William Reid: [00:00:00] All right. You've made your design decisions. You've specified your materials. Your architect says the plans are almost done. But here's what most homeowners don't realize: there's a massive difference between design plans and construction documents. And that difference? It can cost you months of delays and tens of thousands of dollars in change orders if you don't get it right.

I am Bill Reid, and today we're talking about construction documents—the final step before breaking ground. This is the closing episode of our design process series. This is where your dreams officially become a buildable reality. Let me show you how to make sure nothing gets missed.

[INTRODUCTION TO SERIES CONTEXT]

[00:01:00] All right, welcome back to Your Home Building Coach. If you've been following along with this design process series—and I really hope you have—we've been on quite a journey together. We started way back in Episode 22 where I introduced you to the three stepping stones of professional design: schematic design, design development, and construction documents.

Then we dove deep into schematic design in Episode 23, where your dreams started taking shape within design work with your architect and your designers. Episodes 24 through 26 took us through the massive world of design development, which is the core part of residential custom home design and remodels. This is where, in the design development stage, you start making commitments and your design process became more regimented and restricted, really.

[00:02:00] This is where your architect was assembling your dream team and nailing down every last specification. And now we're here—the final step called construction documents. This is where all of that planning, all of those decisions, all of that specification work gets compiled into one comprehensive, buildable set of plans that your contractor will use to actually construct your project.

And what's really important is your contractor will use these documents to finalize the project cost. The more detailed and comprehensive they are, the less risk you're going to be taking.

[CRITICAL CHECKPOINT EXPLANATION]

But here's what I want you to understand right from the start: this step is not just a formality. This is not your architect spending a week cleaning up drawings so they look pretty for the building department. This is a critical accountability checkpoint—maybe the most important one—because once you transition from design to construction, changes become exponentially more expensive.

[00:03:00] As you can imagine, it's a lot easier to make changes before we break ground than after. If you want to move your bedroom a foot wider and the foundation's already poured—or even if the forms are just up for your foundation—that's going to cost you a lot more than to click and move that wall over 12 inches during the design phase.

Think about it this way: during schematic design, changing your mind about where the kitchen goes might cost you a few thousand dollars in design fees. During design development, that same change might cost $15,000 or $20,000 once your engineer has to redo structural calculations. But once you're in construction? Once the slab is poured and the walls are framed? That same change could cost you—who knows—$50,000 or more.

[00:04:00] This is where I'm going with all of this. As you remember, The Awakened Homeowner podcast is all about everything you're doing before construction. Eventually we'll get into the construction stage, but it's going to be a while before we get there.

Construction documents are your last line of defense against the nightmare stories you've heard. This is where we make absolutely certain that everything—and I mean everything—is documented, specified, and ready for your contractor to build without having to make assumptions or call you every other day with "Hey, we have a question."

So let's dive in and talk about what construction documents really are, what your architect should be doing during this phase, what your role is as a homeowner, when you should be selecting your contractor, and how to make sure you're actually ready to break ground.

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SEGMENT 1: What Are Construction Documents Really?

[00:05:00] Let's start with the most basic question: what exactly are construction documents? Because I guarantee you, most homeowners think construction documents are just the final, cleaned-up version of the design plans. And that's not entirely wrong, but it's only about 20% of the story.

Let me break down what construction documents really mean and why they matter so much. The more involved you've been in the schematic design and the design development stage, the less involved you have to be in the construction document stage. In reality, the architect and all of the consultants are offline a little bit, working on all of the plans, assembling them all for preparation for building permits. But it goes way beyond that.

[DESIGN PLANS VS. CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS]

The design plans that we've been talking about in the past and the construction documents are not really the same thing. Design plans show you what you want. Construction documents show what and how it gets built. That's the key there.

[00:06:00] You've spent a lot of time with all the pretty pictures and the renderings, but now we're getting into all of the details. Construction documents include the code compliance information that wasn't necessary during design. They serve two masters: the building department for permits, and your contractor for construction.

Final construction documents are stamped and signed by your licensed professionals and ultimately are the documents that govern the project—both for permitting, for pricing and costing, for contracting with your general contractor, and for building.

All of this stuff that we've talked about all comes together in one set of plans and specifications for your project within construction documents.

Think of it this way: your design development plans are like a beautiful rendering of a car. Construction documents are the actual engineering blueprints with every bolt, wire, and system specified. One shows you what it looks like; the other shows you exactly how to build it.

[WHAT'S INCLUDED IN COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS]

[00:07:00] That's the 30,000-foot view of what construction documents are. Now let's get specific about what's actually included in this final plan set, because it's way more than what most people realize.

When I talk about a complete set of construction documents, I'm talking about a package that might include 30, 40, sometimes even 60 or more individual sheets or plan pages, depending on the size and complexity of your project. Let me walk you through what's in there.

We start with the architectural pages. As I mentioned in the past, these are the large sheets that are usually identified with an "A" and then a number sequence after that. These are your floor plans, your elevations, your sections, details, door and window schedules, finish schedules, and then notes that the architect has included within the plan page sheets to instruct your builder of what to use, where to put it, and how to use it.

[00:08:00] Structural pages. If you may recall, structural pages are created by a structural engineer in most cases—that's a separate design consultant that your architect brought in way back. This is the bones of your home and how to put all the bones together. This could be from the ground up: your foundation plans, your framing plans, your structural details, the beams, the columns, the roof structure, and all of the hardware and connection pieces that have to go into the home to put it all together—down to every single bolt, nut, nail, lumber specifications, the type of lumber, even the moisture content in the lumber, believe it or not.

