How a project works
The shape of a project
Section titled “The shape of a project”A renovation starts as a lead — an interest, a conversation, a walkthrough — and becomes a project once the work is won. Almost everything else attaches to one of those two: your meetings, your quote, your contract, your documents.
Story’s design process lives on the lead side. The financial structure lives on the project side. A won lead carries its history forward rather than starting over.
Design phases
Section titled “Design phases”A design-build project moves through defined phases, each ending in something you see and approve.
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| Scope | Visioning: your goals and taste are captured, including through questionnaires, and the scope of work is defined |
| Schematic Design | Early design concepts |
| Design Development | Refining the chosen concept toward buildable detail |
| Final Design | The completed design the build works from |
| Build | Construction |
Finish selections — tile, fixtures, paint — are chosen through the design phases and carried onto the quote as selection lines.
Not every engagement runs the full sequence. Story supports design-build, design-only, build-only, interiors-only, and furniture-only scopes, and the phases follow whichever applies.
The quote
Section titled “The quote”The quote is the priced proposal for your work. It replaces three older words — estimate, bid, and proposal — that all meant the same thing.
Quote lines are organized by cost code: a classification that groups work by trade and scope, so framing, plumbing, tile, and cabinetry each carry their own line rather than disappearing into a single total. The same coding carries through the project, which is what makes a quote comparable to what the work actually costs.
The contract, and how billing follows it
Section titled “The contract, and how billing follows it”Once the work is agreed, the contract is broken into billable line items — the schedule of values. Billing then follows the work rather than the calendar.
| Stage | What it is |
|---|---|
| Schedule of Values | The contract broken into billable line items |
| Pay Application | A progress billing against those lines, for work completed to date |
| Payment | What was received against that billing |
A pay application is called a draw in some residential contexts. Same thing.
Change orders
Section titled “Change orders”A change order is a formal, priced change to contracted scope. Nothing changes silently: a change is priced first so it can be reviewed and negotiated, and only becomes a change order once it’s approved.
An approved change order adjusts the contract value and the plan behind it together, so the two stay reconciled.
Issues
Section titled “Issues”An issue is a tracked question or problem on a project, with a response path back to you. It’s broader than the older term it replaces — a request for information, or RFI, was a formal question from the contractor to the architect or owner. In Story it also covers client requests.
Documents and comments
Section titled “Documents and comments”Every uploaded document and every comment attaches to the record it belongs to — a project, a contract, an issue, a quote. There’s no separate document system to go looking in. Each one carries a flag for whether it’s client-visible, so what you see is what was shared with you deliberately.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”- The products — what each product does
- What Story covers — each business area in detail
- Glossary — definitions for the terms on this page
- FAQ — common questions, including the terminology that changed