Schematic design + neighborhood-fit review

What "schematic" means

The first design pass. Floor plans, exterior elevations, basic massing — enough to see the shape of the addition and how it sits on the existing house. Not engineered yet; not detailed enough to build from.

What gets explored

• Roof line. Full second story (gable, hip, shed)? Partial second floor with a dormer? Each has different cost and different code implications.
• Stair location. New second-floor stair has to land somewhere on the existing first floor. Often the single biggest constraint on the floor plan.
• Bedroom and bath layout upstairs.
• Massing relative to neighbors. Seattle doesn't have formal neighborhood design review for most additions, but visible second-story pop-ups attract neighbor attention. A designer who has done these will think about how the addition reads from the street.

Schematic outputs

• 1/4"-scale floor plans of existing + new.
• Exterior elevations on all four sides.
• A section cut at the new stair.
• A renderings or massing study (often a SketchUp model).

How many revisions

Typically two or three rounds before you settle on a direction. The designer will manage this against the hours in their agreement; if you push past three rounds expect an additional fee.

When this ends

You sign off on a single direction. The next step (structural engineering, step 2.4) needs that single direction to engineer to.