[00:09:00] As part of the structural package, there's a whole separate set of documents called structural calculations. Now, this is something that most of us don't understand, and this is because these are the technical documents that the structural engineer generated to make a determination on the sizes and the types of materials and connections based on the building code. Then the building department engineers that you eventually submit that to will be analyzing that as well to make sure that they, in fact, did interpret those calculations correctly versus the building code in your state and city.

[MEP AND SPECIALTY PAGES]

The next one is the MEP pages—the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing pages. That's also your lighting. If you want to go back and listen to some of those episodes about what goes into that, but these are now more detailed, more comprehensive plan pages that include as much information as possible on where, what, and how things go into your home. It's really important that that information is included in the plan set so that things get priced out properly, permits are issued correctly, and things are installed properly.

[00:10:00] There's also another thing we haven't talked about yet, which is energy compliance pages. It's a little boring, so we haven't talked about it yet, but this is usually a separate consultant that specifies the type of insulation, the windows, the energy efficiency of the windows, the HVAC equipment, the specifications for that, that the mechanical engineer and the mechanical contractor must conform to, the water heating solution.

[00:11:00] These are another component of the construction documents called the energy pages, energy compliance pages that go into it. Then we talked about civil engineering in the past episodes. This is primarily for new construction, but civil engineering has to do with all of the site work itself: all the grading, the drainage, the underground utilities, anything that's outside the perimeter of the structure.

Then we talk about landscape plans. Sometimes in some communities, landscape plans are required—not necessarily by the building department, but sometimes. It has to do with water conservation, but most often it's by the homeowners associations or the city planning departments that require a certain landscape plan to be executed before final occupancy to maintain the integrity of the neighborhood.

[00:12:00] Then sometimes there's specialty pages that go into a plan set, such as roof truss calculations, fire sprinkler plans, and then smart home wiring or what I called in previous episodes the low voltage category.

Then all of this is covered up with a cover sheet that goes on top of all of these plan pages. That is the project information, the index of the drawings, the code analysis, the building code that everything's been designed off of, and then the general notes that the architect is conveying to the builder and to you as the homeowner about what is covered, what is not. These are important notes to read because there's a lot of CYA clauses in those general notes.

[SPECIFICATIONS DOCUMENT]

[00:13:00] That's a quick overview of what construction documents are. There's one last one that I want to really emphasize—and I did in the last episode—and that is the specifications document.

Now, you don't necessarily have to submit a specification document to the city, but you need to have a specification document, which is, if you remember from the previous episode, all the materials, the equipment, and the scope of work that you're requiring on your project. Materials being construction and finish materials. Equipment being things like mechanical, water heating, any of that type of equipment that is operating the home. And then the scope of work, which is a narrative describing what you want done with that material and equipment.

[00:14:00] An example of that is specifying a particular tile material for the entry and then the orientation of the material, the size, the shape, the make, the model, the colors, the grout color—all that kind of stuff should be provided to your contractor in order to price and build the project.

[REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE]

Here's an example. Once I had a homeowner tell me, "Bill, I thought we were done after design development. Why are there 20 more pages now?" Because those 20 pages contain all the code compliance information, structural calculations, and construction details that your contractor needs to actually build this thing correctly.

From a homeowner's perspective, a lot of it is not necessarily the sexy part of looking at a plan set, and frankly, a lot of the stuff you're not really going to understand, such as the architectural and structural details. But it's important for you to be able to understand that they are there.

[00:15:00] It's important for you to be able to ask a general contractor when you go to give them the final construction documents: "Are all the details here that you need in order to price this project out correctly—or accurately? Are there any details that you don't understand or that you'd like more information on in order to build this thing the way that we are anticipating?" All of those questions can come about when you're going to get estimates, and I'll have a separate series on how to get estimates from contractors and we'll talk about that.

You don't necessarily have to know what all these details are and what's all in the construction documents, but in principle, you can ask some of those kind of fundamental questions because hopefully you're getting questions from your contractor. Your architect's getting questions from your contractor to clarify so that they can price things out or understand what was envisioned and how it's supposed to be built.

[PERMIT SUBMITTAL PACKAGE]

[00:16:00] This complete plan set becomes your permit submittal package. Everything I just mentioned has to be included for the building department to approve your permit application and for your contractor to give you a comprehensive bid.

We'll talk about that in a minute, but remember, in the previous episodes we had Budget Checkpoint #1, we had Budget Checkpoint #2, we had the ability to get an actual construction estimate at the end of design development. But for sure, you need to have one as you get into construction documents before you move forward. We're going to talk about that at the end of this episode about risk.

Now you might be thinking, "Okay, I get there's a lot of information in these documents, but why does it matter to me as a homeowner? Can I just let my architect handle all this?" Yes and no. Let me explain.

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SEGMENT 2: Why Completeness Matters to YOU

[00:17:00] Here's the truth bomb: incomplete construction documents are the number one source of budget overruns and project delays in residential construction. And your architect isn't the one who pays for it. You are.

It sounds a little strange, but that actually is pretty much the case. If something is omitted from the plans that should have been there for one reason or another—it could have been you forgot to tell them or they forgot to put it in—ultimately, you are the owner of the project. It's your home. You end up paying for these things. This is why you care about what I'm talking about.

