It is planning season. If you are thinking about doing work on your house next year, the planning has to start now. Design and permitting together can take months before anyone breaks ground, so the people who start in the spring often spend it on paperwork.
Most people think planning a home renovation means getting someone to draw up plans. That is only part of it. Good planning is two different kinds of design, done in order: conceptual design first, then the actual design, drawn by design professionals. Here is what goes into each one.
Start with the problem, not the plans
The first conversation should not start with rooflines or fixture selections. It should start with what is not working. Maybe the kitchen is cut off from the rest of the house. Maybe you need another bedroom, a better primary suite, more usable living space, or a first-floor layout that works for how your family actually lives. Planning a home addition works the same way.
This is also where you talk about what has to stay, what can move, and how long you plan to stay in the house. Those answers shape the design more than people think. A house you plan to stay in for the long haul gets planned differently from one you might sell in a few years.
If you have a current survey or plot plan of the lot, bring it. In Monmouth County and across New Jersey, zoning review comes before the construction permit, and towns commonly want a current survey or plot plan showing what is on the property now and what is being proposed, with dimensions and distances to the property lines. If the design starts from a guess about where those lines are, there is a real chance it gets redrawn after town review.
Stage 1: Conceptual design
Conceptual design is the exploratory stage at the very beginning. This is where the project gets tested against real conditions: what the house needs to do, what the lot allows, and a few rough ways the work could come together. Most designers and builders use it, but it is not one of the formal phases defined by the American Institute of Architects, so what it includes depends on who you hire.
At Juliette Custom Homes, conceptual design happens in the AI Showroom at our Marlboro office. You see high-fidelity 3D concepts of the project before the architect puts pen to paper, and before you spend on design. That matters, because this is the easiest point to make the big decisions, compare options and change direction. Changing your mind here costs a conversation. Changing it after the drawings are done means redrawing them.
Conceptual design does not produce drawings a town can approve, and it is not a set a builder can properly price from. Its job is to answer the first question: what could work here?
Stage 2: The actual design, by design professionals
Once the concept is right, the formal design work begins.
- Schematic design This is the first formal phase as the American Institute of Architects describes it. The architect works with the owner to pin down the goals and requirements, often called the program, meaning the rooms and functions the project needs, with rough sizes. The study drawings in schematic design show the design concept, how the spaces relate to each other, and the overall scale and form.
- Design development This phase takes the schematic design further and works out the architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing details. The drawings typically begin to specify material types and locate items such as windows and doors. This phase often ends with the owner formally approving the design.
- Construction documents These are the detailed drawings and written specifications for construction details and materials. This is the set contractors price from, and it is also the set that goes to the town with the permit application.
Why New Jersey needs a design professional's seal
In New Jersey, the plans filed with a construction permit application must carry the seal and signature of the registered architect or licensed engineer who prepared them, on every sheet. That is part of the Uniform Construction Code. There is a narrow exception for a homeowner drawing plans for a detached house they live in themselves, filed with a signed affidavit, and only if the town's officials find the plans legible and complete.
For most projects, that means the actual design is not optional paperwork. It is the work that turns an idea into a set of plans the town can review.
Design leads into permitting, and how long both take
A lot of homeowners assume the permit process starts once construction is ready to begin. It starts earlier. The design process leads straight into permitting: zoning review comes before the construction permit, and each town may ask for specific information about the lot and the proposed work.
So how long does it take? Design and permitting together usually take anywhere from three to six months, and sometimes longer, depending on cooperation and on how many changes get made along the way. A complete design and quick decisions keep it moving. If the design is incomplete, or the site information is wrong, the file stalls while those issues get corrected.
Conceptual design vs schematic design: the short version
Conceptual design is the early test. It asks what could work on this lot, for this house, for this family. Schematic design is the first formal step in the actual design, where the layout, scale and form start getting pinned down. One explores options. The other starts committing to a direction.
Plan with the people who will build it
Juliette Custom Homes is a design-build firm, with architecture, engineering, permitting, procurement and construction under one roof, so the people drawing the project are the people building it. That changes the quality of planning, because decisions made on paper already account for how the work gets built in the field.
Carmine DiCosmo owns and runs the company, with no middle management. He is personally on every project, from the first design consultation in the AI Showroom to the final walk-through, and he handles the permitting and procurement directly. As Carmine puts it, "When we give you a timeline, we commit to it."
If you are thinking about a renovation, an addition or a new home in Monmouth County next year, this is the time to start planning it. Call or text us at (732) 705-1653 and tell us what you want to change.