Residential Services
Most people do not need a full architectural engagement to make their next decision. They need a registered architect to look at their actual address and tell them what is possible. That is what Architect on Call is.
Bring a property address and a question. You get a time-boxed consultation with a registered Arizona architect covering zoning district, setbacks, lot coverage, height limits, any hillside or environmentally sensitive lands overlay, the likely review path, and a straight assessment of whether what you want is worth pursuing. No proposal process, no obligation to continue.
Questions People Actually Ask
The honest answer depends on whether your lot has coverage and setback capacity left, whether the existing structure can carry the change, and what the delta costs against buying. We check all three rather than guessing.
Your zoning district sets the ceiling. Phoenix R1-6 allows 50% lot coverage plus 10% more for an ADU and attached shade structures. Tempe's single-family districts allow 45% of net site area. Paradise Valley uses a 25% floor area ratio instead. We work out what is left on your parcel.
Setbacks vary district by district in every Valley city, and accessory structures follow separate rules again. We confirm the district and read the actual standards rather than the neighbourhood assumption.
Slope, access, utilities, drainage, and above all whether the parcel is inside Scottsdale's Environmentally Sensitive Lands Overlay, a Phoenix hillside development area, or Paradise Valley's hillside regime. Those overlays can cut the buildable area by more than half.
A plan bought online is drawn for a generic lot and a generic code. We check it against your actual setbacks, orientation, slope, soil and jurisdiction — and tell you what it would take to make it work. E-Project also sells its own standard plans sealed by a registered architect.
Experience with a jurisdiction is worth more here than any checklist. We flag the comments your project is likely to attract before you spend money producing drawings that will collect them.
Who Uses It
Deciding between remodeling and moving, sizing an addition, or sanity-checking a contractor's proposal before committing.
Pre-purchase due diligence on a parcel: what it will support, what the overlays cost you, and whether the numbers survive contact with the ordinance.
A second opinion on feasibility, a read on a jurisdiction you have not worked in, or help deciding whether a site is worth bidding.
How to Prepare
It is a paid, time-boxed consultation with a registered architect on one specific question — no long-term engagement, no proposal process. Homeowners use it to decide whether to remodel or move, whether a lot will take the house they want, or whether a builder's plan is worth pursuing. Investors and buyers use it as pre-purchase due diligence. You get an architect's judgment on your actual address, not general advice.
Should we remodel or move? Can we add square footage, and how much? What will the setbacks, lot coverage and height limit allow on this lot? Is this parcel inside a hillside overlay or environmentally sensitive lands designation? What is likely to go wrong in plan review? Is this stock plan buildable on this site? Should I buy this lot? What should I have ready before starting design?
The property address or parcel number is the single most useful thing, because it lets us confirm the zoning district and overlays. Beyond that: any existing drawings or a survey if you have them, photographs of the existing house, your rough budget range, and a short written list of what you want to achieve. None of it is mandatory — the address alone is enough to start.
No, and it is not meant to be. It is a decision-support tool. If the answer is that your project is viable, the consultation gives you a defensible starting scope for a full engagement — with E-Project or with anyone else. If the answer is that it is not viable, you have saved considerably more than the consultation cost.
Yes. Due diligence for land acquisition is a standing E-Project service: zoning and overlay screening, development options analysis, and a realistic read on what the parcel supports. Many of the general contractors the firm works with are also investors and spec builders buying parcels to develop and sell.
Book an Architect on Call consultation and bring your address — we will tell you what the lot allows.
Book a Consultation Discuss a Project
Or call 480-626-8648 · info@e-projectinternational.com