What You Should be Looking for When Buying House Plans Online

ByAmy Dutton

Being an educated consumer is the most power that you can give yourself when purchasing plans. So, Amy thought we would review here what you should be looking for when buying plans.

Often people contact Amy and ask if she can draw up architectural house plans from a screen shot that took from an online company. Here is why she don’t do it:

  • It’s never worked. The room dimensions are somehow off, so the plan might say a total square footage with all the bells and whistles but it always comes out to a larger home. And square footage always interprets to dollar signs.
  • Custom home blueprint plans are going to cost a lot more than online plans so we tell them to just buy the plan that they like and call it a day.
  • Boring! We still need to draw the entire house in my CAD program. So, if all she’s doing is drawing someone else’s design into CAD, she’s just a draftsperson. My talent lies in being creative and the rest of it is technical.
  • Most builders hate those house design plans because they are not complete so they spend a ton of time trying to figure out how to make them work. Anything up for interpretation will likely not end well. This is a flexible but extremely precise industry with a lot of options so the right turns and left turns can turn into going around it circles.

When you are looking for house plans online make sure that you can:

  • Customize the plan
  • Understand square footage and how much you need / want for your project.
  • Understand the material specs required for your To-Do list after purchasing before you can hire, get permitted and start building.

And, if you have any questions about how to use your plans or, if you’re a builder, how to start building off of them, feel free to contact us with questions at [email protected]!