Tips on how to choose a house planChoose a Plan That Suits Your Land Choose a plan that fits the characteristics of your land. It can be very expensive to haul in dirt or grade a lot to make it suitable for a plan. It's better to make the house fit the land, rather than trying to make the land fit the house. Also the size and shape of your lot affects the type of home you can build on the lot. Be Open minded It's important to be open-minded when looking at houses. By doing this, you'll learn things you never realized. Over time, your 'ideal' home will evolve and change. If you are like most people, you will probably buy a home that is different from what you thought you wanted. Don't quickly discard houses. You will have a better understanding of what you want by taking a close look at many houses. Exteriors Are Easy to Change Some people will only look at a house if they like its appearance. However, usually the house's exterior can easily be changed. The changes to an exterior can be so dramatic that you won't realize you are looking at the same house. To change the exterior, you can use different windows, modify roof lines, and change exterior details. Don't judge a home by its appearance. It's the inside that really counts. After all, you'll spend 90% of your time on the inside of your home. Hidden Potential You might discard the right home because you don't see its hidden potential. For example, say you don't like living rooms and you avoid houses that have living rooms. However, a living room could serve another purpose. It could become a den, a nursery, or an additional bedroom. It could also be an excellent dining room. Changing the location of a doorway or adding a wall may convert a room into something you would really love. Sometimes all you need to do is rename a room. When looking at houses, look for the hidden potential. Perfect Homes Don't Exist Some people spend years searching for the perfect home. However, they never find it because their perfect home is a fantasy. It doesn't really exist. Be realistic when shopping for a home. Ask yourself what features you must have and what features you want to have. When you find a house that meets your requirements, it may not have all of your wants. However, if you hold on to your dream of a perfect home you might pass up the right house and regret it later. Blueprints Can Be Changed Almost everyone who buys stock blueprints makes changes to them. Try to find something close to what you want and make changes to suit your needs. Common changes include doing a mirror reversal of the plan, moving walls, changing the location of the garage door (to make the garage a side garage or a front garage), and changing the size of the garage (such as lengthening a 2-car garage into a 3-car garage). Also you can usually add features to a home. For example most home plans can have a fireplace added. We also offer a modification service and can modify any of our house plans. Budget Two of the main things that affect a house's price are its size and features. Some people look for a large house with many features. Because of this, they are unable to find a home they can afford. It is possible to have a comfortable home with many features. Designers can make a house feel larger than it actually is. They accomplish this with efficient use of space, open floor plans, high ceilings, and good traffic flow. Effective window placement and sunlight can also make a house feel larger. It's not the size of a house that matters. What's more important is how comfortable your home feels. Perhaps you should consider houses that are smaller than what you think you want. By doing this you may find a comfortable home with the features you want. Square Footage Size of a Plan If you use a stock plan, you will probably make changes to the floor plan. Changes to a plan often increase or decrease the size of the house. Because of this, you should also look at plans that are smaller and larger than what you think you want. After changes are made, the plan may be close to the size you desire. Also the size of the home is not as important as the functionality. A large poorly designed home may actually feel smaller than a smaller home which is designed well. Consider looking at plans that are up to 500 square feet smaller and 300 square feet larger than what you think you want. Usually it is easier to increase the size of a plan than it is to reduce the size of a plan. The Value of Stock Plans When you buy a stock plan you receive a custom home design for a fraction of what it would normally cost to design a home. The prices are reasonable because the cost of stock plans is shared by many people. Also it usually costs less to start with a stock plan and make modifications rather than try to design a home from scratch. The value of a plan comes from the hundreds of hours a skilled designer spends creating the plan. The plans shown on our website and CD-ROM give you a good idea of what the home looks like. However, to build a plan you'll need to buy the blueprints. The blueprints contain the hundreds of additional details you'll need to build the home. Save Time Shopping for a Plan The websites listed below have thousands of plans and powerful search criteria to help you find house plans. To quickly find house plans, visit:
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