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Step 1 in any design is to really understand your use.– jracca1)
The “build” is the creation of your campervan from whatever condition it is currently in. Regardless of the eventual type of build, you may find benefit in using a standardized order of events.
Builds range from bare essentials to technical wonderlands to luxurious. There are no fixed lists of “Must Have's” or “Most Avoids”, because the whole point of building a van is that it has what you want. How fancy you get is up to you, from the most basic usage of a “metal tent” with nothing but a sleeping bag and a camping pad in the back, up to the $200k+ pre-made luxo-barges.
Similarly, there's no “Right” way to plan. Various methods are used for planning: