Who do you call when you need the plans and limits of your house? (construction)

[Mrpepelepeu]

Hi all,

I currently don't have plans for my house. Both the house itself and the lot.

Do you know who should I contact to get that done? Do you know approximate prices?

Thanks!

[DesignBuild516]

Hmm this is difficult because you don't explain why you need the plans and survey,

If you just want to have the existing plans and survey head on over to your local building department and ask them the procedure of how to obtain them. That is the cheapest way.

If you don't want to deal with that you can pay an architect to draw plans and a surveyor to draw the lot.

Need some more info to guide you more.

[twingles]

If your house is very old it's doubtful the plans exist. My parents had their plans because all the previous owners passed them down to each other...which was good, because the entire house was not COed and they were needed.

[Mrpepelepeu]

Thanks to both.

The plans are mostly for my record, and to make changes if I want to in the future. Also it's not a bad idea to know the limits of your lot.

I'll head over to the building department.
The house isn't too old fo LI. Late 40s.

Thanks!

[James1202]

If you have a new survey done of your lot, I would suggest you pay to have permanent markers set.

These could be made of concrete but, in Upstate NY, 1"-2" x 2'0" galv. pipe is pounded into the ground. There's not much point, as we learned, to just have the surveyors put sticks into the ground (careless landscapers took them out). Or, you could let the surveyors put sticks into the ground for you to replace with pipe soon after. If concrete is already at one corner of your lot, be sure they chisel an 'x' at that corner.

As for plans of your house. Most architects really suck at creating plans for an existing house, esp. those that aren't built as part of a housing development (standard modern construction) or if it could have been modified from its original configuration. Most architects will take measurements of your exterior walls (without considering how it's sheathed/sided) and interior rooms (using a laser) and assume all studs are where they should be and of standard dimensions.

We had plans of our house (handed down from previous owners) which were wrong. Then we hired someone to draw correct plans; which were wrong. I ended up doing it myself by plotting studs and CJs with a stud finder and determining siding layers. We de-finished the basement to perform a proper survey of the foundation and plumbing. My survey missed the existence of previous windows and doorways but I had the jambs correctly located.

Note: After finding two 1940's single-storied homes with no foundation footings, I'm wondering if that could be a norm for this locale and that time period. Adding a 2nd floor to such a home would expect to have settling issues from the added weight. Underpinning would be required.

Btw, the local bldg. dept. had no info. re: original plans....just a record of the year CO issued.

[Mrpepelepeu]

Can I hire you?
I also wanted to do it myself at one point. I wouldn't check for studs though, just interior/exterior walls (basically the thickness of the walls and their angles) all with a laser.
I also want to add the location of hvac vents and maybe pipes and wires. Don't know if i can do that though.