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Design & documentation · Nationwide
Turn your proposed work into a coordinated set of drawings and supporting documents. True North helps commercial and residential clients nationwide develop the design, resolve the information gaps, and prepare a permit package around the actual project and reviewing authority.
For owners, tenants, property representatives, and contractors planning new construction, a build-out, an addition, or a remodel. Bring your idea or the plans you already have; a complete drawing set is not required to begin.
Request a project reviewA useful package shows what will change, how the parts fit together, and which professional is responsible for each discipline. The required sheets depend on the property, proposed use, work, and review pathway.
We assemble the drawings and supporting information needed for the regulatory reviews in your agreed scope. The proposal identifies the drawing list, disciplines, supporting documents, review cycles, issue format, and delivery milestone. It also identifies any applications, submission management, or review responses included in the engagement.
A tenant build-out may center on layout, equipment, accessibility, and system coordination. An addition can require site, roof, elevation, structural, and existing-to-new interface information. A new building can need a broader site and discipline package. These are starting points for scoping, not a universal list of required sheets.
Existing-condition drawings record what is there. Proposed permit drawings describe what you intend to build or change. Reviewing plans supplied by someone else checks their suitability and gaps; it does not automatically include a new site measurement or redesign. We identify which work your project needs before defining the package.
Design development connects the way a space will be used with its physical constraints. The applicable tasks can include:
Study buildings, access, parking, outdoor uses, utilities, landscaping, and stormwater together. Develop the building volume, height, roof form, entrances, and relationship to neighboring development.
Arrange rooms, openings, fixtures, equipment, and support spaces. Coordinate customer entrances, queues, seating, checkout, pickup, service points, and exits; employee workstations, storage, staff facilities, service routes, and deliveries; and goods moving through receiving, preparation, production, distribution, waste, and equipment routes.
Coordinate capacity, dimensions, loads, utility services, power, clearances, accessibility, and circulation. Allow for maintenance access and the routes needed to remove or replace equipment without overlooking adjacent activities.
Develop the spatial character, finishes, fixtures, lighting interfaces, and millwork within the assigned design scope. Interior selections consider use, sanitation, durability, fire performance, and maintenance. Exterior selections consider weather exposure, attachments, fire performance, energy requirements, appearance, and private review criteria.
Use agreed perspectives, diagrams, renderings, or models to explain the concept. Integrate accessible site connections, routes, entrances, rooms, fixtures, and counters into the layout rather than treating them as an afterthought.
Confirm the selected arrangement, systems, materials, equipment, and owner decisions before final drawing production. This establishes the assumptions the team will coordinate and identifies decisions still outstanding.
The agreed sheet list may draw from the following products. We coordinate them with the applicable professional disciplines; every product is not automatically included in every project.
A cover sheet identifies the address, scope, team, drawing index, issue status, and controlling information. A code information sheet records the applicable codes, use classifications, areas, construction type, occupant loads, and design criteria.
Document the measured existing layout, labeling inaccessible or unverified conditions. Identify walls, openings, finishes, equipment, utilities, and other elements to remove, together with the elements that need protection.
Show intended room uses, openings, fixtures, equipment, and drawing references. Set out controlling dimensions, offsets, clearances, wall positions, and coordination geometry. Identify partition types, extents, ratings, construction, and intersections.
Reflected ceiling plans coordinate heights, grid, soffits, access panels, lights, diffusers, and fire-system interfaces. Roof plans address geometry, slopes, drainage, penetrations, equipment, curbs, edges, and related details.
Exterior elevations show building faces, materials, openings, heights, equipment screening, and appearance requirements. Interior elevations coordinate wall-mounted elements, casework, equipment, finishes, mounting heights, and fixture relationships.
Building sections explain floor levels, roofs, ceilings, structure, and major assemblies. Wall sections connect foundations, walls, floors, roofs, insulation, and moisture-control layers. Enlarged plans make complex restrooms, kitchens, treatment rooms, service areas, or equipment rooms legible at a useful scale.
Record door sizes, types, materials, ratings, frames, glazing, and hardware references. Coordinate window types, sizes, glazing, performance criteria, and installation references.
Identify finishes by room or surface, including transitions, bases, wet areas, and substrate needs. Room data sheets bring together use, finishes, equipment, services, clearances, and environmental criteria.
Coordinate selected equipment with its dimensional, structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing requirements. Identify room, directional, accessibility, safety, and operational signs within the assigned scope.
Set out material, assembly, installation, quality, testing, submittal, and performance requirements within the responsible designer’s scope. Align written requirements with the drawings and project decisions.
Where the scope calls for them, coordinated details explain how adjacent elements work together and make construction interfaces clear.
Coordinate thresholds, landings, clearances, weather protection, doors, glazing, and accessible approaches. Resolve storefront framing, attachments, structure, flashing, and connections to adjacent finishes.
Address stair geometry, supports, landings, headroom, and egress; ramp slopes, edge protection, drainage, and accessible connections; guard geometry, openings, structural attachment, and fall protection; and handrail height, graspability, continuity, extensions, clearances, and supporting construction.
