Design & Consultant Coordination
Keep the drawing set from contradicting itself
Architecture, civil, geotech, survey and landscape each produce a correct set. Plan review is where you find out they don't agree with each other.
The coordination gap
Consultants are hired for discrete scopes and generally deliver them well. What nobody is contractually responsible for is making sure the finished floor elevation on the architectural set matches the civil grading plan, that the geotech recommendations are reflected in the foundation design, that the survey base is current, and that the landscape plan doesn't plant trees inside a stormwater easement.
Those conflicts are cheap to fix in design and expensive to fix in review or in the field.
What CLD coordinates
Scope definition before consultants are hired, so the deliverables actually cover what the permit requires. Base drawing control so everyone is working from the same survey and site plan. Cross-discipline review at each milestone. Consolidated comment tracking so revisions don't get lost between firms.
Where the project needs a consultant nobody has hired yet — a traffic study, an arborist report, a hydrogeologist — CLD identifies that before the jurisdiction does.
Getting the right team in the first place
Consultant selection matters more on complex sites than on simple ones. A civil engineer who works constantly in one county knows that county's reviewers and standards. CLD's referral network across Puget Sound jurisdictions is one of the things clients engage for.
What you get
- Consultant scope definition and selection support
- Base drawing and survey control across disciplines
- Milestone cross-discipline drawing review
- Consolidated comment and revision tracking
- Identification of missing studies before agency review does
- Meeting facilitation and written decision records
Bring CLD in when
- Multiple consultants are producing drawings that don't fully agree
- You're assembling a project team and don't know who to hire
- Plan review comments keep pointing at inconsistencies between sets
- Nobody is running the design schedule
Common questions
Do you replace the architect?
No. CLD coordinates the team on the owner's behalf. The architect remains the design lead and the professional of record.
Can you recommend engineers and surveyors?
Yes. Carol has worked with civil, geotech, survey and environmental consultants across Puget Sound for over two decades and can match the team to the jurisdiction and site type.
What if the team is already hired?
That's fine and common. Coordination can start at any milestone.
Where this service is available
In person across Snohomish County · King County · Skagit County · Island County. Code research and submittal preparation for this scope is also available remotely, nationwide.
Related
Services that usually go with this one
Owner's Representation
Everyone else on the project is paid to deliver their scope. An owner's rep is the only party paid to protect the outcome.
Read more →Permitting & Entitlements
Plan review is a conversation with a reviewer who has a checklist and a queue. Projects move when someone reads what's actually being asked and answers it completely.
Read more →Construction Oversight & Quality Control
The approved drawings describe what should get built. Oversight is the process of confirming, repeatedly, that it is.
Read more →Tell Carol about the project
The first conversation is a straight read on whether the project is workable and what it would take to move it. No charge for that call.