How Long Does It Take an Architect to Draw Up Plans?

The work of an architect involves addressing many technical points which often depend on each other in a chain. How long it takes an architect to draw up plans depends on the specific project, but it usually takes a while. Especially if there are lots of unknown factors that have to be confirmed with the client in the course of the project.

It normally takes at least 2-4 months for an architect to draw up plans for a new project. It rarely takes less than that, but in some cases the work involved can stretch over multiple months, in some cases over half a year.

Things you can do to speed up the process

That might seem like a lot, but it’s the average turnaround time across the industry. If someone promises to deliver results faster, you should approach them with some caution – it’s possible that they might rush some parts of the project.

If you want to help speed things up, the best you can do is to approach the architect as prepared as possible. Prepare a sold checklist of things you need. Look up all details relevant to your project and find out if there are any special laws to observe. Have a clear vision of how you want the finished structure to look, down to the very last detail.

Not all of that might come into play once you contact an architect and start working with them on your project. But it’s better to approach this with more preparation and end up not needing it rather than the other way around.

Communicate with your architect, prepare questions to ask and prepare details and information your architect may need. If your architect reaches out with any inquiries, be as timely as possible in addressing them. It’s not rare that the architect’s progress will be completely blocked by the lack of certain bits of information. If you delay your responses and these incidents stack up, this can drag down the whole project significantly.