What does it take to come up with a great set of floor plans? What is the most important feature you want to emphasize in your home? How much space do you have to work with and how should all the rooms be laid out to get the biggest benefits? These questions, and many more, will arise when trying to pick out, or design, a great set of floor plans.
Purpose of Home Plans
Many times people may ask why home plans are important, and there are actually two main reasons. The first is that it is much easier to change the size, layout and relationship of rooms before they are built. Could you imagine trying to swap your kitchen with your living room? The switch would be a lot easier to do on paper rather than with physical labor.
Another reason, and it is an important one, is that the house plans are going to be the instruction sheet used by a lot of people to construct the house. The contractor is going to use the house as a set of instructions to construct your home; he will include the work of the excavator, block layer, framer, electrician and the plumber. These specialists will refer to the plan both to give initial pricing of items and cost during their installation.
The Architects Plans
Architects spend many years of schooling to learn how rooms should relate to one another and follow certain paths to create a desired flow from each area of the house to the next. Therefore, the location of bathrooms, bedrooms, halls, lofts as well as other rooms are very important to ensure a solid house plan. By working with a licensed architect, it is guaranteed that you are going to have the best house possible. However, the employing of this expertise will also produce a hefty price tag.
The Builder Plans
Many builders have their own crew of drafting / designers that have some type of architectural degree. These architectural designers may not have all of the schooling and education of the architect, but usually have adequate knowledge of the technical aspects of designing a floor plan. The cost of this service will actually be placed into the cost of building the home. Unfortunately, if a builder designs a set of plans and you decide against that builder, they may exact a charge, so research your builder before they start the plans.
Purchasing Home Plans
Many companies have a large collection of standard house plans from which you can choose; they have great interfaces that make it possible for you to narrow your search to a limited amount. By selecting a number of rooms, bathrooms, stories, square footage and other criteria, you will eventually find a plan that you like. After the decision making is over, you will pay for the chosen plans plus any additional copies to give to the contractor and installation specialties mentioned above.
No matter where you get your house plans, make sure they fit your standards exactly before you begin to build. There is no replacement for a great set of house plans; these instructions directly affect the building of your new home, and also act as a predictor of your satisfaction or discomfort for many years to come.