From preliminary project to building application: the path to a building permit
- Simon Käslin
- Aug 20
- 14 min read
Updated: 1 hour ago
Between a finished preliminary design and a submitted building application lies a project phase of its own, in which your project matures from an idea into a permit-ready dossier. A great deal is only properly sharpened now: the drawings are detailed, the compliance certificates under building law are produced, the specialist planners are coordinated and the costs are refined. Just as important is that the project is coordinated with the municipality in this phase and that the neighbours are involved early. These are decisive steps, and you as the client need to be guided through them properly, because what you submit with the building application has to be what you actually want. This article shows what happens in concrete terms on the way from preliminary project to building application and which decisions have to be settled beforehand.
Table of contents
What does the transition from preliminary project to building application mean?
Where does your project really stand after the preliminary design?
The preliminary meeting with the building department: sharpening the project with the municipality
Which compliance certificates and drawings are produced for the submission
Which decisions have to be settled before the building application
Preliminary design status vs. building application readiness at a glance
Checklist: what has to be clarified before the building application
Practical example: from sketch to a submission-ready dossier
Ready for the building application?
I check your dossier for gaps before the municipality does and it costs you time.
1. What does the transition from preliminary project to building application mean?
Many clients experience a break they did not expect. The preliminary design is finished, the idea appeals, the spatial concept convinces, and yet no building application can be submitted on that basis. The reason is simple: a preliminary design, also called the preliminary project, answers the question of what is to be built. The building application additionally requires how exactly it is to be built, plus proof that everything complies with the regulations.
The route in between is not a formality but the actual planning work, in which a concept becomes a verifiable, internally consistent dossier. In the language of planners this stage is called project development, or the construction project. It is the phase in which the decisive points are fine tuned, often in direct consultation with the municipality.
This article deliberately covers only this bridge, that is, the preparation before submission. How the procedure runs afterwards and which documents a building application comprises in detail can be read in the article Building application and building permit in Switzerland. How long the authority needs for its decision is explained in the article on how long a building permit takes.
2. Where does your project really stand after the preliminary design?
After a carefully developed preliminary design you have a clear basis. The building volume is settled, the arrangement of the rooms is plausible, access has been thought through, and a rough cost framework gives you orientation. These are the fundamental decisions that can hardly be shifted later without considerable effort.
What is typically still missing is depth. The key figures under building law have been considered but are not yet documented down to the square metre. Materials, construction and building services are only defined in outline, and the costs are an estimate, not a reliable figure. If you would like to go deeper into the fundamentals of the preliminary design, you will find them in the article Preliminary project for a house build: content, costs, process and quality criteria.
The preliminary design is deliberately kept open so that it allows variants. Precisely this openness has to be closed before the building application, because a building authority does not assess an intention but a concrete, defined project. These decisions are yours, not ours. Our task is to prepare and explain them so that you know exactly what you are deciding on.
3. What happens in between in the construction project phase
The construction project phase is the core of this transition. Here the concept becomes a fully worked out project. Several work steps run in parallel and interlock.
The drawings are detailed. From the rough floor plans come dimensioned, verifiable drawings with correct scales, sections, elevations and a site plan. Doors, windows, wall thicknesses, heights and connections are defined.
The compliance certificates under building law are produced. Calculations of the utilisation ratio, of boundary and building setbacks, of building and ridge heights and of the number of storeys demonstrate that your project complies with the regulations. They are the backbone of its eligibility for a permit.
The specialist planners are coordinated. Depending on the project, a structural engineer, building services planning, energy and fire safety certificates and further specialists come in. Their contributions have to fit together so that the dossier is free of contradictions.
The costs are refined. The rough estimate becomes a reliable cost calculation that serves as the basis for the financing.
The project is coordinated with its surroundings. This includes the preliminary meeting with the building department as well as involving the neighbourhood early. These two points are often underestimated but are frequently decisive for a smooth process.
4. The preliminary meeting with the building department: sharpening the project with the municipality
This is where one of the greatest and at the same time most underestimated benefits of this phase lies. Much about a project is not settled conclusively at the desk but in consultation with the municipality. A preliminary meeting with the building department before the application is submitted is therefore not a nice extra but often the decisive step.
