Custom Home Guide · Chapter 2 of 6
Design & Drawings
What you pay for in design isn't lines on paper, it's decisions you won't have to remake on site at five times the cost.
Architect vs. builder drawings
A licensed architect is required in BC for some scopes and optional for most single-family work. Architect-led drawing sets are typically more rigorous on form, light and structural concept; builder-led sets (with a designer and coordinating engineers) are usually more buildable and faster to permit. Neither is universally correct, the question is which the lot, the program and the municipality reward.
The Architectural Institute of BC publishes the scope-of-practice rules. Read them before assuming you do or don't need an architect.
Permit-ready isn't the same as construction-ready
A drawing set that passes permit review still has to be developed into a working construction set, shop drawings, full envelope details, mechanical coordination, structural connections. If your design contract ends at permit, you'll be paying twice for the gap. Pre-construction services agreements exist to bridge it properly.
Decision-stacking is the silent budget killer
Most cost overruns aren't caused by one big change, they're the cumulative weight of fifty deferred decisions. Bringing material, mechanical and finishing questions forward into the design phase, when changes cost a redline instead of a re-pour, is the single biggest predictor of a build that lands on time.
When this chapter applies
A quick framing of when the advice above is the right advice, and when it isn't.
Best for
- Owners committing to a fully custom program who want one source of truth.
- Hillside, heritage or unusual lots that warrant architect involvement.
- Anyone whose builder is in conversation before drawings are finalised.
Fails when
- Drawings are commissioned in isolation and handed to a builder afterward.
- Design firm is not coordinating with the structural and mechanical engineers.
- Owner keeps making finish-level decisions after the permit is submitted.
Verify before acting
- Confirm the design contract covers post-permit construction documents.
- Confirm AIBC registration and current licence for any named architect.
- Confirm coordinating engineer scope (structural, mechanical, envelope).
Go deeper in the Journal
Detail-level posts that expand on specific topics from this chapter.
Process
Architect's Drawings vs Builder's Drawings: What Burnaby Custom Home Owners Need to Know
When Burnaby owners hand us a stack of drawings and say 'we have construction documents,' they almost always have something else. Here's what each scope actually contains, where the friction shows up, and why a digital-first permit world makes integrated practices more valuable than ever.
Read · 8 min
Planning
Planning a Custom Home in Burnaby: The Pre-Build Checklist for 2026
Almost every problem on a custom build traces back to a decision that was rushed or skipped during planning. Here's the checklist we walk every new Burnaby client through before a single line is drawn.
Read · 9 min
Planning
What We Wish Every Burnaby Client Knew Before They Started Designing
Most expensive Burnaby homes get most of the way to great, and stop there. Not because of the brief. Because of assumptions clients held quietly that no designer could fix afterwards. Here are the eight.
Read · 9 min
Process
Why Icon Signs a Pre-Construction Services Agreement Before Any Hammer Swings
A pre-construction services agreement isn't paperwork, it's the discipline that turns a custom-home idea into a buildable, contractable project before the meter starts running.
Read · 10 min
Official sources