Considerations when Choosing a House Plan
Determining the essential features of your new home is perhaps the most important step in beginning the search for the perfect home plan to fit your lifestyle.
Top architects and designers will tell you that when they are approached by a home builder equipped with a list of essentials, it makes their job of designing a dream home much easier, and in the long run it makes the job of the homeowner so much easier.
This idea carries over to those new home owners who decide to purchase a home plan in order to reduce the design costs associated with a custom built home.
The very first thing to consider before beginning the search for the perfect home is the number of people who will live in the new home. This enables you to determine the necessary number of bedrooms, bathrooms, the size of the dining areas and even the amount of storage space that will need to be included in the home plans.
Generally, you will want to consider one bedroom per child and at least one guest room in addition to the master bedroom. You will then need to determine if you prefer the master bedroom to be a suite with an attached bathroom.
Do you want a separate bathroom for your guests as well? And if so, you should decide whether you want that bathroom directly attached to the guest bedroom(s).
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Create a list of House Plans
Your house plan search can begin once you have made these few initial determinations, however in order to further narrow down the home plans you should consider adding a few more requirements to your list.
The kitchen is a central gathering place for many families, so it very important to consider your families cooking and eating needs when selecting a design for your house. You may want to determine the amount of surface space, cabinet space and the size of the appliances you intend to place in your new kitchen.
Additionally, you may want to think about where your family eats. Do you prefer a large formal dining area and an eat in island kitchen? Or do you prefer a quiet, sunny breakfast nook where you can spend your mornings reading the newspaper or working on your laptop.
Basically, in order to reduce the countless hours that could be spent looking over thousands of house plans that do not meet your needs, you should begin your plan review once you have determined a set of essential requirements for your new home.
Taking the time to analyze and put your requirements in writing will allow you the homebuyer, to b better equipped when someone asks you the question, What are you looking for in your new home?
Choosing Your Customised House Plan
After making the decision to build a home, you have made the most general decision that you are going to face in your quest for the perfect new home. Yes, the decision of whether to buy or build is actually a decision in the home building process.
Four general questions that you will need to answer include:
1. How much do you want to spend on house building?
Perhaps the second decision to be made in the home building process is the budget for the project. Sometimes, this is dictated due to income restrictions and other times it is not an issue at all.
In determining the budget for your new home, you will want to consider not only the building but also the contents of the house. For example, will you need new appliances? Furniture? What sort of fixtures do you want in the master bathroom?
All of these items will need to be considered. If you have a limited budget, you may need to build a smaller house, or buy less for the inside in the beginning.
2. Where will the house be built?
In addition to choosing a plan for your home, you will most likely need to determine where you would like to build your new home.
The decision made regarding the project budget may affect the decision of where to build your new home, or you may already own the land and the budget may have no affect on the decision of location.
3. How many stories do you want at home?
Some people are partial to ranch style homes, while still others revel in the though of a three story Victorian home. Still others prefer the idea of a cozy bungalow. This is a decision that is truly particular to the homeowner.
Once you know how many stories you want, you have limited the styles of home plans that you need to review. You may then want to review a few styles with the preferred number of stories in order to determine the style of architecture that you prefer for your home.
4. Listing specific house plans
Once you have made these very general decisions regarding the building of your new home, you will want to begin looking at house plans that incorporate these requirements with more specific criteria.
Also, after you make the decision to build a one story home with an internal garage you may determine that the type of home that really fits your needs and lifestyle is a bedroom, two-story colonial home plan with a full finished basement and a 3 car detached garage.
It is important to evaluate the four questions above before you start your search for house plans.
Once you have narrowed down your search, you may find that you do not like the choices and that you want to eliminate or change one of your general requirements in order to broaden the search criteria.
You might also choose to add more criteria to your list of home plan requirements if you realize that you have not successfully narrowed the selection field to the point where you are comfortable reviewing home design plans.
Ranch House Plans
Ranch House Floor Plans
Cape Cod Plans
Cape Cod House Floor Plans
Two-Story Plans
2 Story House Floor Plans
Select a site for the house
You have made the decision to build your new home rather than to purchase an existing home.
The first step to beginning the process of building a new home is to select the location where the home will be built. Bear in mind the style of the home that you will be building. Although it is customary to select the site and then select the home plans.
After considering the options, you have selected a site on which you home will be built. Next, you will need to select a design style and size for your home.
Designers and architects have made available thousands of different stock home plans for the new builder.
How do you limit the selection of house plans based on your needs?
A good place to being is with the selected location.
It is very important to select a home that fits the character and perhaps more importantly the dimensions of the site upon which the home plans will come to reality with the help of your contractor and your own imagination.
House plan selection based on the slope of the lot.
Obviously, the foundation type of your new home will be determined not only by the location in the country, but also by the slope and water present on your home lot.
If you are building your home in an area where the slope is significant, choosing a basement type foundation may provide additional living space while providing a use for the ground without adding to your home building the cost and time associated with modifying your lot completely in order to fit the requirements of a slab foundation.
Choosing a landscaped house plan
Even if you decide to purchase a pre-designed home plan, you will mostly likely be able to have your home plan design adjusted to fit with the landscape rather than the reverse.
Naturally, you may want to have your home custom designed to meet with every aspects of your home site.
However, economically it makes considerable sense to purchase plans that will suitably fit into the piece of land you have purchased.
Find a stock house plan
So many stock home plans are available today, that the home builder should not have a problem locating several designs that will meet their needs. The architects and designers of the stock home plans will most likely provide custom options or customization of their stock plans.
It is very important to find a home plan that meets the needs of the homeowner and the building location.
Be sure to consider your character and the character of your new backyard in considering the best plans for you.
