the next version of this (COMING SOON) will be something special, complete with beautiful pictures and engaging visuals that bring the entire journey to life.
STEP 1 – Build Relationships
To us, every project begins with a relationship—not just a plan. We take the time to listen, to understand your story, and to learn what home means to you. Because this isn’t just a house or a building—this is a home. And we don’t take that lightly.
That’s why we’ll start by creating a personal Design Journal for you—a dedicated space where you can easily add notes, images, and inspiration directly into our system. This way, nothing ever gets lost, and your ideas can grow and evolve right alongside your project, guiding us toward a finished home that truly reflects you.
STEP 2 – Documenting Current Conditions
Documenting Your Home
Capturing the existing conditions of your home uses advanced tools like drones, 360° cameras, LiDAR, and AI — combined with experienced professionals who analyze the detailed construction. This creates precise drawings and documents that accurately represent your home.
Depending on your project’s size and complexity, we may need multiple site visits to ensure we gather all the critical information for a smooth design and build process.
STEP 2 – Understanding City Guidelines
What Am I Allowed to Build?
Every city and county has its own zoning rules that dictate what can be built on your property. These requirements can vary widely — not just from one jurisdiction to another, but even from neighborhood to neighborhood.
As part of our process, we identify the specific zoning regulations that apply to your project to ensure everything is compliant from the start. With this information, plus a little math and some quick sketches, we can answer that big question:
“What am I allowed to build?”
STEP 2 – Visuals & Exploration
See Your Ideas Take Shape
This is where we start creating floor plans, layout options, and design ideas tailored to your goals. There’s no guesswork — just a clear vision you can react to and refine.
It’s a creative process where we help draw out the ideas in your head (even the ones not fully formed) and turn them into something you can see and trust. It takes patience — and often a few rounds of design iterations — to get it just right. That’s how we ensure whatever gets built truly meets your expectations.
We also often explore high, medium, and low options to give you a feel for different design and cost scenarios.
STEP 2 – Engaging the Build Team
What We Do If You Have a Budget in Mind
Once you have a good sense of your target budget, we move forward in one of three ways using the visuals we have prepared along with a Scope Snapshot:
✅ Option 1 (Our Preferred Approach):
We select the builder and begin developing and refining your visuals into final drawings — always working toward your budget. This is the most time-efficient and cost-effective way to manage the overall process.
✅ Option 2:
You’ve already chosen your builder. We send them a package to provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) price, usually within ±20% of your target budget, based on general assumptions and allowances.
✅ Option 3:
We interview three different builders, collect their ROM pricing, and help you select the best fit based on these early estimates.
Why is pricing only ROM at this stage?
Because to get a precise construction bid, you’ll still need to invest several thousand dollars in design fees, plus engineering, and detailed material selections. Before spending that money, we want to ensure we’re on the right track with your budget.
If You Don’t Have a Budget Yet…
Even after developing visuals, you might not be sure what things cost. In that case, one strategy is to price different options at high, medium, and low levels to see where you land. Option 1 is still the easiest and most streamlined path for figuring this out.
STEP 2 COMPLETE
At this stage, you have a solid grasp on the overall direction of the design and scope for your home renovation. Our team is also comfortable with the target budget that’s been set forth, knowing it aligns well with the general scope and goals of your project.
While there’s still a lot of detailed work ahead to further refine both the design and budget, you’re now in a position to make a significant financial commitment to move forward. The next phase covers detailed design, engineering, and permitting.
STEP 3 – Permit Drawings & Navigating the City
Getting your permit drawings completed and approved isn’t just a process—it’s a big event in your project’s life. This phase ensures your plans meet all required building, energy, land use, and other local codes. It’s a critical milestone that transforms your vision into something officially ready to build.
We prepare and submit a coordinated set of documents—often involving structural engineers and other consultants—to the city or county for review. These documents are created specifically for permitting and to guide your general contractor.
Once submitted, your plans are routed to multiple departments: typically building, fire, planning (land use), and public works. Each reviewer provides feedback to clarify details and confirm code compliance. Our team then makes revisions as needed and resubmits to keep the process moving.
