Frequently asked questions

Native Plans is a residential design studio in Nashville that works as the design department for residential builders and developers. One team develops residential plans, interior design systems, and landscape and exterior design together, so the three agree before construction.

You can bring us a single project, use us as design capacity across your pipeline, or have us build a builder design system of repeatable plans and finish packages.

Native Plans works mostly with residential builders and developers: custom, semi-custom and spec builders, infill and small-community developers, and build-to-rent teams. We also work with homeowners who are building with a builder or choosing one. How we work with homeowners.

We don't take on commercial or institutional projects.

Native Plans quotes each project after a short call, from the size and complexity of the house, which services you need, how many review rounds the scope includes and whether we start from your existing plans.

Design that repeats across lots changes the number too. We don't publish a rate card. Once we've talked, we recommend a scope and price it, so you're comparing a real number against a defined set of deliverables.

Native Plans sets the schedule with you when we define the project, from the size of the house, the services involved and how quickly decisions can be made at each review.

Decision turnaround on your side moves the dates as much as drawing time does, so we tell you up front which decisions the schedule depends on.

Native Plans is based in Nashville and works with builders across Middle Tennessee.

If your project is somewhere else, tell us where and we'll say plainly whether we're a fit.

Someone on our team reads what you sent and, if it looks like a fit, sets up a short call. On the call we talk through the project, your standards and the support you need. Then we send a scope recommendation: what we'd do, what you'd get and how we'd price it.

If Native isn't the right fit, we'll tell you.

Start with whatever you have: a survey or lot information, the program, a target price point, plans you've built before and the name of whoever makes decisions.

We'll tell you what's missing in the first conversation.

Yes, and we'd rather start there. We review your current plans, specifications, finish selections and field practices, then design to them. If a standard is causing problems in the field, we'll point it out.

If you want us to modify plans someone else drew, confirm you have the rights to them before we start.

Yes. You can hire Native Plans for residential plans, interior design systems, or landscape and exterior design on their own.

The coordination benefit is biggest when all three are drawn together. If splitting the work between consultants is likely to leave a gap on your project, we'll point it out when we scope it.

They differ in how much of your work Native Plans carries: one project, several active projects, or a reusable set of company standards. Project partnership is one project, scoped on its own. Pipeline support adds design capacity across several active projects, with one team that learns your product. A builder design system turns your standards into reusable plan standards, finish packages, specifications and workflows.

You can start with one project and move to pipeline support or a design system later. Compare the engagement models.

A builder design system is your company's design standards, written down and drawn once so each new home starts from them. It covers typical details and plan conventions, finish packages at set price points, product specifications and the workflow for approvals and changes.

How the design system works.

Revisions happen at scheduled reviews, and the number of review rounds is set in the scope. Each review ends with documented decisions.

A change after a decision is approved gets scoped before it's drawn, logged with the date and the reason, and carried through every sheet it touches. One change shouldn't leave the other documents behind.

A Native Plans set can include a cover sheet and index, site plan, floor plans, elevations, sections, roof plan, wall sections and details, and door and window schedules, with electrical and lighting plans when the project needs them. The sheets in each set are agreed in the scope for that project.

Sheet count depends on the house and what the jurisdiction asks for, so we don't quote a fixed number. See the sheet index for residential plans.

Residential drafting is producing the drawings a house is priced, permitted and built from: floor plans, elevations, sections and details, drawn to scale with dimensions and notes.

At Native Plans, drafting is one part of residential design: the drawings are developed with the interiors and the site, by people who think about how the house will be framed and bought. See what's in a Native plan set.

Construction documents are the drawings and written specifications a building is built from. For a house, that usually means the plan set (site plan, floor plans, elevations, sections, details and schedules), any engineering drawings, and the finish and fixture specifications.

Our guide walks through a residential plan set, sheet by sheet.

CD stands for construction documents. A CD set is the final, coordinated set of drawings issued for pricing, permitting and construction. It comes after the earlier schematic and design development drawings that settle the design.

They describe how far along a set of drawings is, from first layout to a set you can build from. Schematic design settles the layout and massing. Design development fixes sizes, materials and systems. Construction documents add the dimensions, details and notes needed to build. Some teams label progress sets 30, 60 and 90 percent complete.

Native Plans runs residential projects through review gates instead, and each gate ends with decisions you approve. How our review gates work.

A builder starts a spec home before there's a buyer, on speculation that it will sell. A custom home is designed and built for a specific owner, usually on their lot.

The design brief changes with it. A spec plan has to hit a price point and appeal to a buyer the builder hasn't met. A custom plan is shaped by one family's program. Spec home plans for builders.

Build-to-rent means homes built to be leased rather than sold, usually by a developer who owns and operates them after construction. Durable finishes, easy maintenance and plans that repeat well matter more than they would in a home built to sell.

Native Plans designs repeatable plan and finish collections for build-to-rent and small-community developers. Infill and build-to-rent design for developers.

Yes. We build a set of plans that share standards, details and finish packages, then adapt each one to its lot with its own site plan and landscape. Purchasing can buy in volume, and each house still fits its street.

No. Every set Native Plans produces is drawn for a specific project or for a builder's own plan library. If you want plans you can reuse across lots, a builder design system gives you that, built around your standards.

No. Native Plans is a residential design studio, not a licensed architecture firm, and we don't describe our work as architecture. We design residential plans, interior design systems, and landscape and exterior design.

