# How design-build works for a custom home

> One team designs and builds the house under one contract. The six steps, and what you decide at each.

This is the plain-text version of https://blackstone.build/residential/journal/how-design-build-works-for-a-custom-home. To cite or link, use that page.

Process. January 27, 2026.

## The short answer

In design-build, one team designs your home and builds it under one contract. The builder prices the house while it is being drawn, so the design and the budget move together and you are not handed a finished set of plans that costs more than you meant to spend.

## What are the steps?

One: a conversation about the lot, how you live and what you want to spend. Two: a concept design with a first budget. Three: design development, where rooms, materials and selections are fixed and the price is updated.

Four: construction drawings, permits and a contract price. Five: construction, with regular updates. Six: the walk-through, the punch list and the warranty.

## How is it different from hiring an architect and then a builder?

In the traditional route, the design is finished before any builder prices it. If the price is too high, the drawings are revised and paid for again.

In design-build the estimate is updated at each step, so the trade-offs are made while they are still lines on paper.

Photo: Mountain Brook Estate, designed and built as one project.

## What do I decide, and when?

Early: the size, the layout and the character of the house. In the middle: the exterior materials, windows, kitchen and baths. Late: paint, hardware and fixtures.

A good process gives you a list of decisions with dates, so nothing is chosen in a hurry on site.

## What if I already have an architect?

We are experienced design-builders, and we welcome other arrangements. Many owners bring us in beside their architect during design, to price the drawings and plan the build. It shortens the schedule and takes risk out of the budget.

## Common questions

### Do I give up control of the design?

No. You approve the design at every step. What changes is that each step comes with a price.

### Is design-build more expensive?

It is usually not. It avoids paying for drawings that have to be redone, and it shortens the time before construction.

### When does the price become fixed?

When the drawings and selections are complete enough to bid. Until then you see estimates that tighten at each stage.

## The project behind this post

- [Mountain Brook Estate](https://blackstone.build/text/residential/projects/mountain-brook-estate): Custom Home. Custom Estate — Mountain Brook. Mountain Brook, AL.

From the [Residential Journal](https://blackstone.build/text/residential/journal).