Realistic expectations:
The timeline for getting final approval is hugely inconsistent. Each department has different workloads—fire might complete their review in 2 weeks, while the building department could take 12 weeks. Other factors like outdated government systems, staffing constraints, and general slow adaptation can cause further delays.
We know this can be slow and frustrating. Please be patient—our team is actively working to improve the efficiency of this process wherever we can, leveraging both internal staff and trusted external resources to push your project through. Rest assured: we’re keeping a close eye on your permit’s progress and will continue to advocate on your behalf.
STEP 3 – Detailed Design
Detailed design is the supplemental layer to your permit drawings—this is where the real fun begins. Here, we dive into 3D renderings, cabinet layouts, and material selections, ultimately creating a comprehensive Shopping List that covers every little piece of your home.
No matter which approach you take, we start with a blank Shopping List that lays out quantities and areas for all materials needed on your project. From there, you decide how you’d like to fill it out.
STEP 3 – How You Can Approach Detailed Design
We offer several approaches for how you can tackle this stage, depending on how hands-on you want to be:
✅ Option 1 – “I Need Some Guidance”
Our design team will prepare two different design concepts for you, each with distinct color palettes and material combinations. These can be based on our team’s recommendations or inspiration images you’ve provided. It’s a collaborative way to explore possibilities without feeling overwhelmed.
✅ Option 2 – “I Love to Design”
You take the reins and pick everything out yourself. We’ll recommend trusted showrooms and suppliers, and you get to enjoy the process of discovering materials and finishes that speak to you.
✅ Option 3 – “Mix & Match”
Maybe you want to pick the tile yourself but have us handle plumbing fixtures. We tailor this exactly to what you want.
✅ Option 4 – “Interior Designer”
Work directly with an interior designer. This could mean touring showrooms together for a few hours, having curated sample boards prepared for you, or anything in between, depending on your budget and needs. Our experts are here to make it easy.
All of this is intentionally structured to give you the freedom to be as involved—or hands-off—as you want, while still ensuring the final selections align beautifully with your vision.
STEP 3 – Engineering & Professional Consultants
It takes a team of specialists to prepare high-quality drawings. Our role is to coordinate these professionals to ensure their work is fully aligned across all documents. Depending on your project, this team may include:
Structural engineers
Civil engineers
Landscape designers or architects
Arborists
Surveyors
Environmental or geotechnical engineers
Mechanical engineers (HVAC)
Energy consultants
Acoustic consultants
Lighting designers
…and more
We manage all of this for you.
STEP 3 – Bid
This phase compiles everything required by the city along with all the additional details from Detailed Design. It’s used to obtain construction costs—whether from a pre-selected contractor or in a competitive bid.
The more detail we’ve included here, the fewer assumptions and allowances show up in bids, which means contractors can price with more certainty. This often results in fixed-cost bids, reducing surprises.
STEP 3 – Financing
Once you have your final bid, it’s time to lock down financing. Every homeowner funds their project differently — savings, home equity, or construction loans. We have a trusted network of lenders we can connect you with to help explore the best options.
STEP 3 COMPLETE
At this point, all design decisions are finalized, costs are set, your permit is approved, and there’s a tentative start date on the schedule. You’re ready to move into pre-construction.
STEP 4 – Pre-Construction
The build team is assigned and preparations ramp up. Scheduling is finalized, final subcontractor selections are made, and logistics like material storage are coordinated. This could involve using your garage, temporary on-site structures, or off-site storage, all to keep things organized for a smooth start.
STEP 4 – Purchasing
The Shopping List already contains costs and sources. In many cases, items are ready to be ordered and systematically stored as planned in pre-construction. This is done at a fixed cost to avoid unnecessary mark-ups, requiring a builder who can work within this structure. If a builder prefers to handle purchasing, the detailed Shopping List is provided to them.
It’s strongly recommended to buy all selections before day one of construction (with few exceptions). This minimizes delays, avoids last-minute decisions, and helps the project run smoothly.
STEP 4 – Build
Because of this thorough process, everything ideally moves forward as planned. The Visual team performs quality control checks to keep the project on track. Of course, things rarely go perfectly, so clear communication and teamwork ensure issues are handled promptly.
Having everything decided and procured ahead of time leads to a smoother, more cost-effective project with fewer surprises — all with the ultimate goal of getting you moved into your beautiful new home.
