French Construction Phases Explained: From First Sketch to Final Handover
You've hired an architect. You've got planning permission. Now what?
If you thought the hard part was over once the permis de construire landed, brace yourself. The design and construction process in France follows a structured sequence of phases, each with a specific purpose, specific deliverables, and specific decision points. Skip one or rush through it, and you'll feel it later.
Here's what actually happens, in order, from the first sketch to the moment you get the keys.
ESQ: Esquisse (Sketch Design)
The starting point. The architect takes your brief (what you want, how much you want to spend, what the site looks like) and produces a first sketch. Not detailed drawings. Not technical calculations. Just a spatial concept that says "here's roughly what this could be."
The ESQ exists to check that what you're imagining is actually buildable on your plot, within your budget, within the planning rules that apply to your zone. A lot of projects change direction significantly at this stage. That's fine. Changing direction at ESQ costs nothing. Changing direction at APD costs money. Changing it during works costs a lot more.
Your job at ESQ: engage. Ask questions. If something doesn't feel right, say so now.
APS: Avant-Projet Sommaire (Outline Design)
The concept gets fleshed out. Floor plans start to take shape, the overall volumes are defined, and a preliminary cost estimate is produced.
The APS is where you start to see your project as a building rather than an idea. Rooms have approximate sizes. The roof has a form. The relationship between spaces starts to make sense. Or it doesn't, and you fix it here.
The cost estimate at APS is indicative. Don't treat it as a quote. Treat it as a direction of travel.
APD: Avant-Projet Détaillé (Detailed Design)
This is where it gets serious.
The APD develops the design to a level where technical choices are made: wall construction, structural system, roof materials, window positions, insulation strategy. The bureaux d'études (structural engineers, thermal consultants, and others) start contributing their calculations.
The cost estimate is updated and becomes more reliable. If the project is over budget at APD, now is the time to make cuts, not after the PRO drawings are done.
At the end of APD, the MOA (you) formally approves the project. That approval is significant. It's the point of no return on the design direction.
PC: Permis de Construire (Planning Permission)
Not a design phase exactly, but a critical milestone in the sequence.
The APD drawings are developed into the PCMI dossier (the planning application package) and submitted to the mairie. The standard instruction period for a maison individuelle is two months. During that time, the administration checks that the project complies with the PLU (local planning rules), the national building code, and any specific constraints on your plot.
No answer after two months technically means yes. In practice, don't start anything without a written attestation from the mairie confirming it.
While the PC is being instructed, the design team keeps working on PRO. You don't wait two months doing nothing.
PRO: Projet (Technical Design)
The full technical drawings. Every wall, every junction, every technical detail worked out on paper before a single thing gets built on site.
PRO is where the architect and the bureaux d'études produce the documentation that will actually be used to build the project. Structural calculations, thermal compliance, electrical layouts, drainage, all coordinated into a coherent package.
This is also where BIM coordination earns its keep, making sure the structure, the CVC systems, and the architecture don't try to occupy the same space at the same time.
A good PRO phase means fewer surprises on site. A rushed PRO phase means contractors making decisions they shouldn't have to make.
DCE: Dossier de Consultation des Entreprises (Tender Package)
The PRO documents get packaged into a tender dossier and sent to contractors for pricing.
The DCE includes the plans, the technical specifications (CCTP), and the quantitative schedule (DPGF or BPU depending on the contract type). Contractors price against this document. The more precise the DCE, the more comparable and reliable the quotes you get back.
Vague DCE, vague quotes, nasty surprises later. It's a direct relationship.
ACT: Assistance à la passation des Contrats de Travaux (Contract Award)
The MOE analyses the contractor bids, checks they've actually priced what was asked, flags anything that looks wrong, and helps you select the right firms and sign the contracts.
This phase sounds administrative. It is. It's also where a lot of projects quietly go wrong: accepting the cheapest quote without understanding why it's cheap, or missing a contractor who's excluded half the scope. Having your MOE properly involved here matters.
VISA: Visa des documents d'exécution
Works have started. The contractors are now producing their own execution drawings: shop drawings, installation plans, technical submittals. The VISA phase is where the MOE reviews those documents and stamps them as compliant (or not) with the design intent.
Think of it as a quality gate. The contractor proposes. The MOE approves or rejects. Nothing gets built from an unvisaed document.
In practice, VISA is one of the phases that gets squeezed when programmes are tight. That's when you start finding out what was lost in translation between the design and what the contractor thought they were building.
DET: Direction de l'Exécution des Travaux (Site Supervision)
The MOE is on site. Regularly. Checking that what's being built matches what was drawn, flagging problems, issuing instructions, keeping the programme on track.
DET is where ten years of site experience either pays off or doesn't. Reading a drawing is one thing. Understanding how a detail actually gets built, and catching it when it doesn't, is something else.
Site visits are logged. Issues are recorded. Nothing important is verbal.
AOR: Assistance aux Opérations de Réception (Handover)
The works are complete. The AOR phase is the formal handover process: walking the building with the contractors, identifying defects (réserves), and either accepting the works or requiring remediation before acceptance.
Réserves matter. They're the official record of anything that isn't right at handover. Once the reception is signed off, the legal responsibility shifts. Getting this stage right protects you.
After AOR, the one-year garantie de parfait achèvement kicks in. The contractors are obliged to fix anything that appears within twelve months of reception.
DOE: Dossier des Ouvrages Exécutés (As-Built Record)
The final deliverable. Often forgotten. Shouldn't be.
The DOE is the as-built documentation package: updated plans reflecting what was actually built (not what was designed), technical data sheets for installed equipment, warranties, maintenance instructions. Everything you need to maintain, modify, or sell the building intelligently in the future.
If you ever extend, renovate, or resell, the DOE is what your next architect or contractor reaches for first. A missing or incomplete DOE is a problem that compounds over time.
Ask for it. Make sure you get it.
The Honest Summary
The process looks long because it is long. But every phase exists for a reason, and the cost of skipping or rushing any of them shows up somewhere downstream.
The projects that run well are the ones where the MOA stays engaged, the MOE does the full mission, and nobody tries to save time at the PRO stage.
Need someone who's been on both sides of this process, site and drawing board? 👉 Contact me via dt-plans.com