[INCOMPLETE PLANS EQUAL PROBLEMS]

Incomplete plans—here's a couple things they equate to. A contractor has to make assumptions when it comes to incomplete plans. Why I want to emphasize this is because when you're a contractor and you're reviewing a set of plans and you're expected to price things out, if you start to sense that there's not enough details—and that happens a lot, way too often—there's not enough information, there's not enough material specifications or equipment specification.

[00:18:00] You start making assumptions on your own, meaning they're making decisions for you. They're making decisions about what to price on the project, and this can get a little scary. Early on when they price the project out and give you the price and you contract with them and you start building, all that starts to fade away in memory. Then you show up and there's no dropped ceiling in the primary new bedroom of yours—or a raised ceiling, let's say, a recessed ceiling detail, a coffered ceiling detail that you thought was going to be there. You show up and it's not there. And it's because it didn't make it on the plans, or there was just a little line drawn that nobody knew what it was and nobody asked. They just built a flat ceiling.

I've seen that happen. And it's not necessarily the liability of the contractor to ask you, "What is this line? What does this mean?" They're just going to go right past that, [00:19:00] price in a regular ceiling. And then six months later when it's being built, you start to realize there's things that are missing in the plans.

[CONSEQUENCES OF INCOMPLETENESS]

This translates to change orders. Now we have change orders on the project—unexpected costs. And sometimes they can be big.

The other thing about why the completeness matters in construction documents is delays during construction. If a detail's not clear on how to frame that ceiling, or how to build some other special elements such as a big, wide glass door system and what is holding it up and what is the threshold detail—that could go on and on. If there's no details there, things are either going to get done incorrectly or not done. And a lot of questions start coming up.

[00:20:00] Of course, that's better than not getting it done or doing it incorrectly, but those questions relate to time and often money. And that goes back to the change orders.

The other thing about incomplete construction documents is permit submittal timing. When you go to submit a set of plans to the building permit or even the planning department ahead of the building permit, if things are not correct or things are not included or omitted, there's going to be a lot of back and forth between submitting to the planning department, getting questions back, answering questions, getting more questions, and back and forth. You could double and triple and even quadruple the amount of time to get approvals from your planning department and your building department.

That's why you care. Because you think it's going to take six weeks to get the permit and you hear these horror stories: "It took me six months to get permits." You start drilling down on asking questions. The tendency is to blame the building department, to blame the planning department.

[00:21:00] And honestly, there are a lot of problems within the jurisdictions, especially the bigger ones where they're just overwhelmed with work or they're understaffed or there's incompetency. But I would also say the other half of the time it's because your plans weren't accurate or thorough enough to begin with. And it could be a variety of things that we'll talk about in some of the future episodes under design restrictions and approval and permitting processes that will come with this plethora of information.

[THE "FIGURE IT OUT IN THE FIELD" MENTALITY]

There's this mentality—and sometimes it's subconscious during the design process by design professionals or designers that aren't professionals—where "we'll just figure that out in the field," right? If a detail isn't clear on how to put something together to build something by the designer, then that's going to work its way out into the field.

[00:22:00] Now, your general contractor who might be competent enough to do that but has been put in this position where they have to design-build something that they didn't expect to—what happens? Delays. What happens? Cost overruns, things like that. So this is a big one.

We used to joke in the early days of my career where we would see the terms BOJ or FOJ: "Figure Out On Job" or "Build On Job," which was basically, "We don't know—we like this shelf in the middle of nowhere, floating in midair. Figure it out." There's no bracketry design, there's no blocking specified for the shelf. Nothing's in there. This was a chronic problem in our business early, early days till I finally added that to the list when we do our plan review checklist that we had created over all the years.

[00:23:00] Little tiny example, but can you imagine that on a bigger scale where the contractor shows up and says, "Oh, I'm supposed to put a ceiling here. I don't know—how do you want me to do that?" This happens all the time. Construction documents are actually imperative.

[THE WINDOW SIZE DISASTER]

Here's another example of what could happen. I consulted on a project where the construction documents didn't specify the window sizes in three of the bedrooms. The architect had drawn—or the designer had drawn—the window symbol in each of the rooms and just said "window per code." Sounds minor, right? Wrong.

The contractor ordered standard three-foot-tall windows. The homeowner expected four-foot-tall windows to match their vision from the design development stage. And by the time this was discovered, the windows had been delivered, installed, and the siding was going on.

[00:24:00] And not to mention that the windows did not comply with what's called egress, and that is the spacing required in order to get out of the building in case of an emergency or for emergency rescue people to get into the building through the windows. That's a standard, very fundamental building code.

Fixing that mistake? Huge. It didn't end up costing four or five times what the windows cost, but by the time you had to take those out, remove the siding, reframe the opening—so they have to reframe the opening, order new windows, wait for new windows, put new windows in—you can imagine that's a nightmare that happened. And that's because the plans were not thorough. The construction documents were not thorough enough.

[00:25:00] Assumptions were made. No questions were asked until it was too late. This is the nature sometimes of contractors who are on a mission. They've got projects stacked up. They're not about to spend a bunch of time asking a bunch of questions. The smart ones do, but there's a lot of them that don't.

This is why having construction-ready plans—truly complete construction documents—is so critical. You are not just getting plans for the building department; you're creating that roadmap that determines whether your construction experience is smooth or stressful.

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SEGMENT 3: Homeowner Action Items

[00:26:00] Now you understand what construction documents are and why completeness is so important. But what can you do to make sure you're getting complete documents? Let me give you some specific action items.

