Here's The Tea On Custom House Plans
Over on my insta (@summer_onthecoast), I regularly share home tours and home design for inspiration purposes. I love looking at home design and I really always have. One of the biggest requests I receive on a weekly (if not almost daily) basis is for home plans. And oftentimes, the plans are custom designs and not for sale. But did you know that you can get home plans for basically any design or style that you see? I’m going to spill the tea here on how to get exactly what you want for your home build / renovation / remodel / design project.
First, let’s discuss the various places you can find floor plans ready-made and available for purchase. These are not customized (although many do allow you to change some things for a fee) but generally you’re going to get a stock plan that has likely been built before. Pro: The plan is tried and true. The layout is functional and works for the average person. Con: It may not be exactly what you want.
There’s lots of places to find floor plan ideas and design inspiration. Here’s where I have successfully searched for house plans: Instagram, home plan websites (I’ll link below), Pinterest, and magazines.
Let’s talk about online businesses that sell stock plans. There’s actually a lot but I’ll focus on the larger ones. I recommend searching: Architectural Designs, Builder House Plans, Dream Home Source, House Plan Shop, Family Home Plans. You can browse these sites (fair warning: it can be addicting) and save a file of home looks and layouts that you love. Or order your stock plan from them and you’re good to go.
Another popular house plan option is to take your ideas to a draftsman or architect and have them draw it up for you. This is what we chose to do. I’ve actually done this twice and used draftsmen both times. The difference in using a draftsman vs an architect is education, details, and cost. A draftsman doesn’t have the same educational requirements as an architect. The details in the house plans can be an important part, so if you want the plans to be super specific, you might consider using an architect. The cost difference that I found locally were fairly significant. When I priced out our custom plans, draftsman prices were starting around $0.75/sf (total square feet) and architect started around $3/sf. To get a fair comparison we’ll use my plans which were roughly 5000 sf total (including all porches, garages, etc) so my price for plans would be $3,750 for the draftsman to draw up the plans or $15,000 for the architect.
Of course, if you’re way more tech savvy than I am, you can draw up your own set of plans. Using Autocad or any one of the other digital design tools out there (The House Plans Guide, Floorplanner, etc), you can actually create your plans on your own.
Here is exactly what I did to create our newest home design. I gathered ideas from all of the places I listed above. I printed them out onto photo paper, hole punched them, and put them in a ring. I also took out a piece of graph paper and drew up a rough sketch of how I wanted the rooms to flow throughout both floors of the home. I took my ring of photos and graph paper to a draftsman and he put it all together. Since we did a fully customized floor plan and had to match it to exterior designs that we liked, it was a process to get everything just right. But one thing that Matt and I talk about ALL. THE. TIME. is how much this layout really suits our family’s needs and how thankful we are that we were able to customize this house to our exact needs. (If you want more on our specific ideas, you can read my previous blog post about our home design.)
Have a blessed week!
