Frequently Asked Questions

A design firm coordinates the whole project under one point of contact: design, construction documents, and permitting. We develop the drawings, the engineering coordination, and the permit set as one connected process, so what you approve on screen is what gets built and priced. Nothing is lost between stages, and your builder receives a complete set instead of assembling one piece by piece.

We align on the scope of your project and take the time to understand your brief and your needs. We walk through the stages ahead and what to expect from each one, then identify exactly which services the project requires. You leave the call knowing the process, the sequence it follows, and what we would need from you to start.

You stay involved at every key decision point. Each phase requires your review and approval before the next one begins, so you give input and request changes as the design develops rather than only at the end. In practice that means approving the floor plan, then the exterior elevations, then the final set, with room to adjust at each of those points.

Both. On the residential side we handle custom homes, additions, remodeling, and residential interiors. On the commercial side we design commercial buildings and mixed-use spaces. The same coordinated process applies either way: coordinating existing conditions, developing the layout, producing construction documents, and carrying the set through plan review until the permit is issued.

We serve clients throughout Florida. As a Florida licensed engineering practice, we are not limited to one region of the state. In person, our work is centered in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Lake counties. Everywhere else in Florida, projects are approved and documentation and permitting are delivered remotely, with local coordination arranged when a site visit is required.

We respond to any request within 48 business hours, whether it is a document review, a question, a clarification, or scheduling. Every phase also requires your review and approval before the next one starts, so you always know where things stand. When city or county comments come back, we respond within 48 business hours with next steps. If we are waiting on you, on a third party, or on the city, we say so.

Four stages carry a project from the first meeting to a permit-ready set: coordinating existing conditions, developing the layout, producing construction documents, and carrying the set through plan review until the permit is issued. Each stage closes with your approval before the next one opens, and engineering and site plan work run in parallel with the drawing set.

It pauses. The clock stops whenever we are waiting on you for feedback or approvals, on third parties, or on city or county review, because none of that time is under our control. Our workflow is split into parallel tracks, so your project keeps moving on other fronts even while one piece is waiting on a response.

Yes. If you started with someone else, we can take that work into consideration. We would only consider using the design itself: documentation, engineering, and permitting are done fresh by our team, and a new project quote applies. Permitting is a separate service with its own price. Send what you have ahead of the first call and we will review it before we talk.

Yes, though each phase has a design freeze point: after the final floor plan is approved, after the final exterior elevations are approved, and after the final set is issued. Those freezes protect accuracy and keep the project on schedule. Changes requested after a freeze may involve a revision fee and a rescheduled timeline, which we always review with you before proceeding.

Each stage needs specific things from you: a signed proposal and a completed intake form to start, timely feedback and approval on each layout, and any missing documents, such as your survey or site information, as they come up. If something is missing, we hold that stage until we receive it, so responding promptly is what keeps your project moving.

Up to 60 days of inactivity, your project stays active and simply resumes where it left off, with no fee. Between 2 and 11 months, it moves off our active schedule and is rescheduled based on availability when you are ready to continue, still with no fee. Past 11 months, reactivation requires a project review and a 15% reactivation fee. Past 12 months of inactivity, the project is considered closed and needs a new proposal, quote, and schedule.

We handle it. Our permitting team manages the pipeline with the city or county on your behalf, from submission through the comment cycle until the permit is issued, so you are not the one chasing a jurisdiction or interpreting a correction letter. Permitting is a separate service with its own price rather than something bundled into the design scope automatically.

It depends on the jurisdiction. Once we submit, our own turnaround on any city or county comments is 1 to 2 business days. The review time on the jurisdiction's side varies by city and county and is outside our control, which is why we do not promise a date. We track the submission closely and keep you updated at every step.

Plan review happens before construction starts: the city or county reviews your drawings against code, and the permit is issued once the set clears review. Final inspection happens after construction, when the building official visits the site to confirm the completed work matches what was approved. One reviews the documents, the other reviews the building.

Both. We design new custom homes, and we handle additions and remodeling projects, with many remodeling projects already permit-ready. The difference is where the work starts. A new home starts from the site and the program, while an addition or remodel starts from documenting what already exists before anything new is drawn.

