Buying house plans online

caver · Dec 29, 2013

I've been wading through so many house plan sites it's all a blur. Are there any places TBN members have used they would recommend?
My dad says get some grid paper like he did and draw out what I want. :laughing: That's what he did when he built our last family home in the 70's.
I don't think I have that kind of patience. A co-worker went through a local architect. My plans are an a-frame-ish design with big windows on one end and a walkout basement. I will build myself or pay someone to put the shell up and then take it from there.

cartod · Dec 29, 2013

If you know what you want and are able to build it, then by all means draw it up yourself. Its really not that hard. otherwise, I would look at one or two good architecture firms and go through there plans. Mike Garrell designs some very unique homes, but the plans are a bit pricey. We landed on his design so I may be a bit bias.

House Plans, Home Plans & Custom Home Design, Mansion Floor Plans, | House Plans by Garrell Associates, Inc

jlawso21 · Dec 29, 2013

First, don't do it yourself, unless you are both qualified to do it well and have the time and patience it requires to do it right. Also, depending on where you live it will save you a lot of headaches and trouble to meet codes required either by your locality or restrictive covenants by some communities. Having said that if you can do it and have the time and patience I can't imagine anything more rewarding.

I bought my house plans on-line and do not regret it at all. I did make a few changes and called the company I bought them from and their architect did it and sent me the changes. The changes I made cost me almost as much as the original plans I bought. If I had to do it again I think I would leave it original.

One other thing, if you are the type person that ruminates over decisions (I am) then definitely get someone to do them for you; you will never stop second guessing yourself. And the pros have already spent countless hours trying to get the max square footage out of the plan you buy while still making it pleasant to live in.

Either way, good luck

cartod · Dec 29, 2013

I would ad one thing, if you hire a good builder, they can make the changes you want on the fly. My builder has made some very nice changes to our house, and because he gets paid on a percentage of everything he buys there are no change charges. A good builder is worth his weight in gold!

Here we are, 9 months in.

buckeyefarmer · Dec 29, 2013

When I was looking I found a lot of plans online that looked nice but were not practical to build. They looked nice, but they didn't conform to standard lumber dimensions. I ended up buying one set of plans, then I designed my own that ended up not looking anything like the plans I got, but the plans were good for the details. If your not sure, I'd lean towards using an architect, or buying a set of plans with minor changes that can be done in the field.

caver · Dec 29, 2013

jlawso21 said:
First, don't do it yourself, unless you are both qualified to do it well and have the time and patience it requires to do it right. Also, depending on where you live it will save you a lot of headaches and trouble to meet codes required either by your locality or restrictive covenants by some communities.

No codes/restrictions in my area. That was the appeal to buy property over there many years ago.

I've talked to a builder that also owns a lumber yard about a half hour from my place. They have built some nice large cabins they rent to tourists. One of their employees said they draw their own plans up and could work with me. they said I can come over and look at one of their cabins that I drive past on the way to my place. I will probably do that this winter. It can give me an idea of what the craftsmanship is like should I hire them to put up a shell.

Appreciate all the responses so far...Thanks!

buckeyefarmer · Dec 30, 2013

I know others have posted their plans on here, and have gotten some really good feedback on the plans.

I like some of the ones on houseplans.com

dakotagun · Dec 30, 2013

House Plan No.139719 House Plans by WestHomePlanners.com
ordered these plans after looking online for months. changed a few things, local builder made the changes so didn't have to have the designer redo the plans. been in it almost a year and love it. thought the plans were very reasonable. good luck.

MossRoad · Dec 30, 2013

caver said:
I've been wading through so many house plan sites it's all a blur. Are there any places TBN members have used they would recommend?
My dad says get some grid paper like he did and draw out what I want. :laughing: That's what he did when he built our last family home in the 70's.
I don't think I have that kind of patience. A co-worker went through a local architect. My plans are an a-frame-ish design with big windows on one end and a walkout basement. I will build myself or pay someone to put the shell up and then take it from there.

