Addition: adding new square footage
An addition extends your home's footprint or adds a new level—new rooms, a second story, a garage, or a detached structure like an ADU. Because it's new construction attached to (or built on the same lot as) an existing home, it needs a full plan set similar to new construction: site plan, foundation, floor plans, elevations, section, roof, and electrical.
Remodel: reworking existing space
A remodel or renovation changes what's already built without necessarily adding square footage—reconfiguring a kitchen, combining rooms, updating a bathroom layout, or opening up a floor plan. Drawing needs depend heavily on scope:
- Cosmetic remodels (finishes, fixtures, non-structural changes) often don't require new drawings at all, or need only minimal documentation.
- Layout changes that move non-load-bearing walls typically need an updated floor plan showing the new configuration.
- Structural remodels—removing or altering load-bearing walls, adding a new floor above existing framing—usually require engineering, since the existing structure has to be verified to handle the change.
Which one is your project?
If square footage is growing, it's an addition. If you're reworking the footprint you already have, it's a remodel. Many projects are actually both—an addition that also involves remodeling the adjacent existing space to tie it together. That's common and fine; just flag it during your quote so we scope both parts.