HOA and Design Review: The Time Before the Time

A builder's construction schedule usually starts when the permit is issued. In a lot of mountain communities, there's a whole process before that: design review by the homeowners association or a design review board. It can add months, it can change the house, and it comes with costs that don't always show up in a builder's bid.

Every community runs it differently, so treat this as a general picture and read your own community's guidelines closely.

How design review typically works

Most processes move through stages, each with its own submittal and its own review.

Pre-application or sketch review. An early look at the concept: placement on the lot, height, general massing. Often informal, sometimes optional, usually worth doing.

Preliminary review. Drawings with enough detail to judge the design: site plan, floor plans, elevations, materials.

Final review. The full submittal, often with a materials and color board, a lighting plan, and a landscape plan.

Boards usually meet on a set calendar, sometimes monthly. Missing a submittal deadline can push your review to the next meeting. And approvals often come with conditions, or a request to revise and resubmit.

What review can change

Design guidelines cover the things that make a neighborhood look like itself. That typically includes:

• Building height, roof pitch, and roof materials
• Exterior materials and colors, sometimes down to the stain
• Window placement and glazing, especially on sides facing neighbors
• Exterior lighting, often limited to downlighting
• Building envelope, setbacks, and how much of the lot is disturbed
• Landscaping, tree removal, and revegetation
• Driveway location and grade

Any of those can change after the house has been drawn. If a bid was priced before approval, it was priced on a house that may not be the one that gets approved.

Conditions that cost money

Some communities attach costs to the approval itself. Typical examples:

• Design review fees
• Construction deposits or compliance deposits, sometimes refundable at the end if the house is built as approved
• Required materials that cost more than what was drawn
• Construction fencing, staging limits, and working hours
• Landscaping bonds or completion requirements
• Rules on construction parking, dumpsters, and trailers

The deposits can be large, and they come out of your money, not the builder's, until they're refunded. Make sure they're in your all-in budget.

Building it into the plan

Timing. Count backward from when you want to break ground. Design review, then permit, then construction start. In some communities, review alone can take a few months. See How long a custom home takes.

Bid timing. If you bid before final approval, ask builders to write down what they assumed about materials, colors, and site work, and expect some numbers to move after approval.

Construction rules in the bid. Staging limits, working hours, and fencing requirements cost the builder money too. A builder who knows the community will price them. Ask whether the bid accounts for the community's construction rules.

A contingency for conditions. Approval conditions aren't known until approval. Hold some money for them.

Changes after approval. If you change the exterior during construction, the change may need to go back through review before it's built. A different siding, an added window, or a new deck can each mean another submittal and another wait. Settle the exterior before you submit, and treat the approved drawings as the ones to build from.

Questions worth asking the HOA or review board

• What are the stages of review, and when does the board meet?
• What fees and deposits apply, and when are deposits refunded?
• Are there construction rules for staging, hours, fencing, and parking?
• Is a pre-application meeting available?

Questions worth asking the builder

• Have you built in this community, and does your bid account for its construction rules?
• What did you assume about materials and colors that design review could change?
• Does your schedule start at permit, or does it account for approval timing?