You bring your own builder. We do not require you to work with a specific one, and the drawing set is prepared so any qualified builder can price and build from it. If you have not chosen a builder yet, a complete permit-ready set is what lets you send the same documents to several of them and compare bids on equal terms.

The same production breakdown generally applies. What changes is the front end: intake and the existing-conditions phase can take longer on a remodel or addition, since that stage depends on the accuracy and availability of documentation for the existing property. Once conditions are coordinated, the project follows the same path as new construction.

A spec home is designed and built to sell, rather than for a specific homeowner. That changes the brief. Instead of designing around one family's habits, the design has to appeal broadly while still standing out from the other homes on the market. Layout and finish decisions follow that goal, while the documentation and permitting process stays the same.

Primarily builders and investors. Spec home design is scoped for clients building to sell, so the process is built around your build schedule and your market rather than around one homeowner's preferences. Individual homeowners are welcome, but a home you plan to live in is usually better served by our custom home design service.

It is a separate service with its own contract, even for clients already working with us on architecture design. Each service is priced individually: architecture design, permitting, and interior design are quoted on their own, and none of them is bundled into another automatically. Running both with us keeps the two scopes coordinated, but they remain two agreements.

Yes. If there are pieces you already own and want to keep, we design around them rather than starting the room from a blank slate. Tell us early which pieces are staying, since they influence layout, scale, and finish selections. The rest of the room is then specified to work with what is already yours.

Yes. Renderings are built directly from the actual project model, the same one that produces the construction drawings. What you see in the render is what is documented, priced, and built, instead of a marketing image drawn separately from the technical set. The materials and finishes shown come from the same specification the contractor works from.

We handle both. Along with the design, we select vendors, materials, and finishes, so the vision on screen carries through to what is actually installed. That keeps specification and sourcing in the same hands, instead of leaving you to translate a design package into purchase decisions on your own.

Interior decorating deals with the surfaces and contents of a finished room: furniture, textiles, paint, lighting fixtures, and styling. Interior design also addresses how the space itself works: layout, circulation, built-in millwork, finish specifications, and coordination with the contractor during the remodel. Most residential projects use both, and we provide both for homes anywhere in Florida.

We work across a range of commercial spaces, with a focus on mixed-use projects. The same coordinated, permit-ready process applies regardless of use: coordinating existing conditions, developing the layout, producing construction documents, and carrying the set through plan review. If you are unsure whether your use type fits, bring the address and the intended use to the first call.

Yes. Commercial projects typically go through additional layers of review on top of standard building review, such as fire and life-safety, ADA accessibility, and sometimes health department requirements. We manage that added complexity the same way we manage residential permitting: as one coordinated process, start to finish.

Fees are built around the scope of each project. Architecture design, permitting, and interior design are each priced individually, so permitting is a separate service with its own price rather than something bundled in automatically. Scope is what drives the cost: whether the project is design alone, permitting, interior design, or a combination. We quote in writing after a scope call.

Our production time, meaning the work actively under our team's responsibility, runs 30 to 68 business days and averages around 46, roughly nine weeks. That is active production time only. It does not include time spent waiting on your feedback, on third parties such as truss or engineering reports, or on city and county plan review, since none of that is under our control.

• Intake and initial review: 4 to 7 business days
• Floor plan development and your approval: 5 to 10 business days
• Exterior elevation development and your approval: 3 to 7 business days
• Engineering and site plan, running in parallel: 5 to 15 business days
• Final permit set compilation: varies by project
• Permit submission and our response to city or county comments: 1 to 2 business days, our turnaround only

Yes, when the work falls within our engineering scope. Line Arch Design holds a Florida engineering business registration, and our qualifying professional engineer is licensed in civil engineering. He seals the documents that fall inside that discipline. Not every deliverable requires a seal: permit-ready plans and interior design work generally do not. We tell you upfront which documents in your set will be sealed.

Structural work is delivered through a licensed partner engineer who seals the structural documents. Our in-house professional engineer is licensed in civil engineering. When a project needs both disciplines, we coordinate the two scopes so the permit package arrives at the building department complete, instead of being returned for a missing sheet.