Scope and methodology
Scope
This vault is scoped to U.S. new single-family residential construction. It uses the production / built-for-sale lane as the default lens because that is the dominant path in current Census-based market-share data, while still keeping a separate note for the custom / owner’s-land lane. The user asked specifically for private rather than public residential work.
What is inside scope
- New single-family homes in the United States
- Private-market delivery models
- Actor map, personas, process flows, information flows, frictions, and terminology
What is outside scope for now
- Multifamily residential
- Remodels and additions
- Public housing and public-sector delivery
- Built-for-rent except where needed for market context
How the evidence is organized
- National definitions and statistics anchor market structure and terminology.
- Professional practice and standardized documents anchor design, contracting, construction administration, and closeout language.
- Occupations and personas anchor who actually does the information work and field work.
- Local permitting and plan-review examples show how fragmented the permit / review / inspection workflow can look in practice.
- Industry analyses and policy anchor friction points such as regulation, productivity, fragmentation, and labor shortages.
Two clocks run at once
| Clock | Typical phases | What it is for | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census statistical clock | Authorization → start → Under construction → completion | Tracks authorization, start, under-construction status, and completion as statistical milestones. | S1 - U.S. Census Bureau - Survey of Construction definitions |
| Delivery clock | programming → design → Procurement - buyout → construction → closeout | Tracks how the project actually moves through definition, documentation, procurement, construction, and handoff. | S1 - U.S. Census Bureau - Survey of Construction definitions, S3 - AIA East Tennessee - Design to Construction, S4 - AIA Contract Documents - B201 basic services |
Reading rule for the vault
National sources are stronger for generalization. Local examples are used to show workflow shape, not to stand in for every city or county. Model codes and contract forms do not mean every project uses identical paperwork or the same local process.
Related notes
Evidence
- S1 - U.S. Census Bureau - Survey of Construction definitions, S2 - NAHB Eye on Housing - Custom Home Building Share Declines in 2024, S11 - International Code Council - Code adoption resources, S12 - SF Planning - Homeowners, S13 - Sacramento County - Building Permits & Inspection Division, S30 - City of Hayward - New single-family home checklist, S31 - Seattle SDCI - New building permit for single-family residential or duplex