Since you don't know what you don't know, and you're probably not going to know what you need to know because you're not an architect and you're not a contractor, let's get tactical. Here are some specific things that you should be doing and asking during this phase to ensure you end up with complete, high-quality construction documents.

ACTION ITEM #1: Request a Document Checklist

Ask your architect: "Can you provide me with a checklist of everything that will be included in the construction documents?" This forces them to think comprehensively and give you a roadmap to review. It's also going to just give you an instinctual feeling: "Are we really organized here, or do I have to hyper-pay attention and get my contractor involved and say, 'Is everything here you need?'"

ACTION ITEM #2: Understanding the Review Timeline

Ask: "When will I receive the construction documents for review, and how much time will I have to review them before the permit submittal?" You need at least a week to review thoroughly. Don't let yourself be rushed.

[00:27:00] And again, you can review them yourself, but I also recommend having the person that's going to build the project—because by now you should have already been talking to different contractors and getting pricing and that kind of stuff—so you can have an alternative third pair of eyes looking at this.

ACTION ITEM #3: Clarify What's Included vs. Excluded

Are the material specifications, equipment specifications, and scope of work included in the construction documents, or are they in a separate document? You need to know where to look for this critical information.

ACTION ITEM #4: Define "Substantially Complete"

Ask: "What does it mean when you say the construction documents are substantially complete? What percentage of specifications should be finalized?" This sets expectations and prevents the "we'll spec it later" trap. And we'll talk about how to handle deferred decisions later.

ACTION ITEM #5: Identify Your Review Responsibility

Ask: "What specifically should I be reviewing and confirming in the construction documents?" Your architect should give you clear guidance.

[00:28:00] And what requires your approval. A lot of architects may never ask you to even look at the construction documents. Good ones do, because at the very least you're going to pick out the visuals, the things that you know—the sizes and shapes of the rooms, the sizes of the windows, where the kitchen sink is. You're going to be able to at least catch—even if you catch one thing, it could save weeks and thousands of dollars.

[REAL-WORLD SUCCESS STORY]

I had a client who asked this question upfront, and her architect initially said construction documents would be "mostly done" in four weeks. When she asked what "mostly" meant, he admitted that the lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and several finish materials weren't going to be specified yet. And she said, "Then we're not mostly done, are we? Let's make a plan to get those decisions made." That conversation saved her a bunch of money and change orders.

[00:29:00] So you as a homeowner can fundamentally ask the basic question like: "Are there decisions that are still not decided on? Should we decide those? Can we decide those?"

These questions position you as an informed homeowner who understands that complete construction documents are your protection against budget overruns and construction chaos.

[SEGMENT SUMMARY]

Here's what you need to remember from this segment: Construction documents are comprehensive, code-compliant, buildable documents that include architectural plans, structural engineering, MEP systems, energy compliance, specifications, and construction details. The completeness of these documents directly determines your construction experience. And as the homeowner, you have specific questions you should be asking to ensure you're getting truly complete documents that will protect you from costly surprises.

[00:30:00] You've now got the foundation for understanding what construction documents are, why completeness matters, and what you should be asking. Next up, I'm going to take you behind the curtain and show you exactly what your architect and design team are doing to assemble these documents, because there's a lot more happening than you probably realize.

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SEGMENT 4: The Assembly Process - What Your Architect Is Doing

All right, so your architect calls you up and says, "Great news! Design development is complete. Now we're moving into construction documents. We'll have your permit-ready plans in about three to six weeks." And you think, "Wait, three to six weeks? What takes that long?"

Let me pull back the curtain and show you exactly what's happening during this phase, because there's a ton of work going on that you never see.

[THE FIVE CORE ACTIVITIES]

[00:31:00] There are five core activities. Your architect and your team are juggling five major activities during construction documents, all happening simultaneously. Each one is critical to ending up with plans that are complete, compliant, and buildable.

Activity One: Design Refinement. They are doing some cleanup. They're finalizing dimensions. They're resolving any lingering design questions from your final direction.

Activity Two: Detail Development. Creating construction details that show how things get built—foundations, roof assemblies, wall sections, custom elements within the plan. There's a whole set of plan pages called architectural details that go into the plans in the back of the architectural pages that supplement the architectural floor plans and elevations and work together with the structural engineering drawings.

Activity Three: Specification Integration. Taking all those material and equipment specs from design development and incorporating them into drawings or a specifications document. Sometimes that gets missed, and that causes all kinds of problems. And I think I've hit that point pretty hard.

Activity Four: Code Compliance Documentation. A little boring, but that's adding all the [00:32:00] technical code information required by your jurisdiction.

Activity Five: Coordination. Making sure all the consultants' work—structural, MEP, energy, civil—aligns perfectly with your architectural plans.

Think of your architect like a conductor of an orchestra. I've mentioned this before. They've got the structural engineer working on the foundation details. They've got the MEP engineers laying out the ductwork and the energy consultant calculating the heat loss and specifying a lot of the equipment and making sure that all these pieces fit together perfectly.

If the HVAC ducts conflict with a structural beam, they have to resolve that now, not during construction. And I'm sure you've heard those stories.

[00:33:00] This construction document process is why experienced architects always tell you this phase takes longer than you think. They're not just drawing pretty lines. They're solving three-dimensional puzzles and ensuring everything is buildable. And they are supposed to be looking out for you. The good ones do. They're looking out for you. They're looking out for the project. They're looking out for the contractor, because they don't like getting those phone calls that "I just drilled a 12-inch hole through a structural beam because we couldn't get the ductwork through and now we've got to rip it all out."

