Most builders say 12 to 18 months. That's construction time. It doesn't include design. It doesn't include permitting. It doesn't include the months of pre-construction that determine whether construction goes smoothly or sideways.
Full timeline, first meeting to move-in: 24 to 36 months. For complex sites or fire rebuilds, 36 is a more honest baseline than 24.
Design (4–9 Months)
Schematic design: site planning, massing, floor plan — the fundamental moves that define the building. Six to ten weeks for a well-scoped project with a decisive client.
Design development: structure resolved, systems located, windows and doors scheduled, materials specified. This is where the project gets a real cost attached.
Construction documents: the permit-ready drawing set, fully dimensioned and coordinated with engineering. Eight to fourteen weeks. Cutting corners here costs more in construction.
The variable that most affects design duration isn't complexity — it's client decision velocity. Reviews that slip two weeks each round turn a five-month design phase into an eight-month one.
Permitting (3–9 Months)
LADBS plan check for a new single-family home currently runs 3 to 5 months for standard review. Projects that trigger discretionary review — hillside ordinance, coastal zone, fire hazard severity zone, historic overlay — add time and cost.
What you can control: drawing quality, pre-application meetings for complex projects, paid expedited plan check where carrying costs justify the fee.
The strategic point: permitting runs in parallel with pre-construction, not sequentially. A well-organized project uses the permitting window to finalize subcontractors, confirm material lead times, and prepare so that when the permit issues, construction starts within days.
Pre-Construction (Overlapping with Permitting)
This is the phase most clients don't see and many builders skip. It's the primary determinant of how smoothly construction goes.
Confirming subcontractors, ordering long-lead items (a Marvin Ultimate window package: 12–16 week lead time), completing site preparation. A builder who uses permitting time well compresses the overall timeline by two to four months.
Construction (10–16 Months)
Foundation and structure: 10–14 weeks on a prepared site. Hillside sites with concrete foundations, retaining walls, or post-and-beam framing add time.
Rough framing: 6–10 weeks. Rough MEP overlaps with late framing: 8–12 weeks. Insulation, drywall, envelope: 8–12 weeks.
Finish work — cabinetry, tile, flooring, painting, hardware, fixtures — is the longest phase relative to perceived progress. Fourteen to twenty weeks for a well-specified home. Rushing finish work creates punch list items that follow you for years.
Inspections, commissioning, closeout: 4–6 weeks.
What Compresses the Timeline
Two things.
Starting the builder relationship early. Builders involved during design sequence decisions, flag long-lead items, and ensure the construction documents are buildable.
Client decision-making. The most common source of schedule delay on custom residential projects isn't weather, labor, or materials. It's open client decisions.
If someone tells you 12–18 months, ask where design and permitting fit. The builders who hit the shorter end of the real range — 24 months rather than 36 — treat permitting as a construction phase, not a waiting room. They order windows while the city reviews drawings. They schedule trades before the permit issues. That compression doesn't happen by accident.
The Summary
Design: 4–9 months. Permitting: 3–9 months. Pre-construction: overlapping. Construction: 10–16 months. Total: 24–36 months.
If a builder quotes something significantly shorter, ask for references from three completed projects and their actual start-to-finish timelines.
Riley Projects gives clients a realistic project timeline at the start of every engagement and tracks against it through completion.