Building 101: Choosing Your Dream House Plan
So you’re thinking about building your dream house? That is very exciting! You might be wondering, ‘Ok, now what?’. Even before you have land or secure finances, you can be thinking about house plans. There are so many things to consider when picking out plans. Everyone has different needs and preferences, so please keep that in mind as you read through this blog. We’ve been where you are now, John and I are currently on our second (and final) home build. I grew up having parents who practically built houses for fun. (Ha! Not really, but they did build four houses in my life span so I’m pretty sure that’s where I get my love for all things construction.) Anyway, I hope that through a series of blog posts, we can shed some light on it all and help you in some way! Here’s what we will cover in this blog post:
What to decide before looking at plans
Determining the layout
Buying online vs. Hiring an architect
What to expect next
>Pre-plan considerations:
What size house do you want/need? If budget is important to you then the square footage is one of the first things you need to determine. It wouldn’t hurt to reach out to contractors to get an idea of square foot price in your area. Keep in mind, there may be other out of pocket expense involved. (For example some contractors do not include things like the cost of putting in a driveway, new appliances, utility fees for hook ups to name a few.) Once you have a general idea of what your cost could be with a little wiggle room for unexpected expenses, then really try to narrow down a range (Example 2,300-2,500 square feet) that you need to stay in. It’s also helpful to know how many rooms and bathrooms you will need/want. If you’re going to look at plans online, then knowing this will really help narrow down your search and save you time. For example, we knew we would need three bedrooms, two and half baths, mudroom, laundry room, eat in kitchen, and an office. We’ll dive deeper into the layout process as we go…
What style are you going for? Ranch, Traditional, Victorian, Farmhouse, French Country, Acadia, Craftsman, etc; there are so many styles to pick from. I honestly appreciate something about all styles, but we knew for sure we wanted a ranch style home. The one-level floor plan that we feel is great for us - now and later in life. If your searching for land or already own it, make sure the house plans you find will fit! For example, ranch style homes can take up more space than a two story. If you have (or are looking at) a narrow strip of land, a sprawling ranch may not fit. Don’t forget sometimes you have to work with what you have. Most house plan sites let you filter based on lot size, so if size could be an issue, you might want to filter based on that in order to narrow down your search and save a lot of time.
OK! So, now that you have a good idea of what size and style house you are looking for it’s time to start thinking layout!
>Determining the Layout
Scrolling the internet for house plans can be fun, but it can also make your head spin! There are so many styles and options out there. You can spend months searching for the perfect house plan and still feel like you’re never going to find it. We hope we can ease the stress, by helping you define your basics. Unless you have unlimited funds, prioritizing your needs will be essential when deciding on the layout of your home. This part of the process is all about focusing on how you/your family functions. It’s easy to get lost in all the beautiful plans online with all the bells and whistles. Building can get expensive in a hurry, there are costs that come up that you don’t plan to incur. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to keep on track…
>>>Click HERE for a free printable!
Why are you building this home? Is it a forever home, a starter home or somewhere in between? This is a very important question that should guide many of your decisions. For example, if you are building a “forever home” then you need to consider what your needs might be 20 years down the road. We are assuming that our two boys aren't going to be living with us forever, so we didn’t make their rooms super big. Could they use the space now to run and play in a bigger bedroom, yes! But we had to keep reminding ourselves that we are building for now and building for later. To remedy the need for space now, we are finishing a bonus room above the garage for their playroom.