[THE COORDINATION CHALLENGE]

Now, one of the most critical parts of this process—and one that homeowners almost never see—is the coordination between all of your consultants. Let me explain why this matters so much.

Remember when I talked about assembling your dream team back in the design development episodes? This is where that team has to function like a well-oiled machine, and your architect is the project manager, making sure everyone is on the same page.

There are multiple consultants all working on the same project simultaneously. There are common coordination issues that come up: structural beams conflicting with ductwork, like I mentioned, [00:34:00] plumbing pipes conflicting with floor joists, electrical panels in bad locations. Part of this is what I call the clash detection process.

An architect is orchestrating this. They've got their plans, they're overlaying all these different plans on top of each other. They're communicating and meeting and coming up with solutions. The good architects are planning this out ahead of time. I would have to say, though, this doesn't happen as often as it should. For the most part, a lot of this gets just handed off to the contractor and they have to fight with this during the project, and it causes a lot of aggravation, dissension, cost, and time-wasting.

This is what good architects do: they orchestrate all of this to make sure that things go as smoothly as possible. [00:35:00] And this is why your architect needs to review every consultant's work carefully. This iterative process of sending plans back and forth for revisions—that's what's going on behind the scenes and how some of these massive problems are discovered early on.

The really good ones find this stuff early on so that you don't have these cost overruns. You might get a great bid in the beginning: "Oh, we can do your job for $700,000," and they cranked it out based off the plans that you had. But really, the project's a $900,000 job. You just don't know it yet. And what's happening is that you're going to find that out during construction, which is miserable, instead of going back to the $700,000, getting the $900,000 bid at the beginning and making educated decisions.

This is why working with an experienced architect who has established relationships with quality consultants—why it matters so much. The coordination during construction documents can make or break your project.

[CODE COMPLIANCE INTEGRATION]

[00:36:00] Okay, so we've got design refinement happening, details being developed, and coordination between consultants. But there's another massive piece of the puzzle that takes up a huge amount of time: code compliance.

I'm not going to dive too deep into that one, but let me tell you something that might surprise you. Code compliance information can account for 30 to 40% of what's on your construction documents. And this is stuff that simply wasn't necessary during the earlier design phases.

They're covering the complex building codes that are detailed and constantly updated. Architects and trade contractors and general contractors are always trying to keep up with the current codes, which can be a little challenging. And there are different types of codes for different projects and different cities. If you're working in multiple cities, there are even some different variations of the code.

[00:37:00] This is a big part of what gets put on the plans, and you want that on the plans because you want your project built to code and you want to be able to hold people accountable to build it to code by having this documentation on the plans. And this also ties directly to the project being costed out properly.

I'm going to go through the code compliance one pretty rapidly because it's really deeply integrated into the actual design work. This code compliance documentation is a huge part of what makes these building permit plans instead of just design drawings. And every note, every callout, every specification is there because the building code requires it.

[TIMELINE EXPECTATIONS]

All right, so now all of this work I've been describing—the refinement, the coordination, the code compliance—it takes time. So let's talk about realistic timelines and what you should expect.

[00:38:00] How long does the construction documents phase actually take? Like everything in designing construction, it depends, but let me give you some realistic parameters.

Small remodels—kitchens and bathrooms where you are doing some modifications to the structure—that could be two to four weeks.

Large remodels could be four to eight weeks.

New custom homes can sometimes take six to 12 weeks, sometimes even longer for larger, complex projects.

The factors that affect that timeline: the complexity, the consultant availability, the homeowner's responsiveness to questions—so that's you, that's you being engaged like I've talked about before—and then the jurisdiction requirements.

This phase should not feel rushed. Quality really matters here. A red flag is the architect says, "Ah, construction documents will only take a week or two"—unless it's a very simple project. Your architect should give you milestone updates during this phase.

[00:39:00] Now, a lot of architects and designers, during the design development stage towards the end of the design development stage—the really efficient ones, I should say—have already been building their plan set to conform to the submittal requirements. So there's not usually this big transition into construction documents. They've already been formatting everything. But the ones that don't do that, then yeah, it's a big hurdle.

That is a sense of timeline for the construction documents aspect of a project. A thorough construction document process might feel slow, but remember, this is your last chance to get everything right before construction starts.

[00:40:00] Slow and complete beats fast and incomplete every single time. And you're anxious to get these construction documents because you're going to use those to eventually price everything out and hold everybody accountable, including your builder, to these plan sets. If it's not on the plans, you can't hold anybody accountable to it. And that's why it's really important that you let the designers do their job, that you stay engaged.

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SEGMENT 5: Managing Deferred Specifications

All right, so now here's where things get real for a lot of homeowners. What happens if you haven't made all your material and equipment decisions yet? Can you still move forward with construction documents? The answer is yes, but only if it's handled correctly.

We're going to talk about managing deferred specifications. The reality is, let's be honest: despite your best efforts during design development, you might reach the construction documents phase without having made every single material, equipment, and finish decision.

[00:41:00] Maybe you can't decide between two tile options. Maybe that custom light fixture has a 16-week lead time and you can't order it yet. Maybe you're still shopping for appliances. What do you do?

There's going to be choices that directly affect cost and time that are dragging and preventing you from moving into construction documents. Because in a perfect world, all that's done, then you move into construction documents. In a real world, there's overlap, and we just don't want that overlap to be directly on top of each other. We want a small overlap, and that little piece that's overlapped, we want to micromanage the hell out of that to make sure that you don't end up sabotaging your own project. And I think I have an episode on that too.

