Unlock more housing faster, clearer, and with design your community can stand behind.
A great pre-approved plans program doesn’t just publish a few PDFs. It aligns city hall, reduces risk for builders, and turns local demand into real, permit-ready homes—all while protecting the character and scale residents care about.
IncPlans designs and delivers end-to-end Pre-Approved Plans Programs so your community can move from good intentions to homes in the ground.
1) Get everyone in city hall on the same page.
Pre-approved plans are a coordination tool as much as they are a design tool. When done right, they create a shared playbook across planning, zoning, building, and permitting—so applicants aren’t bounced between departments or surprised late in the process.
What this unlocks:
- Faster approvals by completing the biggest technical reviews once—then reusing that work across many projects.
- Lower risk for small-scale builders with clearer requirements, fewer unknowns, and fewer costly redraws.
- More staff capacity by shifting time from repetitive plan review to higher-value work (customer support, inspections, enforcement, and continuous improvement).
- A predictable path from “I want to build” to “Here’s exactly what I submit.”
Implementing a pre-approved program requires a shift: from siloed, vertical reviews to a horizontal, collaborative system that makes the city easier to navigate for everyone.
2) Educate the public and activate local builders.
A plan catalog alone won’t build housing. The missing ingredient is often confidence: residents, first-time developers, and local contractors need a clear on-ramp, basic guidance, and a trusted process.
City-sponsored workshops and program support can:
- Encourage citizen-led, small-scale development (homeowners, local builders, “accidental developers”).
- Help the community calibrate the next increment of growth, small projects that fit neighborhood patterns.
- Build trust by showing what “good infill” actually looks like.
- Get money off the sidelines and invested back into the local economy.
- Grow a durable local ecosystem of designers, contractors, lenders, and permit-savvy project teams.
3) Offer high-quality plans that fit your community.
The best pre-approved plans feel inevitable: they’re practical to build, comfortable to live in, and compatible with the neighborhood fabric without being faux-historic or overly rigid.
A strong catalog includes:
- Architect-designed plans with construction-realistic details.
- Options that match local scale and character so new housing looks like it belongs.
- A range of small-scale types across the “housing ladder” (ADUs, cottages, duplexes, small multifamily, etc.).
- A clear approach to allowable variations so projects can adapt while staying compliant.
Pre-approved plans can revive the kinds of attainable homes we used to build, naturally attainable starter homes, small rentals, and gentle density without requiring every project to reinvent the wheel.
Why IncPlans
Most communities don’t need “more studies.” They need a partner who can deliver a working program, one that staff can administer, residents can understand, and builders can actually use.
IncPlans is built for implementation. We help you:
- Design the program framework (what’s pre-approved, where it applies, what’s required, what’s optional).
- Align departments and standards so the process is coherent and repeatable.
- Develop and curate the plan catalog with quality, constructability, and neighborhood fit in mind.
- Create the tools that make it real: checklists, workflows, guidance, and public-facing materials that reduce staff burden.
- Launch and activate through education: workshops, office hours, and builder/community engagement that turns plans into permits.
In short: we don’t just deliver plans. We help you deliver housing.
A simple way to start
Step 1: Discovery + alignment
Clarify goals, constraints, housing types, and internal workflow.
Step 2: Program design
Define rules of the road: eligibility, standards, review approach, and variation policy.
Step 3: Plan catalog build-out
Produce high-quality, locally compatible plans and supporting documentation.
Step 4: Launch + activation
Publish, train staff, and educate the public so the catalog gets used.
Bring Pre-Approved Plans to your city.
If your community is ready for a faster, clearer route from concept to construction, IncPlans can help you build a program that works on day one and improves over time.
Schedule a discovery conversation →
[Secondary CTA] See an example catalog / pilot program →
FAQs
Do we need local adoption? What does that involve?
In most places, yes, your city needs to formally adopt a pre-approved plans process so staff can issue permits faster and more consistently. IncPlans makes this easy by providing an adoption-ready playbook: recommended policy language, internal workflows, checklists, and public guidance. We work with planning, zoning, and building to align on what “pre-approved” means locally so the program is defensible and simple to administer.
How do you handle zoning differences / lot configs?
We design the program around the realities of your code and your neighborhoods not a one-size-fits-all catalog. IncPlans maps the plan set to your common lot types and zoning standards, then defines clear “allowable variations” so projects can adapt without restarting from scratch. The result is a repeatable path that reduces staff review time while giving builders predictable options that fit local constraints.
What plan types are included?
Your plan set is tailored to your goals, but most programs focus on the housing types that unlock “gentle density” quickly ADUs, cottages, duplexes, small multiplexes, and small-scale mixed options where appropriate. IncPlans helps you choose types that match neighborhood character, market demand, and your permitting capacity. We also include guidance so applicants know exactly where each type is intended to work.
How do you ensure buildability?
A beautiful plan that’s hard to build won’t get used. IncPlans emphasizes constructability from day one, coordinating with local builders and code realities, standardizing details, and producing permit-ready documentation. The goal is simple: plans that contractors trust, residents accept, and staff can review once and repeat many times.
What’s the typical timeline?
Most communities can launch a strong first version of a program in a matter of months, depending on scope, plan types, and how many departments are involved. IncPlans structures the work in clear phases, alignment, program design, catalog creation, and launch, so you can start seeing benefits quickly without overwhelming staff. If you need a fast pilot, we can prioritize a smaller initial plan set and expand over time. It really depends on how quickly you are ready to move.
What does “pre-approved” actually mean in our state?
“Pre-approved” typically means the plan set has been reviewed in advance against the rules you define, like building code requirements and local zoning assumptions, so future applicants don’t have to re-litigate the same issues. The exact definition varies by jurisdiction, which is why IncPlans helps you set a clear standard, documentation package, and workflow that matches your legal and administrative context. In practice, it means fewer surprises, faster approvals, and a process everyone can understand.