One of the most common things people say after completing a custom home project is that they wish they’d understood the process better at the start. Not because the process went wrong — often it went well — but because knowing what’s coming, what decisions you’ll need to make and when, and what each phase actually involves would have made the journey less stressful and their contributions to it more useful.
This page walks through the residential architecture process in detail: what happens at each stage, why each stage matters, and what you as the client are responsible for at each point. If you’re considering working with a custom home architecture firm in Asheville, this is the orientation you need before that first conversation.
A custom home is not a product you purchase. It’s a project you participate in, and the quality of the outcome depends significantly on the quality of the process that produced it. A compressed or poorly structured design process shows up in cost overruns, design decisions that don’t hold up during construction, and homes that don’t quite work as well as they should have.
A disciplined process — one that gathers the right information at the right time, builds in client review at each stage, and maintains coordination among all the professional disciplines involved — produces homes that are built accurately, on budget, and with the spatial quality the design intended.
The four-phase structure below is how Form & Function approaches residential projects. It reflects the natural logic of how design decisions should be made: broad strokes first, then increasing resolution, with client input and cost pressure-testing throughout.
Every residential project begins with a site visit. For new construction, this means walking the property together — reading topography, identifying view corridors, assessing solar orientation, drainage, and access. For remodels, it means spending time in your existing home watching how you use it, identifying what works and what the constraints are.
This visit informs a site analysis that shapes every subsequent design decision. The building’s orientation on the lot, where windows are placed, how outdoor spaces are connected to interior ones — all of this comes from paying close attention to what the site is actually offering.
According to a 2022 survey by the American Institute of Architects, inadequate site analysis is one of the leading causes of costly design revisions in residential projects (AIA Firm Survey, 2022). Getting this phase right is not just good practice — it’s cost management.
Before schematic design begins, we develop a program: a written document that defines the spaces your home needs, how those spaces relate to each other, and the priorities that should guide design decisions. A program answers questions like: How many bedrooms, and for whom? Do you need a dedicated workspace? How do you entertain? Do you use outdoor space extensively? Is there a guest suite or an ADU on this property?
The program is the brief for design. A clear, honest program that reflects how you actually live produces a home that actually works for you. A vague or aspirational program produces a home that feels slightly off in ways that are hard to articulate.
Schematic design translates the program and site analysis into early concepts: a building footprint and massing, a floor plan logic, a section that shows how levels relate, early material direction. We review zoning setbacks, height limits, and any applicable overlay districts at this stage. We consult informally with contractors to test whether the early design is tracking toward your budget.
You’ll review schematic design concepts and give us feedback. This phase typically involves two to four rounds of review and refinement before we arrive at a concept you’re confident enough in to develop further. The time spent here is well-spent — decisions made in schematic design are inexpensive to change; the same decisions made during construction documents or, worse, during construction, are very expensive.
For mountain projects in particular, schematic design is where the relationship between building and topography gets worked out. How the home sits on the slope, how levels are stacked or separated, where the garage goes relative to the house, how stormwater is managed — these are schematic decisions with major cost implications. See how this plays out in projects like the Mountain Crest Dwelling in Thoms Estate and the Highland Haven project.
Design development takes the approved schematic concept and adds resolution. At the end of this phase, your home should be fully conceived, even if not yet fully documented.
This phase involves several streams of work happening in parallel:
Architectural development. Floor plans gain detail: wall thicknesses, door and window sizing, built-in millwork locations, bathroom layouts, kitchen configuration. Elevations are drawn with material notations. A roof plan is developed. Interior spatial sequences are refined.
Engineering coordination. Structural, civil, and mechanical engineers come on board during design development. The structural engineer determines framing systems and foundation approach. The civil engineer addresses site grading, drainage, and utility connections. The mechanical engineer sizes HVAC systems and coordinates ductwork and equipment locations.
Material selection. The material palette is confirmed during design development. Exterior cladding, roofing, window systems, interior flooring, and major finish materials are selected and priced. These decisions have significant cost implications, and making them during design development — rather than later — allows the budget to be managed proactively.
Cost review. We revisit the budget estimate at the end of design development with updated information. If the design has drifted upward in cost, this is the moment to make adjustments before documentation begins. Value engineering at this stage is straightforward; value engineering after construction documents are complete is expensive.
Construction documents are the full permit and construction set: everything a building department needs to issue a permit and everything a contractor needs to build your home.
Using Revit, a BIM-based platform, we produce floor plans, elevations, building sections, wall sections, and construction details. We incorporate all engineering drawings and coordinate conflicts between architectural and engineering systems. We write specifications: written requirements for materials, products, and construction methods that supplement the drawings.
This is the most time-intensive phase of the design process and the one most invisible to clients. It’s also the one that determines how accurately your home gets built. A well-documented set of construction drawings leaves less room for contractor interpretation and improvisation, which means less drift from the design intent and fewer change orders during construction.
We submit construction documents to the relevant building department — Buncombe County, City of Asheville, or whichever jurisdiction your project falls in — and manage the permitting process through approval. We’re familiar with local review requirements and can anticipate what additional documentation reviewers are likely to request.
Before construction begins, we help you select a contractor through a competitive bidding process. We develop a list of qualified contractors appropriate for your project, distribute the construction documents, and manage the bid process through receipt and analysis.
Analyzing bids requires expertise beyond comparing bottom-line numbers. A low bid that excludes scope items, uses underpriced allowances, or makes assumptions about existing conditions can end up costing more than a higher bid that covered everything. We help you understand what each bid includes and how to make a meaningful comparison.
Understanding how architects and contractors work together, and where the lines of responsibility fall, is covered in more detail on our architect vs. general contractor page.