[WHAT CAN AND CANNOT BE DEFERRED]

As we know, we have the materials, the equipment, and the scope of work as what I call specifications. And you know what can be deferred? What can be deferred within a system so that you don't undermine your project?

That could be finish materials that don't affect the structure, the framing, or the rough-in dimensions. That could be specific equipment models—maybe you can eventually tell somebody what you want. Cosmetic selections like paint colors, decorative hardware, and some lighting fixtures.

[00:42:00] But what can't be deferred before you get into construction documents? Anything that affects the structural design or engineering. For example, you may have been pondering whether "Should I have that recessed ceiling or should I have that bathroom added on over there? Maybe I'll take that back." And you can't make those decisions after you've moved into construction documents.

In fact, that should have been decided back in design development when you were analyzing those options that you may have carved out so that you can make those decisions. Any type of built-in plumbing fixtures, the size of the HVAC equipment and locations, window and door sizes—you could even defer the window product for a little bit of time. And any scope of work that could affect the sequence of construction.

[00:43:00] If you have particular things that you want installed in particular locations in a particular way, or specifications that are required for permit approval, that could go back to all of your systems in your home: plumbing, electrical, mechanical, things like that.

[THE DEFERRED SPECIFICATIONS SYSTEM]

There's a way that you can manage—and hopefully you're helped by your architect or sometimes your contractor—by managing the deferred decisions, a deferred specification system. And that's one way: to create an allowance schedule or deferred decision list, right?

At least you now know what you don't know. So you have a list of all these things that you know you need to still figure out: the tile floor material that you still need to figure out, the glass style around the shower, or you need to figure out certain aspects that can be managed during construction. Okay.

[00:44:00] And then a good contractor will place those items within the construction schedule and prompt you of when you need to make those decisions and when those items need to get ordered.

If you ever do allowances or a contractor/builder ever recommends that we do allowances, one thing I would really encourage you to do is make sure that is discussed and how much we're allowing for each. If we're going to be allowing a per-square-foot price for tile or hardwood flooring or fixtures, that needs to be discussed in detail to make sure that it is a reasonable allowance. Otherwise, you'll end up getting in trouble from a budget standpoint.

Establishing the deadlines when each decision must be made. Document who is responsible for making the selection. Specify acceptable parameters: size ranges, capacity requirements, quality levels. And include this schedule in your construction documents and contract.

[00:45:00] When you go to actually have a contract with a general contractor, a home builder, you should be looking at a construction schedule as well. They should have prepared a construction schedule for you based off your plans, your specifications. And within that, you should be able to identify—or they should be able to even identify—the things that have not been decided. And that should be part of the construction documents so that everybody's in a good space. We're all looking out for each other. You want the project done efficiently. The contractor wants the project done efficiently. But a big part of this is a homeowner may know they haven't picked out a tile, but they don't know when they should and how they get that information to the right individual.

[00:46:00] So this should be talked about. Here's what you do not want to happen: vague specifications like "owner to select" with no allowance, no parameters, no deadline. That's a recipe for disputes. Your contractor prices it out at $50 per square foot. You're thinking $150 per square foot, and boom—you've got a change order battle on your hands.

Managing deferred specifications is all about having a system. When done right, you can defer some decisions without creating chaos. When done wrong or not done at all, deferred specifications become the source of every change order and dispute during construction and often a big contributor to delays in construction.

[00:47:00] I just want you to be aware: the reality is you're not going to be able to make every single decision, although I really push to bring that down to a small amount within a project. But it's okay as long as everybody is aware of what hasn't been decided and that somebody is taking responsibility to manage the deferred decisions.

We used to build that right into the project schedule—what we used to call a procurement aspect on the front part of the schedule, the top part of the schedule. All the materials had to be ordered, what was confirmed and what was not. And there's even applications now out there that help everybody manage that. And the good contractors have web-based programs that can do that and alert everybody of the things that need to be specified and when, so that they can keep—so the tile guy doesn't show up and doesn't have any material.

Yes, you can defer some specifications, but only with clear documentation, allowances, deadlines, and parameters.

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SEGMENT 6: Your Role as the Final Checkpoint

[00:48:00] Now let me give you some specific action items to make sure this is handled properly, and this will help you get to this deferral process and make sure that your mind is set right for this.

Requesting regular progress updates. Ask your architect: "Can we schedule a brief check-in call once a week during construction documents so I know how things are progressing and can answer any questions quickly?"

Clarify the consultant coordination. Ask: "How are you coordinating with the structural engineer, MEP consultants, and other specialists? Will I see a coordination review before the final documents are complete?" In other words, are you being involved in that? Do you need to be involved in that? Sometimes you don't, but asking the question will sometimes uncover questions they wanted to ask you but never got around to or never thought to ask you.

Understand the code compliance approach. "What are the main code compliance challenges for my project, and how are you addressing them in the construction documents?"

[00:49:00] Create a deferred decision plan. Say to your architect: "I haven't finalized all my material and equipment selections yet. Can we create a comprehensive list of what's deferred, with allowances, parameters, and decision deadlines?"

Request a deferred specifications template. Ask: "Can you provide me with a template or format for tracking the deferred specifications that will be included in the construction documents?"

Review the allowance schedule and establish decision deadlines.

These action items transform you from a passive participant into an active project manager. And now you know how you can participate. That's the idea here with The Awakened Homeowner podcast: to get you that next level of information so you can then participate, so you can ask some questions.