When a project or jurisdiction requires a licensed architect's or engineer's stamp, a licensed professional does that work. How it connects to our drawings is agreed in the scope for each project.

Not always. Tennessee exempts some residential work from the requirement to use a licensed architect, but whether a project qualifies depends on the project and the local jurisdiction. Engineered elements can still need an engineer's stamp when the plans themselves don't.

Requirements vary by project and jurisdiction, so confirm yours with the local building department. Where a licensed architect or engineer is required, how that work is handled is agreed in the project scope. Who does what on a Tennessee home.

An architect is licensed by the state. In Tennessee, architect, engineer and landscape architect are licensed titles, and only licensed professionals can use them. Residential designer and drafter are not licensed titles: a residential designer designs homes without a license, within the limits the state and local jurisdictions set.

Native Plans is a residential design studio. We focus on what builders need to price and build a house. Where a project requires a licensed professional, how that work is handled is agreed in the scope.

Sometimes. Whether a residential set needs an architect's or engineer's stamp depends on the jurisdiction and the project, including the size and type of the house and its structural design.

Engineered elements such as beams, foundations on difficult soils and retaining walls often need an engineer's stamp even when the plans themselves don't. Your local building department can confirm what your project needs, and it's worth asking before design starts.

State law and your local jurisdiction set the requirement, based on the type and size of the house and its structural design, so it varies by project. Confirm it with your local building department early, before design is far along.

When a stamp is required, a licensed architect or engineer does that work under their own license. Who engages them, and how their drawings come into the set, is agreed in the scope for each project.

Native Plans doesn't provide structural engineering. A licensed structural engineer does that work when a project needs it.

How we work with the engineer is agreed in the scope for each project: who hires them, which of our drawings they work from and how their beam sizes, foundation design and details come into the plan set.

Native Plans draws each set to the submittal requirements we confirm with your jurisdiction at the start of the project. The jurisdiction issues the permit, and plan review comments are a normal part of the process. Whether we respond to comments on our drawings is agreed in the scope for each project.

Some jurisdictions also need documents from outside the design set, such as engineered drawings, energy compliance forms or site and utility approvals. We identify those early so they don't hold up the submittal.

A schedule of finishes, or finish schedule, lists every finish in a house room by room, including flooring, paint, tile, countertops and trim. It also marks where each finish starts and stops, and it's the document the field and purchasing work from.

Our finish schedule guide includes a free template.

Before the trade that builds around them starts. Anything that affects framing, blocking or rough-in (tubs, shower systems, vanities, appliances, lighting and cabinetry) has to be settled before those crews arrive, and long-lead items need to be ordered early enough to arrive before they're installed.

Native Plans builds a selections timeline around your build schedule, so each decision has a date. When to make selections in a new build.

Yes. The Native Plans interiors package includes sources, product details and quantities for the selections, organized so your purchasing team can order from it. We track selections against your budget targets and offer lower-cost alternates where a selection runs over.

At the start, alongside the plans. Interior decisions change the plan: cabinet runs, appliance widths, shower sizes, fixture locations and ceiling details. Made after the plans are done, they come back as revisions or change orders.

Native Plans develops the interiors package with the plan set so those decisions get made once.

No. Native Plans designs and documents the interiors, and your builder and trades build and install them. We provide the specifications and purchasing information they work from. Support during construction, such as answering questions about the design, is agreed in the scope for each project.

Design only. Native Plans produces the landscape and exterior design and the drawings your landscape contractor bids and builds from. Installation is by the builder's or owner's contractor.

Landscape architecture is a licensed profession in Tennessee, and only licensed professionals can use the title landscape architect. A landscape designer plans outdoor spaces, planting and hardscape without that license.

Native Plans provides landscape and exterior design for residential projects. We are not landscape architects. Some work, such as certain grading and drainage design, can require a licensed landscape architect or civil engineer. Requirements vary by project and jurisdiction, so confirm them with your local building department; how that work is handled is agreed in the scope for each project.

Native Plans prices landscape design as part of the project after a first conversation. The quote is built from the size of the site, how much hardscape and outdoor living is involved, how detailed the planting plan needs to be and whether the landscape is designed with the house or after it.

Designing it with the house means the outdoor kitchen, porch slabs and drainage are planned before anything is poured.

With the house plans. Porch slabs, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, pool decks and driveways all touch the foundation, the utilities and the grading, and they're cheapest to change on paper. We start the landscape plan from the same footprint as the plan set.

No, but it helps to bring one in early. If you have a builder, we'll work with them from the start. If you're choosing one, we can start the design and bring builders in when their pricing input is useful.

Either way, the project goes better when the builder sees the drawings before they're final.

Native Plans prices each home after a first conversation, from the size and complexity of the house, which services you need (plans, interiors, landscape) and how many revision rounds the scope includes.

How quickly decisions get made moves the number too. There's no rate card: you get a recommended scope with a price, so you're comparing a real number to a defined set of drawings.

Ask how they price, what their allowances cover, how they handle change orders and who will run your job day to day. Ask whether they work fixed price or cost-plus and how they'll keep you informed during construction. Then ask to see a house they built from someone else's drawings, and how they handled the questions that came up.

Ask how they like to work with a design team, too. A builder who reviews the drawings before they're final can flag cost problems while they're still cheap to fix.