Q: What do professionals think of stock house plans?
What do professionals think of stock house plans, like the ones you can buy from Houseplans.com or Sarah Susanka? Are these a good deal? I think they cost $5 or $6K. Would love to hear what some home builders think. ...These stock plans seem like a good idea to me. But, I'm not a pro and I don't know how much they should cost. Thanks.
Posted in New Construction on
-
David L from
Backbay Construction, Inc.
Orlando, FLA: Stock Plans
Brian above answered this question perfectly. These plans can be great, but coming from a builder in Florida, they usually don't take into account the codes that are necessary to build properly in my state. So, even though they will help you figure out the "floor plan" that you like, you still need to have a structural engineer draw up the "important" parts of your plan and make sure that your house will be built to code. I hope this helps. God bless!
Rating: 4Flag / Report
-
Brian B from
K-Co Construction
San Diego, CAA: Stock Plans
The true answer is stock plans are good and bad. The cost is roughly 25-30% less than actual architecture (at least here in San Diego). The biggest concerns with stock plans are that building codes are not standardized throughout the country, so it depends on where the plans were drawn for. If the plans do not take into account the structural requirements of the area you plan on constructing the home, you may be spending $5,000.00 on a floor plan, leaving you still thousands to spend in engineering. If you love the layout or floor plan of a standard plan, I recommend you talk to a local architect or deign-build contractor. They can work the elements that you love about the standard design into a custom design that will fit the property and your life style better. We know the codes in our areas better than a generic draftsman who is really selling a design, not a full functioning set of construction documents.
Rating: 3Flag / Report
-
Answer This Question