My wife and I just bought some land and are planning on building a new home.
Should we hire an architect to draw up house plans or find one we like online?
My wife and I just bought some land and are planning on building a new home.
Should we hire an architect to draw up house plans or find one we like online?
Depends on what style of house you want and an special amenities. There are 100’s of plans on line—— I would hesitate to call them blueprints. When I worked construction, when the house was sold, a copy of the blueprints was left with the owner. Any changes the owner wanted in the future, the blueprints were helpful.
Use a local draftsman because the online ones might not meet your local codes.
I've wondered about this as well
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We just built ours. Started by looking at plans available on the web to get some ideas on what we wanted. Then selected a architecture firm out of state due to time constraints. That was a disaster. 5 sets of plans that wouldn't fit our lot with the set backs the city requires. Ended up with some "close enough" ones that our contractor could use. I will definitely stay local gor the next one. Lesson learned!
We drew our own. The local lumberyard then converted them into working drawings at no charge as long as we bought materials from them. Been here 7 years and couldn’t be happier!
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Just went through the process. Started with online plans that all need some changes. Most of them required you to purchase plans then they would charge for the changes. We narrowed down to one plan,took it to a local architect. He could make changes as you were there, print you a copy, give you a virtual link to view each room. It was 3 visits to his office and couple of phone calls. He made suggestions we hadn’t even thought of! We built on a lake here and had to deal with power company and FEMA flood planes which created additional changes but he took care of those with a phone call. Architect was worth it to us for having local contact dealing with everything. Good luck with your new project!
When I built my home in 1999 and today's home 2019, the builders showed my wife and I plans of houses they had built, then they had plan draftsman that tweaked the plans to our liking. I think my 2019 home's plan cost around $1200 give or take. The builder sent us to the lighting, flooring, tile, granite, stone providers he did business with and their input helping us decide on what we wanted was invaluable along with his input. I did not bid the house to other builders and I am reasonably sure he was not the lowest cost. He did have the reputation as the premier builder in our area for the type home we wanted. My wife and I had relatively stress free experience and got the exact home we wanted.
No need to take to an architect unless you’re going over 5000 sq/ft. You’ll pay out the wazoo if you have an actual architect design your house. Take it to a draftsman.
Us a local draftsman or designer knows the local codes and requirements. Stock plans from Catalogs have notes to refer to a local engineer or architect for code specific requirements. I draw plans for people nationwide and also sell plans to catalogs. Depending on location and a requirements a Architect may not be required by the building dept. For the cost of most catalog plans you can have custom plans drawn by a draftsman, and have a better design and plans that meet you needs and wants.
I'm really curious. What does a draftmans know about structural design? I personally wouldn't trust a draftman to design my footings, walls, beams and roof trusses. Custom builders have engineers/architects contacts for all legal requirements. This would be the route I would go. Like mentioned earlier, just going to an architect then finding a builder would be the second most expensive way to do it. Doing it wrong and having to redo mistakes by others is the most expensive.
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When it comes time to submit your plans to the town board for approval, they will require that a state certified structural architect provide the submitted plans/blueprints for your home.Originally Posted by Dr.Tree
You may save some time not paying for the 'creative thinking' of an architect but at the end of the day whether you use online plans pre made or go with a custom set.... you need to pay an architect's services to support/approve/'stamp' your plans that you submit to your town building inspector
When we built, we bought several books of plans at Lowe's and looked through them until we found what we wanted. We took the plan to our builder and went over the minor changes we wanted. He had an architect modify the plans accordingly and we built exactly the house we wanted. After 18 years, there are only a couple of minor things we would change.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Architect for us. It was probably the best $ we spent on the entire thing. The guy draws plans for a living and has suggestions/thoughts on things that never in a million years I'd have thought of.
We did the same thing in 2006 when we added on to our house. Brought them in to discuss where to connect, best floor plan, etc.
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"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
We did this last year, found some plans online printed off one we liked, took it to our builder advised him of the changes we would like to the plans, his draftsman drew them out as we wanted
This! I build house and draw my own plans, with hips, valleys and ridges. Pick your gables and hips and you're good. I work with the lumber yard for a material list.
Yes, but must town building departments need a signature from a certified architect..... yes, can get the architect to certify it with his letter head for some $500 to $1000 most likely but they need to make their money and they will when you come to need an architect to certify the plans for the town building department. Draftsman doesn't cut it, just dues drawings.
Every city is different.....we used an older gentleman that still drew house plans by hand.....consisted of floor plan, electrical sheet and typical details......gave it to contractor for price, got permit and started building....nothing had to be stamped. Also, if you ask someone to draw plans, they may take it as just that and not do any research on setbacks, regulations, etc. Ask all those questions up front.....
What was crazy, the didnt need stamped plans for a house but i had to have stamped plans for a 30x30 metal building....that's pretty stupid...
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We bought ours online but the builder made changes to them as he went along. I thought they good and we still have a copy of them.
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