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db resources -That’s a Plan Purchasing predrawn home plans is a smart first step toward realizing your dream home, particularly if you’ve faced the disappointment of searching without success for an already-built home that meets your vision of domestic bliss. With endless options, you can have your pick of the most luxurious home plans from the best designers—all for a fraction of the money and time you would spend by hiring an architect to design a custom home plan. The decision to build a new home is an exciting one, but purchasing the right plan is key to relishing the results of that decision for many years to come. A little know-how of the plan-buying process will help put you on the path to home sweet home. How to Choose Your Home Plan Lifestyle: Lifestyle is one of the most influential factors in finding the right home plan. If you like to entertain, you probably need a plan with a large kitchen, a formal dining room, and perhaps an outdoor living area. If you have a growing family with young, active children, look for a plan with open, flowing traffic patterns and well-planned storage. Maybe you work from home and require a plan with a study or office. Your day-to-day activities, personality, and interests should carry considerable weight when choosing your home plan. Size: When deciding the size of your future home, it’s important to balance the space you need with the space you can afford. Consider how many rooms are needed to accommodate your family and any guests, and determine how large spaces need to be to fit your furnishings. To figure how much house you can afford, the National Association of Home Builders’ Web site (www.nahb.org) has information on the average cost per square foot for new homes in any area. Priorities: Are there any “must-haves” of your dream home? Write out a detailed list of what you want included in your home, and then prioritize that list by those items you can’t live without, those you really want, and those that would just be nice to have. Style: Choosing the home style is often the most fun part of picking the perfect plan. Do you want to get lost in the romanticism of a French country estate, escape to the vacation feel of a Mediterranean villa, or come home to the simplicity of a clean contemporary abode. There are countless home styles to meet any desire. Start by browsing the selection of home plans featured right here in this issue, and for the best of online home plans, visit America’s number-one luxury home plan site, designerblues.com. Lot Requirements: If you’ve already purchased a lot, take into account its requirements, such as sloping, corner or zero-lot line, and grade, to name a few. Otherwise, if you’ve already found the plans to your dream home, go ahead and purchase them. You can then find a lot that is just right. Modifications: Think you’ve found that almost perfect plan—that plan you would have already purchased if only the garage were larger, the ceilings were higher, or even that one wall weren’t there? The good news is that home plans—even stock home plans—can be modified to meet your needs! In fact, some tweaking is often required to meet lot or local building stipulations. If you anticipate making any changes to the plans, order reproducible masters such as vellums or CAD. What to Expect in Your Plan Package You can expect to spend anywhere from $500 to a few thousand dollars for home plans, depending on the project’s size and complexity and what type of plans you order, such as vellum or CAD. You’ll want to have enough sets to distribute to everyone involved in the project, such as the builder, subcontractors, and the lender. |
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