I want to build a new house
New houses in DC, Maryland and Virginia. It starts with the site, not the plan.
Setbacks, height, lot occupancy and sometimes a historic district define the buildable volume before design starts. On a difficult lot that envelope is the design brief.
Then the site itself. Orientation, grade, trees, drainage and views. These are the things that cannot be added later and cannot be bought back.
A spec house is designed for an average buyer who does not exist. A custom house is designed around how this family actually moves through a day, where they gather, where they need to be apart, and what they own.
That is also where the efficiency comes from. Rooms nobody uses are the most expensive square footage in any house.
Full drawings, coordinated consultants, permit approval and construction administration. On every project, one architect, from the first conversation to the last walk-through.
New construction has the longest gap between decision and consequence, which is precisely why the decisions belong on paper.
It depends on the existing house. A house with sound structure, a good footprint and a decent envelope is almost always cheaper to renovate. A house needing structure, systems, envelope and plan all at once may cost more to save than to replace.
The comparison is not the tired house against a new build. It is the renovated house against the new build, and that is a comparison worth actually running.
Sometimes, and it can be worth a great deal. A kept foundation can preserve a footprint or a position on the lot that current zoning would no longer permit, which is value that cannot be recreated.
It requires the foundation to be structurally sound and compatible with the new plan, and it needs to be verified before it is relied on.
Design and construction documents typically run several months to a year depending on complexity, then permit review, then construction.
The variable that surprises people is permit review, which differs by jurisdiction and is not fully within anyone's control. It is worth building into the schedule from the start.
Either. Some clients arrive with a builder already, others want the drawings complete before bidding so they can compare pricing on identical scope.
Comparable bids need a complete set. Without one, three builders price three different houses and the low number is usually the one that missed something.
Have a lot, or looking at one?
Calculators, checklists and downloadable guides that answer the practical questions before you commit to anything. The most useful conversation happens before you buy the land, while the answer can still change what you offer.
New house tools and resources →Rather talk it through? Start with one question.
Short reads on how this actually works.
Written from projects that have been through review and built, not from general advice.
