By Derrick Henderson, President of Lifestyle Design Homes and a Florida Certified Building Contractor with more than 20 years in construction across Southwest Florida. Updated October 2026.
An integrated design-build process means one company is responsible for designing your home and for building it. You are not managing an architect, an engineer, an estimator, a builder, and the vendors as separate relationships. This guide walks through the ten phases of our process, who you deal with at each one, what you see inside Buildertrend along the way, what happens when you change something after construction starts, and when the traditional route, an architect and a contractor hired separately, is the better choice.
In this guide
- What integrated design-build means
- The 10 phases, from first conversation to keys
- Who you deal with at each stage
- What you see inside Buildertrend
- A problem caught on paper, not on site
- What happens when you change something mid-build
- Design-build vs an architect and a contractor hired separately
- How it fits the timeline and the budget
- Frequently asked questions
What does integrated design-build mean?
In most ways of delivering a building, the design and the construction sit under separate contracts, with separate companies. The Design-Build Institute of America describes the single contract for both design and construction as the fundamental difference between design-build and every other delivery method. In a custom home, that difference shows up as one path instead of several. You do not independently manage designers, architects, estimators, builders, and vendors. One team carries the project from the first conversation to the keys.
Integrated means more than one invoice. While the design team develops your home, operations, estimating, and construction are evaluating feasibility and execution at the same time. Budget and buildability feedback reach the drawings before they are fully developed, which is where most of the value of the model sits. The rest of this guide shows how that works in practice.
What are the 10 phases, from the first conversation to the keys?
Our process moves through ten phases. The early ones establish what you want to build, where, and within what financial framework. The middle ones align plans, selections, pricing, and approvals. The last ones build, finish, and hand over the home.
| Phase | What happens | Who you deal with |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Discovery consultation | What you want to build, where you want to build it, and the financial framework for the project. | New Home Sales Consultant |
| 2. Homesite or project evaluation | The lot, or the project, is evaluated before design begins: what it allows and what it will need. | New Home Sales Consultant |
| 3. Design and planning | The design team develops the home you described while operations, estimating, and construction evaluate feasibility and execution. | Design Team |
| 4. Architectural and engineering development | The plans are drawn in full and engineered. | Design Team |
| 5. Selections | Finishes, fixtures, and materials are chosen, with the design team coordinating. | Design Team |
| 6. Pricing and pre-construction | Plans, selections, pricing, and approvals are aligned before the project moves on. | Operations and estimating |
| 7. Permitting | Documentation, project setup, and the permit application with the county or the city. | Operations |
| 8. Construction | Trade coordination, schedule, quality, client communication, approvals, and any properly documented changes. | Project and Construction Team |
| 9. Completion and orientation | The final client process and the walk-through of the finished home. | Project and Construction Team |
| 10. Handover | The keys, and the transition into the warranty process. | Project and Construction Team |
How long each phase takes, and what delays them, is covered in our guide to how long it takes to build a custom home in Florida. For most homes, the whole path runs 9 to 12 months from the first meeting to move-in.
Who do you deal with at each stage?
Four teams, in sequence, with one objective behind all of them: you should never have to figure out which disconnected company owns an issue. We coordinate the project across departments.
Early in the process. Establishes your needs, the direction of the project, and the next steps.
During design. Architecture and design coordination, finishes, and selections. This is who you spend the most time with before construction.
Documentation, project setup, permitting, Buildertrend, and administrative coordination, in the background through the whole project.
Once construction begins. Field execution, schedule, trades, and quality, through completion and handover.
What do you see inside Buildertrend?
Buildertrend is the construction management platform we use as the central place for project communication and documentation. Every client gets a login, on the web and in the mobile app, and sees their own project: the schedule for the week, the comments from the design team on each selection, the documents, and anything waiting for approval. It replaces a trail of emails and texts across several companies with one record.
The portal has four menus. Depending on the stage of your project, this is what fills them:
Schedule, daily logs, tasks, change orders, selections, warranties, plans and specs, and submittals.
Documents, photos, and videos from the project, in folders you can open at any time.
Comments on specific items, messages, requests for information, and surveys.
Invoices, with what has been paid and what remains.
Clients typically receive project updates every two weeks through Buildertrend. The frequency and the type of update vary with the stage of construction: some phases have more visible progress than others, so updates are tailored to what is happening on the project at that time. The selections are where most of the early conversation happens. In the portal above, the design team is commenting on two tile options, one for the primary shower and vanity wall and one for the entry and the lanai floor.
A problem caught on paper, not on site
On one of our custom homes, the design called for a large open kitchen with floor-to-ceiling cabinetry, a substantial range hood, and a clean ceiling design that extended into the main living area. During coordination, the design and construction teams recognized that the original mechanical and structural layouts would have created conflicts with the cabinetry and the ceiling details the client had selected.
Because the teams were reviewing the project together before that work was installed, the mechanical routing was adjusted and the structural requirements were coordinated before framing and drywall were completed.
Had that conflict been discovered later, it could have meant removing completed work, redesigning portions of the kitchen, and additional cost and schedule delays. That is the main advantage of an integrated design-build process: the person designing the space and the people responsible for building it are solving problems together, before they become field problems.
What happens when you change something mid-build?
