01 · Clarify
Review & Follow Up
We review your application and contact you if we need clarification, more context, or information that does not align with what we already understand about your situation.
Our Process
From First Conversation
to Rebuild Plan
We make a complicated process understandable — with careful site work, clear design decisions, and construction documents built around your home and your needs.
You do not need to have everything figured out. We will review your situation and help identify the next practical step.
Our Process
A Real Rebuild Process, Step by Step
Our work begins with listening, continues through careful site and design work, and stays connected through construction and life after move-in. Every project is different, but the sequence below describes how we actually work.
02 · Decide
Evaluate What We Can Do
If we determine that a full construction-document set may not be possible, we contact you again before making the final decision so we can check whether anything important is missing.
03 · Connect
Build a Resource Path
When we cannot take on the full design work, we align you with the resources we know and remain available by email for general questions about the rebuild process.
04 · Visit
Meet at the Site
For selected applications, we schedule a site visit. We meet you at the property, take photographs, and use site-measurement equipment to capture the site, including elevation changes.
05 · Understand
Capture Needs & Resilience
We bring site information into our design program, talk through quality-of-life, ADA, aging-in-place, and special-needs features, and discuss site issues such as grading or retaining walls.
06 · Concept
Schematic Design
We turn the site information, rooms, priorities, and resilience goals into initial concepts. For wildfire recovery, the exterior envelope is designed around fire-resistant strategies such as appropriate roofing, non-combustible siding, and protected vents.
07 · Review
Talk Through the First Design
We meet with you to learn what works, what does not, and what needs to change. Your response guides the next round of design.
08 · Refine
Design Development
We drill down into the design details and identify what must be included. Items that are not essential can remain documented for value engineering if the construction budget requires choices later.
09 · Document
Construction Documents
After a final client check, we create the documents that communicate how the home should be constructed. We design for efficiency and incorporate features that can reduce ongoing utility and living costs.
10 · Permit & Bid
Permit Set & Contractor Search
You submit the documents with us for a building permit. When needed, the nearly complete or finished set can also go to general contractors for bids. We can offer opinions, but we do not favor a specific contractor; choose someone you can communicate with and resolve problems alongside.
11 · Build
Permitting & Construction Administration
We respond to permit-review comments and resubmit revisions. Once a contractor takes over, we remain ready for questions, requests for information, field changes, and documentation needs while the contractor manages construction.
12 · Continue
Completion, Alumni & Records
We may visit during construction, preserve photographs and construction documents, celebrate with you after move-in, and retain records so they can be provided later if a serious repair requires them. Clients may become part of the NWRP alumni community and stay in touch as much as they wish.
What We Ask of Clients
You Stay Involved
We bring professional knowledge, documentation, and advice. You remain the project’s central decision-maker and point of contact for contractors and vendors. We do not run every part of the project for you, but we remain available to share what we know.
Program agreement: Pro bono design and construction documents are provided under an agreement that includes a five-year no-sale commitment, with a contract provision addressing an earlier sale. If circumstances change, contact NWRP as soon as possible so we can discuss the agreement and help protect the program’s ability to serve future families.
We also look for grants, funding sources, and partner-distributed assistance that may help eligible clients continue their rebuild.
Ready to Talk About Your Rebuild?
You do not need perfect information to begin. Tell us where things stand and we will help identify the next step.