How Long Does It Take an Architect to Draw Plans?

Knowing how long it takes an architect to draw plans is an important part of adequate planning for a construction project. While it’s generally not possible to predict how long it will take exactly, it’s important to at least have a rough estimate so you can coordinate things more effectively at the higher level.

You can expect an architect to need anywhere between a couple of weeks to several months to draw the plans for your project. This will vary a lot with the specifications of the project.

Discuss as much as you can in your initial meeting

During your first consultation with your architect, you should do your best to extract as much information as possible about the project from them. Sort out any specific details that you believe will impact the timing. Be prepared to provide detailed information about certain points if the architect requests it.

And if timely execution is critical for you, make sure to let the architect know. They may or may not be able to expedite their services – that depends on their current workload. But without knowing how urgent this is to you, you can’t expect your architect to place a high priority on your project.

Provide requested information without any delay

Your architect will likely have some inquiries while they’re in the process of creating the drawings. Make sure to be as available as possible during that time, and don’t delay responding to them at all. Ideally, you should already have all that information lined up and ready to share.

Sometimes this might require you to communicate with government institutions or other professionals. Have all your relevant contact details lined up in advance so that you don’t waste any time in retrieving the information requested.

Communicate about problems immediately

If you notice anything out of the ordinary in the architect’s work, make sure to communicate that immediately. Delaying this could mean that the architect might continue building on top of the pieces you’re not satisfied with, leading to even more problems down the road.

This is why you should have regular check-ins with your architect for larger and more complex projects. Not all architects work that way. Some might be against the idea of sharing their in-progress work with you. But you should at least get a regular status report with a rough overview of how the drawings are coming along.

This will allow you to verify that they match your expectations and will hopefully help you spot any deviations as early as possible. Make sure to take an active role in investigating those progress reports, of course. Don’t just sign off on things without evaluating them in detail.

Planning