[00:50:00] And when it comes to deferred specifications, having clear systems and accountability prevents 90% of the disputes that happen during construction.

[SEGMENT SUMMARY]

In closing on this segment: your architect during construction documents is refining the design details. They're developing construction-specific information, coordinating all the consultants, integrating code compliance requirements, and compiling everything into a permit-ready package.

This process typically takes weeks to months depending on the project complexity. And when material, equipment, or scope of work specifications can't be finalized, they must be managed through a formal deferred specification system with allowances, parameters, and deadlines—never just left vague. Biggest one of the biggest problems.

Your job is to stay engaged, ask the right questions, and ensure deferred decisions are documented properly.

That's what's happening behind the scenes with your architect and how to handle specifications that aren't 100% finalized. But you've got a job to do during this phase too, and it might be the most important job you have in the entire design process. Let's talk about your role as [00:51:00] the final checkpoint.

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SEGMENT 7: What You're Actually Reviewing

All right, so your role at the final checkpoint. Your architect has been working for weeks, maybe months, compiling these construction documents. The consultants have all submitted their work. Everything is coordinated. Code compliance is documented. And now your architect sends you an email: "Construction documents are complete and ready for your review."

This is it. This is your last checkpoint before construction starts. And I'm going to tell you exactly what you need to review, what questions you need to ask, and how to make sure you're actually ready to move forward.

First, let's be clear about what you're not reviewing. You are not, as a homeowner, checking the structural calculations. You're not verifying code compliance. You're not making sure the HVAC equipment is sized correctly. That's what you hired all these licensed professionals to do. So what are you reviewing?

[YOUR REVIEW RESPONSIBILITIES]

[00:52:00] Let's talk about that. You are reviewing:

Design intent. Does this match what you thought you were getting from the design development stage?

Room sizes. What you discussed and approved.

Layout accuracy. Are the doors, the windows, the fixtures in the right locations? I know this sounds crazy, but you'd be surprised how things get moved around in plans during all of this work that's going on. Double-checking it from your eyes, from your perspective, what you care most about—that's how you're going to help.

Material specifications. Are the materials you selected accurately documented?

Equipment specifications.

Finish schedules. Do the finish schedules match your selections? Sometimes, as I've mentioned, architects will create a finish schedule—it's like a table format. And do those match what you really want? Again, you'd be surprised how sometimes they don't.

[00:53:00] Scope of work documentation. Are there instructions specific to your project, and is it accurate?

And then, have all the deferred specifications been identified so that everybody can stare at that and figure out what to do?

You're not responsible for the technical accuracy of engineering calculations, code compliance, the coordination between the consultants. At some point you have to put your faith and trust in these people. But it doesn't hurt if you catch one thing. It could save you thousands of dollars and months of time sometimes.

And you're not obviously checking about construction methods because you have no idea of how these things go together. That's again, what the professionals are for.

The construction document review is about ensuring design intent is preserved from your experience prior in the schematic and the design development stage and ultimately into the construction documents.

[00:54:00] And why I say that is because when an architect is, for example, exchanging information back and forth with a structural engineer, it's very possible that things got moved around to make sure the building is going to be built strong enough. And that could be moving windows, moving doors, moving walls. And it may not get translated all the way back to you.

So you just carefully looking through the plans and the room sizes can sometimes uncover those things. Maybe you wanted double doors to go into the new master suite, but now it's a single door because the structural engineer needed more solid wall. Nobody told you. You see what I'm talking about?

[THE STEP-BY-STEP REVIEW PROCESS]

Now you know what you're reviewing, but how do you actually do this review? Let me give you more of a methodical approach.

Reviewing construction documents can feel overwhelming, and you're looking at 40 or 50 pages of detailed drawings. But if you approach this methodically, you can do a thorough review without losing your mind.

[00:55:00] Start with the cover sheet. That's the first page of the plan set. Just kind of go over it. Review the project information. Check the drawing index that refers to every page.

Review the floor plans. That's your 2D plans where you're looking down. Just kind of walk through each room mentally, right? "Here I am traveling around my house." Then check the dimensions and the door swings and the window locations and the room labels that match your intentions. Look for anything else that seems different from your design development stage.

You could also ask for an updated set of 3D renderings to make sure that there are no other ways that you can identify problems from the design development to the construction drawings, I should say. That is a way for you to identify problems from design development to the construction document stage.

[00:56:00] Review the elevations. Remember, that's the 2D view of your home standing up—the outside and the inside—and confirm that the appearance of the materials match what your expectations are. That's a good place for you to check the window and door sizes and make sure those are actually correct and proportional to what you envisioned.

Review all the schedules—meaning the window schedule, those are the table formats, and the materials and the finishes. Just making sure the exterior color of the windows is black, not white. I'm talking about fundamental basics here to make sure there's not some major mistakes that could occur.

Review your specification document. Read through the material specifications thoroughly that your architect has prepared. And then make a little list, make a punch list of all the things that you want to review with your architect.

[00:57:00] The methodical plan review process is your insurance policy against construction surprises that you can be in control of. You're not necessarily going to see a structural detail that's not accurate within the structural engineering plans—that will surface during construction, unfortunately. But it does take time, but it's way less time than dealing with mistakes during construction.

[THE CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK]

Now, as you're doing this review, there are specific questions you should be asking your architect—questions that can save you tens of thousands of dollars in massive headaches. Let me tell you what they are.

When you send your review notes and questions back to your architect, make sure these specific questions are included. These are the ones that uncover hidden problems before they become expensive disasters.

