Design-Build in Revelstoke: Integrated Design Process

What Is Design-Build?

Design-build, formally known in the industry as Integrated Design Process (IDP), is a project delivery model where one company handles both design and construction. The same team that sketches your floor plan is the team that will frame it. The cost estimator is involved during design, not after.

This is different from the traditional approach where you hire an architect independently, pay for drawings, then take those drawings to a builder for pricing. In the traditional model, the architect and builder operate separately. You manage the relationship between them.

The core advantage of the integrated model is timing. You learn whether your project is financially and structurally feasible before you commit significant money to drawings. Design decisions are informed by real construction costs and engineering realities from day one.

The Problem the Integrated Process Solves

In the traditional model, your architect designs without direct input from the person who will build it. A designer is not a builder, so they do not necessarily know what the build will cost, whether that is what your site conditions add to foundation costs or how Step Code compliance has to be carried through the wall assembly. Finishing costs and fixtures add up very quickly on top of that. Design-build is about managing expectations, and with the builder and the designer at the table from the very beginning, those conversations happen on day one. When the two sit in separate firms, the numbers behind the design stay unknown.

You find all of this out when the builder prices the finished drawings.

Common outcomes of the traditional approach:

• You spend significant money on architectural drawings before knowing the real construction cost
• The builder's quote comes back significantly over your budget
• Redesign means additional architect fees, re-engineering, and months of delay
• Change orders accumulate during construction because the builder is interpreting someone else's drawings
• Step Code compliance gets addressed reactively instead of being designed in from the start

How the integrated process prevents this:

• Cost feedback happens in real time during design, not as a surprise at the end
• Engineering feasibility is confirmed at the concept stage, before detailed drawings begin
• The builder's knowledge of materials, labour, and site conditions shapes the design from the first sketch
• Step Code compliance is part of the design process, not an afterthought
• Change orders drop significantly when the same team designs and builds

How Our Integrated Design Process Works

Every custom home passes through the same six stages whether one company delivers them or three. What changes with the integrated model is who carries them: design, engineering and budget sit with one team, so the cost of every decision is known when the decision is made, not after the drawings are finished.

Stage 1: Site and Lot Analysis

Before anything is drawn, we read the lot: what the soils, the slope, the access, the utilities and the setbacks will each add to foundation cost. When the architect and the builder are separate firms, the site assessment often arrives after the concept, and the concept gets redrawn to fit the ground it turns out to sit on. Here, the same knowledge of site conditions that will guide the build shapes the design from the first sketch. You leave this stage with a proper understanding of what your lot will require before designing starts.

Stage 2: Concept Design and Selections

Floor plans and elevations take shape alongside the materials, fixtures and finishes. All of it is chosen up front rather than left as allowances, and cost feedback runs against every decision as it is made. That is what lets us put one fixed number on the table and carry the risk of it ourselves, rather than handing you a cost-plus estimate where the risk of an overrun sits with you. When the architect and the builder are separate firms, you pay for a complete drawing set before anyone prices it; here, the price moves with the drawing. The design phase typically runs 6 to 9 months, and the fee depends on the size and complexity of the home, so we walk you through the number on the first call. At the end you hold a complete selection package and a budget that has moved with the drawings the whole way.

Stage 3: Snow Load and Step Code Engineering

The structure is engineered for the load a Revelstoke roof has to carry through winter, and the energy modelling that proves BC Energy Step Code compliance is designed into the wall assembly from the concept stage. When design and build are split, Step Code compliance is usually solved after the design is fixed, which means potentially reworking drawings that were already paid for; on one team it is part of the design process, not an afterthought. Revelstoke builds to Step 3 today, with Step 5 and a Zero Carbon Code on the way, and a Step 3 wall assembly cannot realistically be upgraded to Step 5 later without extensive renovation, so it is worth getting right the first time. What you hold at the end are stamped structural drawings and an energy model, two of the documents the building department will ask for.

Stage 4: Permitting

We prepare and submit the building permit application, and where a project needs a variance, rezoning or a development permit, we prepare and submit those applications as well. Most of our projects go through the City of Revelstoke. Some properties in the Revelstoke area fall under Electoral Area B of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, where the CSRD issues the building permit, and we handle those applications the same way. Because one party owns the submission, nothing waits on a handoff between an architect's office and a builder's office: the drawings, the energy model and the structural package all come from the team that will answer the building department's questions. Building permit review at the City typically runs 6 to 8 weeks, and a pre-application meeting is only required for developments, subdivisions and complex applications, never for a single family home. What the City charges and how its review actually runs are laid out in our guide to building permits in Revelstoke. You leave this stage with the permits in hand and a start date you can plan around.

Stage 5: Build Phases

Construction moves in sequence: excavation and foundation, framing, roof, envelope, then mechanical systems and interior finishes. Exterior work is planned into the April to October window because that is the window that protects both the budget and the timeline, aiming to have the house locked up before winter sets in. Building outside that window is possible, it just carries the added cost of winter conditions. Interior work runs year round either way. Groundbreak to move-in takes 9 to 12 months, and interior finishing accounts for 3 to 4 months of that; what those months of construction cost is covered in our guide to the cost of building a home in BC. Because the team that drew the house is the team framing it, nobody on site is interpreting somebody else's drawings, and change orders drop when the same team designs and builds. One person answers for trades, inspections, materials and the schedule, and keeps you current on all of it, which matters when you are building from Calgary or anywhere else out of town.

Stage 6: Handover and Warranty

The house is handed over with one project book: permits, warranty documentation, drawings, specifications and manuals, all in a single place. Because the people who designed, engineered and built the home are the ones assembling that book, nothing has to be chased out of a second firm's filing system a year later when you need it. New home construction carries the 2-5-10 year home warranty through an approved provider licensed under BC Housing's Licensing and Consumer Services. What you hold at the end is the full record of the house, put together by the team that did the work.

The same six stages, run by the same team, are also how we approach structural renovations, where the biggest unknowns sit behind existing walls instead of in the ground, and the design can adapt when something unexpected shows up rather than waiting on a redesign cycle between two firms.

How to Get Started

Getting started is one complimentary 15 minute call about your lot, budget range and timeline. It tells both sides quickly whether the project is a fit and which arrangement suits it. We still take on general contracting work, for example where stamped drawings already exist, and those clients get a version of the same planning process. Either way, a longer discovery conversation goes deeper on scope, timing, priorities and early budget signals, and a pre-construction agreement opens the design phase from there, with the full road from first call to handover mapped on our process page.

Book a complimentary 15 minute call

When Is the Integrated Model the Right Choice?

The integrated process works best when:

• You are starting from scratch with no existing plans
• Your site has complexity (slope, difficult access, unusual soil conditions)
• You are building from out of town and need one team managing everything
• You want confirmed costs early, before committing to a full set of drawings
• Your timeline is tight and you need overlapping design and construction phases

A general contractor may be better if:

• You already have completed, stamped architectural drawings
• You have a specific architect you want to continue working with
• You have built before and are comfortable managing the architect-builder relationship
• Your project is on a flat, serviced lot with straightforward conditions

We operate both ways. If you have existing plans, our general contracting service handles that.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Neither model is inherently better. The right choice depends on where you are in the process and how much complexity your project carries.

Frequently Asked Questions