As much as many of us would like to design our own homes, the reality is that most of us suck at designing homes. We forget about the details. Coat closets, two-butt kitchens, three non-functional dining areas VS one functional dining area, high ceilings, poor air circulation, can't get groceries from the car to the kitchen without going through the living room, fancy entrance ways that are never used, big draft through the "great room" each time someone opens a door, etc... I can go on and on. By all means, yes, get some grid paper and draw out a floor plan that interests you. And create a list of "must haves", a list of "would like to haves", and a list of "would have if I had nothing better to spend my money on", too, just for fun. Then scour the on-line resources for plans. Try this one for starters. House of the Week | Featured in newspapers nationwide

caver · Dec 30, 2013

MossRoad said:
As much as many of us would like to design our own homes, the reality is that most of us suck at designing homes. We forget about the details. [/url]

I agree. I remember this cubby hole in that house my parents built that had to be an oops. It was a cool place to hide as kids. Dad closed it off before they sold the house several years later. The kitchen was the only room on a 4' foundation/crawlspace. That was always the coldest floor in the house and the kitchen sink froze on more than one occasion.
A good designer will do things like keep water line runs as short as possible. Putting a bathroom far away from the water heater at the other end of the house makes for a lot of cold water until it gets warm.

MossRoad · Dec 30, 2013

caver said:
I agree. I remember this cubby hole in that house my parents built that had to be an oops. It was a cool place to hide as kids. Dad closed it off before they sold the house several years later. The kitchen was the only room on a 4' foundation/crawlspace. That was always the coldest floor in the house and the kitchen sink froze on more than one occasion.
A good designer will do things like keep water line runs as short as possible. Putting a bathroom far away from the water heater at the other end of the house makes for a lot of cold water until it gets warm.

Ha! I found a 6 sq foot area with an outside window walled off in our house when we bought it. On that wall, inside, there were two windows. I was mowing the lawn and there were three windows. HUH? I ran up and looked into the window expecting to see Norman Bate's mom in a rocker, but it was just a walled off empty room. It made a fine closet once I opened it up. Very weird.

rtimgray · Jan 2, 2014

I do a lot of floorplans for people, although not nearly as many in the most recent years. Most of the time, it will start with a plan from online or out of a book. When I make my first drawing based on the dimensions shown on the plans, many of the rooms are not the correct size and the dimensions don't add up, and I assume this is what the plan makers do to make it more difficult to "steal" their plans (and I don't blame them).

I've always thought that the most difficult portion of doing a set of plans is balancing what the outside of the house "needs" to look like, either for curb appeal or to blend in with it's natural and man-made surroundgins, vs. what the owner "wants" the inside of the house to be like. A lot of times, I'll try to get the owner to start with a flow diagram rather than a floor plan, so we can focus on what is important in terms of day-to-day activity. I've noticed too many times an owner will want to focus on details right away and forget about the big picture.

I always give my recommendations about making a house more universal, for resale purposes, and I think in almost every case, the owner has assured me that this is their "forever home, we'll never sell or move". I would guess over half of the homes that I've designed have been sold. My recommendations are very much inline with other's: entry closet, and plenty of closet space in bedrooms, trying to accomodate 3 beds/2 baths if possible, nothing too "unique" interior/exterior finishes, etc. Having said all that, I will ultimately do what the owner wants: one house was a basement house, and none of the bedrooms have any closets: they wanted to use wardrobe cabinets. I will say that in this case, the original owner remains in the house, so at that point, this is not an issue.

I would go with a local designer rather than a set of online plans, just for the variability involved in house design. Whatever you choose, good luck and take care.

Tomtint · Jan 2, 2014

I have bought several internet home plans and built spec homes from them as well as my own home. It's almost certain that you will need to make changes of some fashion to suit your needs. Depending on your local codes, you may need to get the plans stamped by a structural engineer or build it to conform to local codes. I have found the engineer to be money very well spent, as it eliminates local inspector interpretation of building codes. One of my favorite design styles are Donald Gardner homes. Good luck, and as someone already said. Hire a good builder because they will be able to see a potential problem and evade it.

flusher · Jan 2, 2014

caver said:
I've been wading through so many house plan sites it's all a blur. Are there any places TBN members have used they would recommend?
My dad says get some grid paper like he did and draw out what I want. :laughing: That's what he did when he built our last family home in the 70's.
I don't think I have that kind of patience. A co-worker went through a local architect. My plans are an a-frame-ish design with big windows on one end and a walkout basement. I will build myself or pay someone to put the shell up and then take it from there.

I went through that home building exercise in 2005. Bought plans off the Web. Thought I would be my own general contractor. Bought 10 acres (flat pasture). Started to line up subcontractors. At that time the real estate/building boom was in full steam so I figured it would take at least 18 months to get the house built and ready for final inspection. Just for kicks I started looking at manufactured housing. Found what I wanted at Golden West Homes in Chico (3BR, 2BA, 1800 sf). Had it placed on a permanent foundation. Signed the contract for the house in May 2005, foundation poured in Aug 2005, the two sections arrived in early Sept 2005, moved in on 1Feb 2006.