In such a meeting we clarify with the authority the points that leave room for interpretation in the regulations. How is a particular height measured? Does a building element count towards the utilisation ratio or not? How does the municipality assess the fit into the townscape, the roof shape or the facade? Such questions cannot always be answered from the text of the building and zoning regulations alone. Anyone who discusses them with the building department beforehand knows where they stand and sharpens the project exactly where it would otherwise lead to queries or a rejection.
The result is a dossier that has been developed together with the municipality and already carries the right answers within it. For you that means less risk, fewer follow up requirements and a calmer procedure. How strong this effect is depends on the municipality concerned, because each one interprets its regulations somewhat differently. That is precisely why early coordination pays off: it is the point at which local experience and a good relationship with the authority work in your favour.
5. Involving the neighbours early and reducing objections
A construction project never affects only the client. It changes the surroundings, and the neighbours have a right to comment on it. In the procedure this happens through the public notice period, during which objections can be filed. A single objection can delay a project by months, and in an unfavourable case for longer. That is one of the greatest and least calculable time risks of a construction project.
This is exactly where a strong lever lies in the preparation: involving the neighbours early. Anyone who shows the project to the directly affected neighbours before submission, takes their questions seriously and responds to concerns where this is sensible and possible clearly reduces the risk of an objection. Often it is not about the project itself at all, but about not being passed over. A conversation at the right time has more effect here than any formal letter.
Objections can never be ruled out entirely. But experience shows that an open, early approach to the neighbourhood defuses many conflicts before they arise. We help you to recognise the relevant points, to choose the right moment and to prepare the conversation objectively. The article Avoiding objections in Switzerland goes into this in more depth. Whether and in what form this makes sense in your case depends on your project, your location and your neighbourhood.
6. Which compliance certificates and drawings are produced for the submission
The greatest amount of work on the way to the building application lies in the compliance certificates. They demonstrate that your project is not only attractive but also permissible. We deliberately do not list the complete set of documents for a building application here; you will find it in the article on building application and building permit. What matters at this point is which substantive certificates are prepared.
At the centre are the key figures under building law. They demonstrate that you are developing the plot within the permitted framework. These include the utilisation ratio and, depending on the canton, the building volume ratio or the gross floor area ratio. These values have to be calculated cleanly and presented in a comprehensible way. An understandable explanation is offered by the article Utilisation ratio, gross floor area ratio and building volume ratio explained.
Equally decisive are the boundary and building setbacks and the height dimensions. They are shown on the site plan and in the sections and compared with the building and zoning regulations. The fit into the townscape can also play a role, and this is exactly where prior coordination with the building department helps. Added to this are the technical certificates, for example the energy compliance certificate, possibly a fire safety concept as well as information on drainage and access. These are produced by the specialist planners but have to be coordinated so that they fit the construction project.
7. Which specialist planners now have to be coordinated
A detached house looks manageable but is an interplay of many disciplines. In the construction project phase the specialist planners appear in their full breadth for the first time. Typically these are the structural engineer for the load bearing structure, the building services planners for heating, ventilation and plumbing, a specialist planner for the energy compliance certificate and, depending on the project, specialists for geology, surveying or fire safety. Each supplies one building block, and the art lies in assembling these blocks into a coherent whole without contradictions.
This is exactly where the value of independent project management shows. As an architecture practice with no ties to general contractors or products, we coordinate the specialist planners in your interest and keep an overview of the entire dossier. We translate the specialist contributions into understandable language so that at every step you know what it means for your project. More on this on our architecture and planning page.
8. Refining costs, informing the bank, fixing the financing
In this phase the costs are sharpened as well. The rough estimate from the preliminary design becomes a reliable cost calculation that is based on the detailed drawings and on the concrete material decisions. This is not a side issue but the basis for everything that follows, because a project that cannot be financed cannot be built, however good it may otherwise be.