Where do you spend the most time at home? Here’s where you really think about how your family functions. Are you on-the-go a lot? If so, a mudroom or drop zone is great for keeping things contained without throwing the rest of the house out of whack. Do you love to entertain? If so, then kitchen may be a focus for you. Our most used spaces: Kitchen, Dining Room, Great Room, Mudroom. We spend a lot of time with family, not just our little family but also grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, too. We love to have friends over for dinner and games, too! With that in mind, we paid close attention to the flow from one room to the next. Since we do love to entertain, having a foyer (even a small one) for guests to leave shoes and belongings is important. In a house with three males, I find myself in the pantry constantly feeding someone, so I made sure to plan a good-sized pantry. The space we frequent the most though, is the mudroom. That’s a spot that natural stays messy so we knew we wanted it to be separated from the openness of the main living area. The best way to work through this is to write it down. It’s surprisingly easy to forget what matters most when you fall into the black hole of the internet. >>Don’t forget: Print off the freebie, write your answers and refer back as much as you need to while you search for plans!
What overall features are important to you? Options seem endless here: open concept, high ceilings, large windows, outdoor space, etc. For me, natural light is a big deal. I knew I wanted as many windows as I could get! Even if a little more of our budget went there, it was worth it to me. We also wanted to have a nice patio space outside now that we have a yard for the boys to run in.
What design elements are important? Beams, barn doors, custom built-ins, etc. Keep in mind, many of these things can be done later, but it doesn’t hurt to at least jot down your dream designs before you start. This way you can let you contractor know of any “must-haves” and they can figure it in on the cost. Your Pinterest boards might even be filled already! It can get overwhelming looking for inspiration out there, especially if you love all styles like I do! With this build, I found a way to manage the design ideas in my head. Stay tuned, I will share simple tips on staying organized and visualizing the design of your home in a future blog post!
Do you feel ready to find those plans? If so, keep reading…
>Buying Online vs. Hiring Architect
You can find plans in books, create plans from scratch with an architect, or buy/modify a plan online. When it came to picking plans, we thought we had a slight advantage because this is our second build. We built a house four years ago and from that experience we knew about what size home we needed and what layout works best for our family. When we sold that house, we thought we’d start building right away. We rushed and purchased a plan that was close to what we wanted, but knew that we would have to make several modifications to get it just right. Then, our build got delayed several months. With all that extra time to think, we ended up hiring an architect to develop plans from scratch. Since we have experience with both options, I thought I’d share a list of pros and cons to both.
Online Plans
PROS : 1. Endless options with galleries of real life photos. 2. Ease of buying online and working with an architect via email. 3. Looking at plans online can help you figure out what you like and don’t like.
CONS: Searching for the perfect plans online can feel really overwhelming. After all that time we looked online, we still never found the ‘perfect’ plans.
Hiring an Architect
PROS: 1. You are more likely to get what you want. 2. You have an expert to ask questions and get input from. 3. You may have less modifications (i.e. less extra cost) compared to plans bought online.
CONS: 1. Building plans from scratch can take a lot of time. 2. Costs can really increase the longer it takes to complete the plans.
Who says you can’t do both? Maybe you found a plan online that was so close to what you want except for a few modifications. You can print out the unofficial plans from the website and use that as your base when you meet with an architect. It would be a good idea to communicate with the online company first though, because many of those sites let you work directly with the architect to make modifications. They can give you a quote on the cost; it may be worth working with the online architect. You could also ask potential contractors to look at the plans. They can tell you what needs to be modified by an architect and what doesn’t. (i.e. things like some interior walls don’t need to be modified on the official plans.) If there are not structural changes, then you could just buy the online plans. If you do this, make sure to meet, discuss and make notes (on the plans) of all changes. When in doubt, the contractor will refer back to the plans so writing down clear notes is important.
What to expect…
The keys to building a new home are patience and flexibility, same goes for house plans! Don’t expect to find the perfect plans. There really is no such thing; there will always be something to change or something to compromise on. Focus on the room(s) that are most important to you/family and the rest will be just fine. We hope you find this helpful. I could go into even greater detail in every paragraph, but that could get overwhelming for you! Get the basics of your plans clarified first then you can move on to all the details from there.
Please feel free to comment below with questions. If you’d like to follow along with our home build, find us on Instagram @themintedvintage
Happy house plan hunting!