Whole House Remodel Design & Drafting in Carmel

The set that gets a whole-house remodel through plan check typically carries:

• Measured as-built drawings of the existing house — every whole-house project starts here.
• Demolition plans showing what comes out, which is reviewed as carefully as what goes in.
• Proposed floor plans for the full footprint, dimensioned, with door, window and fixture schedules.
• Exterior elevations and building sections — all four sides, existing and proposed.
• Framing and structural plans, coordinated with your engineer’s calculations.
• Electrical, plumbing and mechanical layouts at the level your jurisdiction requires.
• Title 24 energy compliance documentation for the whole scope.
• Site plan with setbacks, lot coverage, easements and drainage.

On the Peninsula, most houses worth remodeling were built between the 1920s and the 1960s. Original drawings are usually missing, and where they survive they have been quietly wrong since the second owner moved a wall. So we measure — field-verified as-built drawings are the foundation of the whole set.

A remodel that keeps a meaningful portion of the existing structure is generally reviewed as a remodel. Strip past a certain point and jurisdictions begin treating the project as new construction, with the zoning, energy and sometimes coastal requirements that come with it.

On a nonconforming lot — common in Carmel and Pacific Grove — the existing structure may carry rights a new building would not get back. That trade-off is worth modeling before demolition, not during it.

We also draw new single-family homes, from a bare lot through an approved permit set. New construction removes the existing-conditions problem and replaces it with a planning one: what zoning, coverage limits, the height envelope and, on the coast, the Coastal Act will allow on that particular parcel.

It does. The useful question is which reviews you pass through, and in what order.

The 2025 California Building Standards Code took effect January 1, 2026, and applies based on the date the permit application is filed. On a whole-house scope, Title 24 compliance is assessed across the project rather than room by room.

Beyond building plan check, a whole-house project frequently lands in a design review track:

• Monterey — architectural review, triggered by lot size, slope, or a second story.
• Carmel — Design Study Track One or Track Two.
• Pacific Grove — tiered review, including the Historic Resources Committee.
• Pebble Beach — dual approval through both the Pebble Beach Company and Monterey County.
• Hillside and sloped sites may add a geotechnical investigation.

Requirements and timelines described here were researched in September 2026 and are typical rather than guaranteed. Verify current requirements with the building department for your jurisdiction.

Cost on a whole-house set moves with five things:

• The size and condition of the existing house. As-built measurement is proportional to what is there and how little of it is documented.
• How much structure moves. Relocating bearing walls, opening up a plan or changing the roof form pulls engineering into nearly every sheet.
• Which review track you land in. Design review, historic review or a coastal development permit each add drawings and time.
• Site conditions — slope, soils, drainage and protected trees.
• How quickly decisions get made. A plan settled before elevations are drawn costs materially less than one settled after.

The work runs in five steps:

1. Consultation — scope, lot constraints, and whether remodel or rebuild is the right frame.
2. As-built measurement of the existing house.
3. Concept design — plan options against zoning, coverage and budget.
4. Construction documents — the full permit set, structural and Title 24 coordinated.
5. Submittal and plan check — package prepared, corrections answered.

Room-level work has its own pages: kitchen, bathroom, home additions, ADU design and plan sets for contractors. See all service areas.