Because the costs are now more precise, at this point the bank is often informed again and the financing is updated. An initial assessment becomes a concrete basis on which the bank can calculate bindingly. The whole thing is checked, confirmed and fixed. In this way you go into the building application with secured financing and not with an open question behind you.
The order matters. Anyone who only really knows the costs after submission risks the approved project blowing the budget, and then has to replan even though the procedure could long since have been running. Anyone who sharpens the costs beforehand and fixes the financing, by contrast, decides on a secure basis.
9. Which decisions have to be settled before the building application
Now we come to the core. A building application is a snapshot of a defined project, and what you submit is assessed exactly as it stands. Everything you change after submission can delay the procedure or make a project amendment necessary. That is why it has to be clear before submission what you are deciding on, and the decision has to be genuinely yours.
These are very strong, decisive steps, and this is exactly where you as the client have to be guided and supported properly. Because what is submitted with the building application has to be what you actually want, since it cannot simply be changed afterwards. A building application cannot be reworked like a sketch. Once it has been approved, the permitted volume with its dimensions is the framework within which construction takes place.
The building volume and the external appearance should be settled, that is, volume, roof shape, facade and the position on the plot. The number and arrangement of the rooms, the access and the use should also be defined. For the choice of materials a basic decision is often enough, but everything relevant under building law, such as heights, setbacks or window areas, has to be definitive.
Interior fit out, the choice of kitchen or the exact colour scheme can be refined later, as long as they do not change the approved volume and the approved dimensions. What the authority assesses has to be settled. What concerns purely the execution may still mature. Our task is to make this boundary clear to you so that you decide consciously and do not fix anything you have not yet decided.
10. Preliminary design status vs. building application readiness at a glance
The following table shows what is typically available after the preliminary design and what additionally has to be finished for a mature building application. The details are guide values and vary depending on the project, canton and municipality.
Drawings: Status after the preliminary design: rough floor plans, sections and elevations. Additionally required for the building application: dimensioned, verifiable drawings at the required scale with a site plan
Key figures under building law: Status after the preliminary design: roughly checked, plausibility tested
Additionally required for the building application: documented calculation of utilisation, setbacks, heights and so on
Coordination with the municipality: Status after the preliminary design: ideally already done; if not, it is essential with the building application
Neighbourhood: Status after the preliminary design: not involved
Additionally required for the building application: affected neighbours informed early, points of conflict defused
Specialist planning: Status after the preliminary design: initially discussed, fundamentals clarified. Additionally required for the building application: coordinated contributions from structural engineering, building services and energy
Choice of materials: Status after the preliminary design: defined in outline
Additionally required for the building application: decisions relevant under building law settled, such as colour, material, arrangement and design
Costs and financing: Status after the preliminary design: rough estimate, cost framework
Additionally required for the building application: reliable cost calculation, bank informed, financing fixed
Compliance certificates: Status after the preliminary design: not yet produced
Additionally required for the building application: energy compliance certificate, possibly fire safety, drainage, sound insulation certificate and so on
Decisions: Status after the preliminary design: variants partly still open
Additionally required for the building application: building volume, appearance, use and access settled; later changes are laborious and become expensive
11. Checklist: what has to be clarified before the building application
This checklist helps you to assess your own status honestly. The more points you can answer with yes, the smoother the submission will be.
Is the client satisfied: Have all the important decisions been settled with the client? Do they like the project, and is it also financially and technically feasible?
Drawings complete and dimensioned: Are floor plans, sections, elevations and site plan available at the required scale?
Key figures documented: Are utilisation, setbacks and heights calculated and presented in a comprehensible way?
Building department involved: Have open questions of interpretation been clarified in a preliminary meeting with the municipality?
Neighbourhood considered: Have the affected neighbours been informed early and possible points of conflict been defused?
Specialist planners coordinated: Do the contributions from structural engineering, building services and energy fit together?
Compliance certificates produced: Are the energy compliance certificate and, where necessary, further technical certificates available?
Costs refined: Is there a reliable cost calculation instead of a rough estimate?
Financing fixed: Has the bank been informed and is the financing secured on the basis of the refined costs?
