The first step to take, is to secure a parcel of land that suits your needs.
When you have done this, we advise to get in touch with an Architect or Draftsman and a Builder to whom you explain exactly how you want your home to be, and the approximate cost you can afford. Together with him or her you come to a final design from which the original plans are drawn.
From these originals, Blueprints are made which are submitted to the Town & Country planning division with the necessary applications.
Sometimes Customers request for a Builder and/or Architect to do a Site viewing, before coming to an agreement on design and price. This is always advisable, to see if the building you have in mind is feasible and/or affordable.
do preliminary site viewings as well, but there is a little charge for that.
The consultation fee is as follows:

• Anywhere in South Trinidad (San Fernando and down): TT$300. or US$50. (per required person).
• Anywhere North from San Fernando (Port-of-Spain to Arima) TT$400. or US$65. (per required person).
• Anywhere in East Trinidad (from Toco to Guayaguayare) TT$600. or US$100. (per required person).
• Anywhere in Tobago TT$1,000. or US$165. (per required person).

The cost of the Building Plans depends of course on the design and company you choose, but it can start from as low as TT$6,000. or US$1,000. in Trinidad and TT$8,000. or US$1,330. in Tobago, for a simple and basic 3 bedroom "flat" home (meaning a square or rectangular home on ground level).
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS ENTAIL:

• Architectural Design
• Structural Design
• Complete drawing of the plans
• All blueprints necessary for submission
• All design layouts and sketches
• WASA approvals- if required an additional cost will be incurred.
• Licensed plumber fees.
• Engineer’s fees.
• Any additional or detail drawing(s),if any, required by Town & Country planning division, or Regional Corporation.
• (optional) Submission of plans- separate cost.

Once a price Agreement is reached, both parties enters into a Contract.
The process of obtaining your building plans is done in 3 stages, and the payments are made accordingly;

1. The designing; At this stage the Architect starts to make sketches which can be changed up to 3 times at no additional cost as long as the type and style of building does not drastically change from what was initially agreed.
2. At this point a final design is reached and the Architect will start the drawing of the official building plans.
3. The submission to Town & Country and the Regional Corporation and follow up until plans are approved.

1. The first payment, is ⅓ of the agreed price, and represents the Designing phase. This payment has to be made in advance.
2. The second payment has to be made before the Architect starts the official building plans.
3. The final payment will be the last third of the agreed price PLUS the total of the additional sketches and additional Design costs (if any). This payment has to be made before the plans are submitted.
   Please note: the last payment is NOT made, as most people believe, after the plans are approved, but BEFORE.
This for the simple reason that the drawings were completed at the time of submission, and submission to Town & Country is a separate cost.

In general it takes less than 4 Months for the plans to pass, but sometimes Town & Country requests changes or additional detail drawings, after which the plans have to be resubmitted. In this case it might take up to 6 Months. Once a plan is submitted, it is out of the Architect's hands and there is little or nothing he can do than to wait until it passed all the different Departments.
If a plan is disapproved, the building inspector will make a note of what in his opinion needs to be changed or added. The Architect has to make the necessary adjustments and will resubmit the plans, there should be no extra charge for this (unless changes to the plans are made by request of the client), because it is part of the Architects job to deliver approved house plans. After the plan is resubmitted it will generally only take 3 to 4 weeks for the plans to be approved.
Once a plan is approved, no more changes can be made to the blueprint nor the actual proposed building, because during the construction regular inspections by Town & Country officials will take place.
If you want to make changes during construction, a plan amendment can be made at that time.
It might be interesting to inform you that besides Architectural Home Designs we also provide Structural Designs & Structural Calculation services.

Next, the Builder;
Before choosing a builder I always advise to check out several builders and to ask them to see some homes they already have built, and if possible to speak with the owners of those homes, this will give you a good idea of the quality and reliability of the builder.
When you made your choice on a builder, he (or a Quantity Surveyor) has to do a Quantity Survey and/or Estimate. A Quantity Survey is a report that shows exactly what materials an how much of each item is needed to build your home, from the smallest nail to the largest beam. A Quantity Survey should also show a column with the unit prices plus a second column with the total price of each item and at the bottom the total cost of all items. Click here for a simple sample of a Quantity Survey for a small renovation.
This definitely is a must for the customers who have applied for a loan or mortgage, because a Q.S. is required by the Mortgagee(s).
To prepare a Quantity Survey/Estimate is costly, and time consuming as no mistakes can be made. Therefore it is considered as a job by itself and charged accordingly. The prices for a Quantity Survey/Estimate vary from Company to Company, and are sometimes even "free" in which case you have to assure yourself that it is a real Q.S. and not an Estimate, because Q.S. are usually not free.

If you already have some floor plans and sketches with all the measurements, it is possible they can give you a very rough idea of what the construction cost will be, but you have to realize that, depending the time span between the rough estimate and the actual Quantity Survey, as well as the choice of materials, the price between the Estimate and Q.S. can vary quite a bit.
Besides that, it is also common that many customers start basic and simple, which results in an affordable rough estimate. Then the changing and adding starts, which could end up with a final Quantity Survey of 1/12 or even 2 x higher than the preliminary rough estimate. Therefore, it is important to note that every change or addition usually costs you thousands of dollars more ... rarely less.

If you have to get a Q.S. for a Mortgage or Loan, please check your Finance Company if they will accept a Q.S. done by our Company. Some Mortgagees have their own Quantity Surveyors. In case they insist you use one of their Quantity Surveyors, the prices underneath do not apply, most likely it will cost you more.

Once again I would like to emphasize that without a building plan we can not give an accurate price no matter what the size is, because you can have hundreds of different styles of homes, all with the same square footage, but they will all have a different price, and the price difference between the lowest and the highest price can be tremendous.

It usually takes between 3 and 6 months to build an average home. Of course, the larger or the more complicated your home is the longer it will take to build. Even though construction continues throughout the rainy season as well, it is very important to do as much as possible in the dry season which falls between January and June, as the rainy season might cause setbacks which will increase the building cost and could delay the estimated completion date.

Please Note: On this page only Residential Designs and Construction are mentioned.
However, Architectural Designs and Construction for larger Commercial and Multiple Storey Buildings, entire Complexes, Town Houses, Renovations, Land Development and Government Projects can be done as well.