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RIBA stages: is your project ready to build?
Foundation Series · Episode 7 of 12
Tina Patel & Bart Kolosowski · 12 February 2026
Planning drawings can show the home you want without providing everything needed to price and build it.
Bart and Tina use the RIBA stages as a framework for the project journey, explaining what each phase needs to resolve and why the work between design and construction matters.
Planning drawings are not the instructions for building it
A plan can show where the shower goes. The technical design still needs to explain which tray is intended, how it is installed and how the floor is built up around it.
This is where the architectural, structural and specialist designs need to fit together. Materials, finishes and other requirements must become clear enough for the contractor to price and deliver the work.
The hosts make the case for spending time on that coordination. Moving straight from an attractive planning package to builders’ quotations can carry unresolved decisions into the price—and then onto site.
01
Test the idea
Check needs, viability and options.
02
Coordinate detail
Bring the design packages together.
03
Tender and prepare
Allow time to price and organise.
04
Build and hand over
Resolve discoveries and close out.
Allow for the work between design and site start
Finishing the drawings does not mean a contractor can start immediately. The tender needs to be issued, priced and assessed; an appointment then needs to be agreed and the builder must prepare for the work.
Bart argues that this part of the programme deserves explicit attention. Contractors need time to involve their suppliers, organise resources and become familiar with the project.
An available builder is only one part of readiness. Ask the team what still needs to happen before a productive start, rather than assume an earlier arrival on site will mean an earlier finish.
Opening up the house can change what the team knows
Existing buildings do not reveal every detail during design. Strip-out may uncover construction or conditions that require the architect, engineer or another specialist to amend the information.
The useful response is to organise how those discoveries will be assessed and resolved. Designers need to remain available to answer the questions on which the contractor’s next tasks depend.
Where appropriate, the hosts discuss separating early opening-up work from the main build. That is a project-specific option to consider with the team, rather than a step every homeowner must take.
Handover is a stage—not just a moving date
Near completion, the project changes again. The contractor is finishing rooms, bringing systems into use and closing out the information needed to hand the home over.
Tina and Bart distinguish this process from simply putting the furniture in. Ask what documentation, demonstrations and outstanding items need to be dealt with for your particular project.
The conversation also looks beyond handover. Once you live in the home, consider whether it meets the original brief and how its systems and running costs perform in everyday use.
Three decisions to take into your project
01 Ask what each stage must resolve.
Agree the decisions and information needed before the project moves forward.
02 Include tendering and preparation.
Put the work between design and construction into the programme.
03 Plan for handover and use.
Consider documentation, familiarisation and the home’s performance after moving in.
The full conversation
The Foundation Series is our 12-episode guide to the home project journey. Architect Tina Patel and quantity surveyor Bart Kolosowski work through the decisions, people and processes involved, step by step.
In Episode 7, Bart and Tina explain the project stages from early feasibility to using the completed home, with particular attention to technical design, tendering and preparation for construction.
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