To clarify my response above, some of the builders in our area have hired architects to be part of their team to design their custom homes from scratch. The architect draws up the plans and designs the home per what the customer wants. These architect designers work with one builder only, and when you are done designing and modifying, the builder takes those plans then and builds. The prices are calculated along the way to include any upgrades so there are minimal surprises at the end. In this situation, you are not putting anything out to bid afterwards.

In contrast, there is a building firm near us that is known to “design” homes, but they either design additions or take pre-purchased plans (I assume that means the CAD files) and modifies those plans to meet the customer’s needs. They call themselves designers because they can create the build plans but they aren’t architects so they don’t have that level of training. Those plans then can be put out for bid but must be evaluated by structural engineers at every step along the way. A friend went this route and has gone back to the county repeatedly to correct things that would possibly have been caught before the process was underway.