Construction administration is the phase that most clients undervalue before their project begins and most appreciate after it’s complete.
During construction, we make regular site visits — typically every one to two weeks for active residential projects. We observe whether work is being done in accordance with the construction documents. We respond to requests for information (RFIs) from the contractor. We review and approve material submittals — shop drawings, product data, samples — to confirm they meet specification requirements.
When design issues come up during construction — and they do, on every project — we resolve them quickly. When field conditions reveal something unexpected — a rock ledge where the footing was supposed to go, a framing condition that doesn’t match the drawing — we develop an appropriate design response.
We document the project through construction: photographs, field reports, and a record of decisions made. This documentation protects you by establishing what was intended and what was agreed to throughout the project.
At the end of construction, we assist with project close-out: punch list review, final inspections, and confirmation that all systems are working as designed.
The architecture process is collaborative by definition. The firm brings design expertise, technical knowledge, and process management. The client brings site-specific goals, program requirements, aesthetic preferences, and timely decision-making.
A few things clients are asked to do throughout the process:
Show up to reviews prepared. Design review meetings are more productive when you’ve looked at the drawings beforehand and arrived with specific observations and questions. “I’m not sure” is fine; “I need to think about it and get back to you next week” is also fine. What slows projects down is approval without engagement followed by changes requested later.
Make decisions on schedule. The design process has a critical path. Material selections, program decisions, and scope confirmations all have timing dependencies. Delayed decisions push subsequent phases and, ultimately, the construction start.
Communicate budget changes promptly. If your budget changes — up or down — during the design process, tell us early. A $50,000 change in available budget early in design development is addressable. The same change discovered after construction documents are complete creates significant rework.
Trust the process. There are moments in every custom home project, usually somewhere in design development, when the abstract of a floor plan starts to feel overwhelming. This is normal. It’s why we walk clients through the design systematically rather than presenting everything at once.
The phases described above apply to new construction. Remodel projects follow the same general logic, with some important differences.
The site analysis phase for a remodel is an existing conditions assessment: we document what’s there, identify what’s structurally sound, note what code compliance issues exist, and assess what can be kept versus what needs to be replaced. This assessment is a critical investment — surprises discovered during construction of a remodel are among the most expensive outcomes in residential work.
Remodel projects tend to have more compressed design phases because the building envelope and structural system are largely determined by what exists. They also tend to have more construction administration challenges, because field conditions in an existing building are harder to document and predict than conditions on a raw site.
Our home renovation guide covers the remodel process in depth, including how to scope a renovation project, what to expect during construction, and how to manage the disruption of living through a major remodel.
Schematic design is the phase where the big decisions get made: where the building sits on the site, how rooms are organized, what the home looks like from the outside, and what the fundamental spatial experience will be. These decisions shape cost, livability, and long-term performance. Changes made during schematic design are inexpensive; changes made after construction documents are complete cost significantly more. Taking schematic design seriously — spending the time to get the concept right before moving to detail — is one of the most valuable things you can do in the residential architecture process.
A typical timeline for a custom home might look like this: site visit and program development take 2–4 weeks. Schematic design takes 6–10 weeks depending on complexity and client review cycles. Design development takes 8–12 weeks. Construction documents take 10–16 weeks. Permitting takes 4–12 weeks depending on the jurisdiction. Bidding and contractor selection take 4–6 weeks. Construction takes 12–18 months. Total elapsed time from first meeting to move-in is typically 24–36 months for a custom home in Western NC.
Construction documents are the drawings and specifications that define what to build. Construction administration is the ongoing involvement of the architecture firm during construction itself — site visits, responding to contractor questions, reviewing material submittals, and maintaining design intent through the build. Both are part of a full-service architectural engagement. Some clients opt for reduced construction administration scope to save on fees; this increases the risk that the finished home drifts from the intended design.
It’s addressed during design, not during construction. The best protection against budget overruns is an honest budget conversation at the start, informal contractor cost consultation during schematic design, and a cost review at the end of design development. If a preliminary cost estimate shows the design is tracking over budget, we address it with design modifications before the documentation phase. Scope and finish reductions are much less expensive to make on paper than in the field.
No. We work with clients who are remote during parts of the design process, and we use video calls, shared drawing platforms, and detailed documentation to keep communication clear regardless of location. Site visits require you to be present at key moments — particularly during the initial site analysis and at major design review milestones — but day-to-day communication happens by phone, email, and video. Get in touch through our contact page to discuss your situation.
The first meeting is a conversation about your project and about fit. We’ll ask about your site, your program, your timeline, and your budget range. We’ll walk you through how we work, what the process involves, and what a typical project timeline looks like. We’ll look at examples from our residential portfolio that are relevant to your project type. By the end, both sides should have a clear sense of whether to move forward together.
Steep slope lots add complexity to several phases. Site analysis is more involved because topographic survey data needs to be gathered and interpreted carefully. Schematic design requires more iteration because the relationship between building and terrain has more variables. Construction documents include more structural and civil engineering coordination. Construction administration involves more site visits because steep slope construction has more opportunities for field conditions to diverge from drawings. The Daydream Ridge and Highland Haven projects are examples of how we approach these conditions.
If you’re thinking about a custom home in Western NC — whether you have land already or you’re still in the site-evaluation stage — the best next step is a conversation. We can help you understand what the process would look like for your specific situation, give you a realistic sense of timeline and cost, and help you figure out whether now is the right moment to begin.
Our studio is at 9 Walnut Street, Suite 3B in downtown Asheville. Reach us at 828.575.2423, at info@ffarchitecture.com, or through our contact page.
