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Our architect, besides designing from scratch, also has about 200 stock plans that he sells for about $700 for 5 working sets.
We selected one, customized it to fit our needs by enlarging the garage, including a workshop, putting a panty in the kitchen area, enlarging one bedroom and putting in a walk-in closet.
I made sketches of the desired modifications and the architect made the changes to the plan. He charged $300 for this.
He then printed out five sets which I gave to the bank, the contractor, and the building permit people. I needed another set so he printed that out for $35.
The total cost for all the copies of the plans that I needed plus two sets for me to keep was a little over $1000.
We have been living in the house for a year now and love it.
All I said was that the plans in a majority of those plan books are drawn by a licensed professional. In Pa...an architect or engineer must be licensed to prepare plans for a single family home. Drafters are not required to get a license here yet. Of the unlicensed drafters/designers we've used compared to the licensed architects/engineers...I prefer the architects.
We design homes, too...however, we are builders, not architects..so our customized ideas and designs are drawn by a licensed architect...it's just the way we do it.
The two times someone has brought us such plans from these books, both were drawn by architect Donald Gardner..and did not need much input to make it compiant with our applicable building codes...permitting went fine, the builds went fine.
I guess I should clarify, my last post came after a bad day, and well... was a bit negative.
I have done well over 20 homes from plan books, there have been a handful that required little work to get to permit and eventually built. But the majority required pretty extensive structural work, and updating to meet codes within our state. Just about everywhere (except for mass.) from what I know requires an engineer stamp the structural, but most do not require an Architect stamp. The difference between an Architect and a Designer is a series of 6 tests that last 8 hours each. I have worked both under licensed Architects, and in my current location which does not have any employed Architects at this time. (Although we do have a contractual relationship with a couple for multi-family projects). I dislike the plan book homes when they come across my desk because they usually go over budget to get what the client thought they were buying, And I would prefer to have a happy client that gets their dreams fulfilled. A good alternative is to buy one of the plan books, and find a few of the designs you like. Instead of spending so much money on a set of plans, bring the book to a Designer / Architect, along with exterior pictures of houses you like from magazines, or in your area and let them use them as a guide to what you want in a home. Some of the plan books do have some pretty good plans mixed in with the quickly done plans. The bad designs well.... seem to outnumber the good ones. Things like Master Bedrooms only accessible from the kitchen or mud rooms, Disjointed flow paths, doors around every corner, just do not feel good when walking through the home, but they may look good in plan view. In the end, the client is going to get something, but there is an added level of expertise that comes from consulting a Designer / Architect that you would not get from a mail order home plan company.
Our architect, besides designing from scratch, also has about 200 stock plans that he sells for about $700 for 5 working sets.
We selected one, customized it to fit our needs by enlarging the garage, including a workshop, putting a panty in the kitchen area, enlarging one bedroom and putting in a walk-in closet.
I made sketches of the desired modifications and the architect made the changes to the plan. He charged $300 for this.
He then printed out five sets which I gave to the bank, the contractor, and the building permit people. I needed another set so he printed that out for $35.
The total cost for all the copies of the plans that I needed plus two sets for me to keep was a little over $1000.
We have been living in the house for a year now and love it.
We do this as well, we have hundreds of plans that are of spec stock (IE not designed custom for a client) We have a reuse fee that is charged for this stock plan (lower than the full on custom design) and we have hours we can add for changes, or updated engineering. In Colorado due to the soils conditions every foundation is done by site, so there is going to be a minimal engineering fee to design foundation.
The two times someone has brought us such plans from these books, both were drawn by architect Donald Gardner..and did not need much input to make it compiant with our applicable building codes...permitting went fine, the builds went fine.
i've done a couple of gardner homes also; the plans were extremely detailed on the exterior finish, and we had no problems with them whatsoever.
Most folks think about and describe their home or dream home as a collection of "features" #bedrooms, #bathrooms, paneled library, granite counters, impressive entry, grand staircase, Tuscan (or some other "style")... blah blah blah. This is what you find in plan magazines mostly.
Architects and designers do not think about houses like this; we consider environment, site, orientation, natural light, ventilation, materials, context, spatial quality, circulation and order as well as local and state codes. Then we interview the client(s) about lifestyle and aesthetic ideas and develop a program from that. If the architect or designer & client is a good fit you will have a home that is designed to embrace the site as successfully as your lifestyle and live in a space that works for you and inspires you every day.
It is not the cheapest way to build a house but it might just be the best way to live if done right.
Most folks think about and describe their home or dream home as a collection of "features" #bedrooms, #bathrooms, paneled library, granite counters, impressive entry, grand staircase, Tuscan (or some other "style")... blah blah blah. This is what you find in plan magazines mostly.
which is why most folks are perfectly happy with a home built from plans they found in a magazine.
which is why most folks are perfectly happy with a home built from plans they found in a magazine.
Most folks adapt quite well to their environment, imperfections and all. But the qualities that make for an especially functional and beautiful home rarely come from an assemblage of features that have nothing to do with a site or a particular families lifestyle.
Most folks adapt quite well to their environment, imperfections and all. But the qualities that make for an especially functional and beautiful home rarely come from an assemblage of features that have nothing to do with a site or a particular families lifestyle.
i wasn't disagreeing with you, just pointing out the most folks get by just fine without a custom designed home. you can usually find something to your tastes and that you can make work in a magazine or online source. i think its well worth it to have a custom designed home, but i reckon most people think its too expensive or just don't think about it at all.
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]We are looking to build our home soon and we bought two homedesign books from low's for about $30.00 total; not to get a plan but toeducate our self about what a plane will have and different configuration.It was very helpful to view those planes to formulate what we need and to lookat different styles. [/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Now we are looking for a home designer in Houston and it will be veryhelpful to have an idea about the design cost, how it is calculated and whatare the deliverable for what we will pay.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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