Question 1: "Could you walk me through any changes from the design development plans?"

Question 2: "Are there any specifications or scope items marked 'to be determined' or 'owner to select' without allowances?"

Question 3: [00:58:00] "Which of my material equipment selections changed from what was discussed during design development and why? Are there any cost implications from the final construction details that weren't captured in the last budget checkpoint?"

This is an important one because sometimes changes occur between the coordinating of all the consultants, but again, nobody really brought that to your attention. And I guarantee you there's something that's been changed. And once that question jogs everybody's memory, they're going to be able to go, "Oh yeah, let me tell you about this." And then that can get translated back to your contractor or at least called to the attention of the contractor when they're doing their pricing and their scheduling of the project.

Question 4: "What items in the construction documents are subject to interpretation or weren't captured in the last budget checkpoint?" That's a good one.

Question 5: "Are there any assumptions built into these plans that I should be aware of?"

[00:59:00] That's a pretty broad question, but there are assumptions that can develop either consciously or subconsciously about how something's going to get built or where something's going. And that is a big question. You might want to poke and prod that a little bit. In other words, "Oh, I see the furnace is over here. Where's the ductwork going to go? And show me the path of that."

Question 6: "Could you point out anything that changed because of code requirements that may affect my design vision?"

Question 7: "What questions or information do you anticipate from the contractor during construction?"

An RFI is called a request for information, and a contractor could submit that to the architect or he can submit that to a consultant. And these requests for information, meaning there's not enough information for him to do his job—if you ask the question, [01:00:00] "Do you anticipate any RFIs?" that's going to be an interesting answer to listen to because that could uncover details within the project. The architect or the designers know haven't thoroughly been thought out but want to just defer those until later. And hopefully they all get worked out. And that happens a lot and probably on every project.

So asking those questions and then learning more about why that is can at least position you to say, "Okay, let's roll the dice on that one," or "No, let's see if we can figure that out now because I don't want to have to answer that later."

These critical questions during your final design review turn you from a passive plan recipient into an active project manager who's protecting their investment. Just be thinking about it from your perspective and thinking about it logically.

[01:01:00] Muddy the water, stir it up a little bit and say, "Do you think my contractor's going to be asking about any stuff, details? Are all the details clear here?" Asking these questions doesn't make you difficult. It makes you smart. And any good architect will respond. And any good architect will respect that thoroughness.

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SEGMENT 8: Final Action Items and Approval

Now let me give you some specific action items for your checkpoint phase.

All right, here's your action plan for this final checkpoint before construction starts. Do these things and you'll sleep well knowing you've done your due diligence.

Schedule adequate review time. You tell your architect you want a week to review all this.

Print out the key pages or have them provide those to you.

Review it in multiple sessions.

Use that comparison method. Ask your architect: "Can you provide the final design development plans alongside the construction documents so I can compare them side by side?"

Create a punch list.

Request a review meeting.

Document your approval of the plans.

[01:02:00] And one thing I want to add is having your contractor engage in this review process. You've got your architect, everybody providing it to you. On the other end, you've got somebody who's actually going to be depending on these documents to build a project. I would almost get a set of those to your contractor and say, "Hey, I'm reviewing these. Would you review these too? And by the way, can you start creating an estimate for the project and let me know if you have any questions?"

Now this is—hopefully you've got some kind of relationship with a contractor or contractors at this stage of the game because you've gone through some of my suggestions through the earlier design process stages. If you haven't, now is the time to reach out to potential contractors and say, "Hey, we're wrapping this up. I'd really like to see if you'd be interested in our project, and if you have any questions on the plans, here you go." And also get a complete digital set of the plans too, so you can have that in your file.

[01:03:00] This homeowner final approval process is your protection against the "But I thought..." conversations that lead to expensive change orders and relationship-damaging disputes.

[FINAL SEGMENT SUMMARY]

Your role during the construction document phase is to review for design intent, verify that your material and your equipment selections are accurately documented, check that room sizes and layouts match your expectations, ensure deferred specifications have proper allowances and parameters, and ask critical questions that uncover assumptions or ambiguities before they become expensive problems.

You're not checking the technical accuracy. That's what licensed professionals do. But you are the final checkpoint ensuring these plans reflect what you actually want to build.

[01:04:00] So now you've completed your thorough review, your questions have been answered, changes have been made, and you've given your written approval. The construction documents are truly complete.

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CLOSING: Next Steps & Series Wrap-Up

And now comes a strategic decision that will affect your timeline, your budget certainty, and your project risk: When do you select your contractor and when do you submit for permits?

That's what I'm going to be covering in the next episode because I have run out of time and I know I go on and on. But as we work our way through this podcast and we get into some of these details, just keep in mind that this information is getting—it's more of a deeper and deeper dive into what you can do [01:05:00] to protect your experience. And this goes back to my original mission of enlighten, empower, and protect you.

Our next episode is directly related to this episode, but we're going to talk about strategic decision-making. And you have different paths to take, different stepping stones to take across that river I keep talking about when it comes to selecting your contractor, getting estimates. And it's all going to tie back to your level of risk tolerance.

So that's what I have for you today. This is the final step in the design process called construction documents. And we're going to supplement this episode with what I feel is really important, and that is how you strategize the next step in selecting your contractor.

I'm Bill Reid, your home building coach from The Awakened Homeowner. I'm excited to dive into the next episode so you can truly be empowered.

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END OF TRANSCRIPT

Total Duration: Approximately 65 minutes Word Count: ~12,500 words