Changes happen on most custom homes. What matters is that they are handled in a way that keeps cost, schedule, and responsibility clear. Every request goes through the same steps:
| Step | What is determined |
|---|---|
| 1. Evaluation | Whether the change is feasible at this point in the build. |
| 2. Scope | What exactly is changing. |
| 3. Work already done | Whether the affected work has already been completed. |
| 4. Trades and materials | Which trades and which materials are affected. |
| 5. Cost | The added or reduced cost. |
| 6. Schedule | The potential effect on the schedule. |
| 7. Change order | The change is documented through the change-order and approval process. You approve the pricing and the scope before the revised work proceeds. |
The goal is to avoid informal field changes that create confusion around cost, schedule, or responsibility. Changes made before the design direction is set are far simpler than changes made after construction starts. Our guide to how to customize a floor plan explains which changes are simple and which are substantial, and the earlier they are made, the less they cost.
How is design-build different from hiring an architect and a contractor separately?
When architecture and construction are separate companies, the owner usually carries more of the responsibility for coordinating the handoff: from design intent to budget, to buildability, to selections, to procurement, to field execution. The integrated approach brings those disciplines into the same conversation earlier.
| Architect and contractor hired separately | Integrated design-build | |
|---|---|---|
| Who coordinates | Usually the owner, between two or more companies. | One team, across its own departments. |
| When budget enters the design | Often after the drawings are complete, at bid time. | Before the drawings are fully developed. |
| Buildability review | After design, by the contractor who bids. | During design, by the people who will build it. |
| Changes | Negotiated between the owner, the architect, and the contractor. | Evaluated and documented by one team, approved by the owner. |
| Best for | Clients who already have a complete architectural team and finished construction documents. | Clients who want one coordinated process from idea through construction. |
The traditional route is not wrong. For a client who already has an architect and complete construction documents, a traditional architect and general contractor relationship may make sense, and the questions to ask that contractor are in our guide to choosing a custom home builder. For a client who wants one coordinated process from idea through construction, the integrated model provides a clearer path.
How does the process fit the timeline and the budget?
On the timeline, integration is what lets phases overlap. Selections run during design and permitting rather than after them, and pre-construction planning happens while the permit application is with the county. That is a large part of why a typical home runs 9 to 12 months rather than longer. On the budget, it is why the number you work with reflects the actual home: site conditions, the structure, and the selections are priced by the people who will build them, during design. Our guide to planning a custom home budget lists every line.
The process starts with the land. Whether you bring your own lot or build on one of ours, the homesite evaluation comes before design, and our guide to building on your own lot covers the fourteen checks we make. If timing matters more than designing from scratch, several of our available homes are already designed, sited, and permitted, so the process starts at construction. And every floor plan we offer was drawn to be built this way, with the outdoor rooms planned from the start; see what has to be decided about outdoor living during design.
Frequently asked questions
What is an integrated design-build process?
One company is responsible for both the design and the construction of your home, under one process. You do not hire an architect, then an estimator, then a builder, and coordinate them yourself. The design team develops your home while operations, estimating, and construction check feasibility, cost, and buildability at the same time, before the drawings are finished.
Who is my point of contact during the build?
It changes with the phase, but you never have to work out which company owns a problem. Early on, the New Home Sales Consultant establishes your needs and next steps. During design, you work with the Design Team on architecture, finishes, and selections. Operations handles documentation, permitting, and Buildertrend. Once construction begins, the Project and Construction Team runs the field work, the schedule, the trades, and quality.
What is Buildertrend, and what will I see in it?
Buildertrend is the construction management platform we use for client communication and documentation. You log in on the web or in the mobile app and see your project: the schedule, daily logs, tasks, change orders, selections, warranties, plans and specs, documents, photos, videos, comments, messages, and invoices. Most clients receive updates about every two weeks, more often in phases with visible progress.
What happens if I want to change something after construction starts?
The request is evaluated first: what exactly is changing, whether the work is already done, which trades and materials are affected, the added or reduced cost, and the effect on the schedule. The change is then documented as a change order, and you approve the pricing and scope before the revised work proceeds. Nothing is changed informally in the field.
Is design-build more expensive than hiring an architect and a contractor separately?
We do not publish a comparison figure, because every home and every architect’s fee is different. What design-build changes is when cost enters the conversation. Budget and buildability feedback shape the design before the drawings are fully developed, instead of arriving as a surprise at bid time. Our guide to planning a custom home budget explains what the number contains.
When does hiring an architect and a builder separately make sense?
When you already have a complete architectural team and finished construction documents. In that case a traditional architect and general contractor relationship can work well. For clients who want one coordinated process from the first idea through construction, the integrated model gives a clearer path.
How long does the whole process take?
For most of our homes, 9 to 12 months from the first meeting to move-in, including 6 to 8 months of construction after the permit is issued. A home that is already permitted removes design, engineering, and permitting from the schedule, about 3 to 4 months. Our timeline guide walks through each phase.
One path, one team
Ten phases, four teams, one process. The design is checked for cost and buildability while it is still on paper, the communication lives in one place, and every change is evaluated and approved before the work proceeds. If you already have an architect and finished drawings, the traditional route can serve you well. If you want one coordinated path from the first idea to the keys, this is how we build.
Ready to start at phase one? Contact Lifestyle Design Homes in Estero. The first conversation is about what you want to build, where, and within what budget.
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