Stage 2: Construction Design
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The scope of the drawings are designed to meet the requirements of the Building Permit. Requirements vary with different building sizes and municipalities. They cover the basic structural elements for the house. Load-bearing walls, foundation walls and internal walls are all carefully located. A structural engineer is contacted for special situations and for items not covered by the building code. At the end of this stage, the location of every element is determined by dimensions. The overall size of windows, walls, doors and roof is precisely determined. A cross section(s) is drawn to show the typical composition of walls, floor and roof. The external materials are determined and architectural guidelines, if any, are followed or discussed. If there are any non-typical details concerning the construction of the exterior, these will be included (example: special soffit conditions). If there are difficult structural junctions, a lager detail will be drawn out and reviewed with the structural engineer.
At the end of this phase, the building permit may be applied for. Although this may be applied for later, it is often wise to make certain there are not additional requirements from the building department. Sometimes the issuing of the permit takes many weeks and during this time, the remaining design process can proceed.
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