Hiring an Architect or Residential Home Designer

Hiring an architect or designer to take a shopping list of essentials and wishes and to turn that list into a reality can be for some landowners seeking a set of plans for their dream home. These professionals often charge an extremely high hourly rate, and the cost of designing the home in some cases almost equals the actual construction costs for the building.

However, these same home design professionals will often spend a portion of their time developing common house plan sets that can be purchased, with or without customization by the new home builder. The advantages to purchasing stock plans are many for the new homeowner. They include:

Timing: The custom design of house plans for a homeowner by either a designer or an architect can take from several weeks to several months. In most cases, the homeowner is anxious for the construction of their dream house to commence! Therefore, it is to the advantage of time savings to purchase a set of stock plans.

Easy Customization: Because the developers of the stock plans realizes that not every piece of land is appropriate for their stock homes, most provide design features that are interchangeable within their plans. Perhaps they also include add-on alternative plans for garages, garage expansions, decks, larger footprints or perhaps several styles of façade for the stock home.

Cheaper Customization: Again, because the home plan designer who put together the stock plans realizes that although their home may serve the needs of many builders perfectly, they also realize that some situation will require modification. Reasons for required modification are zoning regulations, homeowner’s association requirements, etc. Sometimes, the designer of the stock plans will make their time available at a reduced rate from that of a custom home designer, since the homeowner or builder purchased the plans from them originally. It is to the advantage of the designer as well, in this case.

Once you have reviewed the advantages of purchasing stock home plans from a designer or an architect, most likely the only decision still facing you as a new home builder will be which style of house helps the definition of me? The facts are that as a new homebuilder you want to begin the construction of your home as quickly an efficiently as possible. The decision to purchase stock home plans enables you to make that dream a reality.

And it is important to remember that although you might be purchasing stock home plans, you are not merely building a clone of a stock house. You will customize your home, design your interior and develop your landscaping in a unique way that defines your new home. There should be no fear for a loss of character. Many of today’s new homes were started as a result of the stock plans purchased by the homeowner.

This home building article by:
Michelle McClory with BuildingPlans.com

Search Now For House Plans >>