There are two common ways to remodel a kitchen or bathroom. You can hire a designer or architect first and then shop the plans to general contractors, or you can hire one design-build firm that does both. Here is how they compare in practice.
What is a design-build contractor?
A design-build contractor handles design and construction under a single contract. The person who helps you choose a layout and finishes works on the same team as the people who price and build it, so the design is shaped by real costs from the start.
How the traditional route works
With the traditional design-bid-build approach, you pay for a finished design, then collect bids from general contractors who did not create the plans. It can work well for large architectural projects, but for kitchens and bathrooms it often means more handoffs, more waiting between phases, and a gap between what was drawn and what fits the budget.
Side by side
- One point of contact with design-build, versus relaying messages between a designer and a builder.
- Pricing during design with design-build, versus learning the real cost only after plans are finished and bid.
- Overlapping phases with design-build — ordering can start as soon as selections are final — versus strictly sequential design, bidding, then building.
- One party accountable for the result, versus the designer and contractor potentially pointing at each other when something does not work.
When a general contractor alone makes sense
If you already have complete, permit-ready drawings from an architect, hiring a general contractor to build them can be a good fit. If you are starting from an idea — “we want this kitchen to work better” — design-build usually gets you there with fewer surprises.
Read more about why we work design-build, or see how it plays out in our kitchen and bathroom projects.
Frequently asked questions
A design-build firm handles both the design and the construction under one contract. A general contractor builds from plans created by a separate designer or architect, so design and pricing happen in separate steps.
Not necessarily. Because the team pricing the work is involved during design, the plan stays within budget from the start, which avoids paying for designs that later need to be cut back.
