Practice
The professionals and roles involved in designing, permitting and constructing a building.
- Architect
A licensed professional who designs buildings and guides them from first concept to completion, balancing use, beauty, safety, and how the building will be built.
- Building designer
A professional who plans and details buildings, preparing drawings, specifications, and permit documents, most often for houses, small commercial projects, and renovations.
- Building inspector
An official who visits a construction site at set stages to check that the work follows the approved permit drawings and the local building codes.
- Draftsperson
A technician who turns designs and sketches into accurate, scaled drawings and details, today usually in CAD or a 3D building model (BIM).
- General contractor
The builder who holds the main construction contract with the owner and runs the job site, hiring and scheduling the trades and buying materials to build the project as drawn.
- MEP engineer
An engineer, or team, who designs a building’s heating, cooling, ventilation, power, lighting, plumbing, and often fire-protection systems.
- Structural engineer
An engineer who works out how a building carries its weight and resists wind, snow, and earthquakes, then sizes the beams, columns, and foundations to do it safely.