Decisions settled: Are the building volume, the external appearance, the use and the access definitively defined?
Dossier consistent: Do all the documents together give a picture of the project that is free of contradictions?
Anyone who ticks off these points before submission hands in a dossier that the authority can review without unnecessary queries. Exactly which formal documents belong in the application is shown by the article on building application and building permit.
12. Typical stumbling blocks on the way to submission
Most delays do not arise in the procedure itself but earlier, during the preparation. A dossier with gaps or contradictions leads to follow up requirements and costs weeks. These are the stumbling blocks we see most often.
Incomplete or contradictory drawings. If floor plan, section and site plan do not show the same dimensions, queries arise.
No coordination with the municipality. A point that would have been clarified in five minutes in the preliminary meeting can otherwise lead to a follow up requirement or a rejection.
Neighbours passed over. Anyone who surprises the neighbourhood only with the public notice provokes objections that could often have been avoided with an early conversation.
Specialist planning not coordinated. A chimney that only the building services planners know about, or a wall that only the structural engineering requires, makes the dossier contradictory.
Decisions taken too late. Anyone who leaves fundamental questions about the building volume and the appearance open delays the whole dossier.
Costs that only become realistic after submission. Without a reliable cost calculation and fixed financing, the approved project can blow the budget.
All these stumbling blocks have one thing in common: they can be avoided through thorough preparation. That is exactly the point of the construction project phase.
13. Practical example: from sketch to a submission-ready dossier
A couple from the Zurich Oberland region came to us with a finished preliminary design for a detached house. They liked the concept and the wish was clear: submit as quickly as possible. During the preparation, however, it turned out that the utilisation ratio had been calculated tightly and that a circulation space was missing from the first calculation, which put the project slightly above the permitted value. In a preliminary meeting with the building department we also clarified how the municipality actually assesses the sloping site, a point with room for interpretation. Instead of submitting the application with these risks, we adjusted the floor plan in a secondary area without reducing the quality of living.
In parallel we recommended that the couple seek a conversation with their immediate neighbours. One neighbour had concerns about the view. Because the conversation was held early and openly, a small adjustment was found that both sides supported, and no objection was filed. At the same time we coordinated the specialist planners and refined the costs. The result was close to the original estimate but for the first time gave the couple a reliable basis, with which the bank then also confirmed and fixed the financing.
The path from preliminary project to building application took a few weeks longer than initially wished. In return, the dossier submitted was complete and coordinated with the municipality and the neighbourhood. There was no objection and no follow up requirement on the points that had been reviewed. The time that went into the preparation saved time again later on.
14. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
How long does the path from the preliminary design to the building application take? As a guide value, a few weeks to a few months is realistic, depending on the size of the project, the number of specialist planners and the complexity of the plot. What is decisive is less the pure planning time than the time for decisions, for coordination with the municipality and for pulling everything together.
What does a preliminary meeting with the building department achieve? It clarifies, before submission, the points that leave room for interpretation in the regulations, for example how a height is measured or whether a building element counts towards the utilisation ratio. In this way you develop the project with the municipality rather than against it, which prevents follow up requirements and rejections.
How can I avoid objections from neighbours? They can never be ruled out entirely. But anyone who involves the affected neighbours early and openly, takes their questions seriously and responds to concerns where possible clearly reduces the risk. Often it is less about the project itself than about not being passed over.
Which decisions can I still take after submission? Everything that concerns the execution and does not change the approved dimensions, for example interior fit out, kitchen details or the colour scheme, can be refined later. Everything that concerns volume, heights, setbacks or use has to be settled beforehand, because afterwards it can no longer simply be changed.
Does the financing have to be in place before the building application? It is strongly recommended. In this phase the costs are sharpened, the bank is informed and the financing is fixed. In this way you go into the submission on a secure basis and do not risk an approved project failing on the budget.
What happens after the building application? After submission the official procedure begins with review and decision. How this runs can be read in the article on building application and building permit, and how long it takes in the article on how long a building permit takes.
Ready for the building application?
I check your dossier for gaps before the municipality does and it costs you time.
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