Coordinate fixture positions, clearances, accessories, partitions, finishes, waterproofing, and utilities. Shower details also address slopes, thresholds, seating, controls, and accessible approaches where applicable.
Resolve service function, counter heights, knee space, storage, equipment, and electrical or plumbing interfaces. Coordinate cabinet geometry, materials, supports, hardware, and service access.
Identify selected rated walls, floors, roofs, openings, joints, and their interfaces. Coordinate tested firestop penetration and joint systems with actual substrates, services, and movement. Address acoustic walls, ceilings, floors, doors, penetrations, and paths through adjoining construction that can transmit sound.
Coordinate membranes, transitions, terminations, penetrations, drainage, and adjacent assemblies. Document physical and performance connections between retained and new construction. Resolve expansion joints across structural movement, weather protection, fire resistance, finishes, and building systems.
Coordinate doors, removable panels, roof access, lifting paths, and service clearances so maintenance and future replacement needs are represented in the design.
Start with what is available. We can help identify missing information before it becomes a design assumption.
Share the project location, intended use, available surveys, existing plans, photos, and information about prior approvals or review comments. Confirm permission to use supplied records. We identify backgrounds or conditions that need verification.
Describe what will change, who will use the space, how it will operate, and any target opening or construction dates. Bring a selected concept if you have one, along with equipment specifications, layouts, landlord criteria, or association requirements that affect the design.
Identify the owner’s decision-maker and any architect, engineer, surveyor, contractor, or specialty designer already involved. We clarify design criteria, discipline responsibilities, and the information each party must supply.
Your agreement defines the endpoint. Preparing a drawing package, managing a submission, and receiving a permit are different milestones.
Confirm the location, proposed use, project stage, available records, and intended milestone. Establish the sheet list, inputs, discipline responsibilities, and services included in the proposal.
Resolve important layout and equipment decisions, verify relevant backgrounds, and record the basis of design. Identify unresolved conditions rather than presenting assumptions as measured facts.
Prepare the agreed sheets and supporting information. Coordinate professional designs, details, schedules, and interfaces; track revisions so the team can identify the controlling issue.
Review the package for its contracted purpose and organize the deliverables. If applications, agency responses, revisions, or resubmissions are included, manage those steps to the agreed endpoint and maintain the change record.
Identify the delivered issue, open decisions, outstanding approvals, and responsibilities for construction or later submissions. A delivered plan set does not by itself establish that a permit has been issued.
True North develops and coordinates the contracted documentation and provides professionally stamped plan packages when the agreed scope and applicable jurisdiction require them.
Required design, calculations, surveys, and certifications remain with the qualified professionals responsible for that work. We identify the applicable architectural, structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire, or other discipline scope rather than assuming one package includes everything.
Reviewing authorities make approval decisions. Required legal or environmental determinations stay with the responsible specialists. Construction services through our partners are included only when expressly agreed; contractors retain responsibility for their assigned physical work and construction means and methods.
We define fees and milestones after reviewing the actual work. There is no single nationwide price or approval timetable for a permit drawing package.
The number of disciplines and sheets, existing-record quality, field verification, equipment information, specialty details, and maturity of the design affect the work. Owner changes, coordination needs, and the included review or revision cycles also affect effort.
The proposal distinguishes True North’s services, professional fees, agency charges, and physical-construction costs. Owner decisions, specialist inputs, landlord reviews, and jurisdiction workloads can affect timing. Agency approval dates and outcomes cannot be guaranteed.
Before you begin
A permit set supports the applicable authority’s review. Construction may also need additional details, specifications, coordination, or separately prepared shop drawings. We agree on the intended use and completeness of the deliverable rather than treating permit submission as proof that every construction document is finished. If you need editable CAD files, a BIM model, or other delivery formats, identify them during scoping so the proposal can address format, responsibility, and authorized use.
Existing-condition drawings record the current layout and identify what could not be verified. Proposed drawings show the work you intend to perform. A remodel can need both, plus demolition sheets. We review the available backgrounds and identify any measurement or verification work needed before relying on them.
The proposal identifies the disciplines and deliverables included for your project. Architectural, structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire, and specialty requirements depend on the work and jurisdiction. Required professional design and certification are assigned to the responsible qualified professionals.
Yes. We first review their intended use, accuracy, completeness, and your authority to use them. Existing-plan review may identify gaps or revisions. Measuring conditions, developing new design, or completing another discipline is separately identified in the agreed scope.
Yes. Tell us your intended use, likely location, and current stage. Early work can focus on the concept, project requirements, and information you need before committing to a full drawing package. The inquiry form lets you indicate that a property has not been selected.
Submission management, agency responses, revisions, and resubmissions can be included. Your agreement identifies which steps, review cycles, and endpoint apply. Drawing completion, submission, and permit issuance are tracked as different milestones.
True North is based in Houston and serves projects throughout the United States. We scope the documents, required professional participation, and review pathway around the project location. Nationwide availability does not mean every jurisdiction uses the same requirements.
No. The reviewing authority decides whether to approve a submission. We coordinate the agreed package and included review work, identify outstanding issues, and distinguish a prepared or submitted set from an issued permit.
Your next step
Start with what you know. We’ll help define the path ahead.