Does anyone have good house plans?

Question

We are thinking about building a house to live in. Does anyone have a good house plan? There has to be at least 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and the square footage has to be between 2300 and 2800.

Thank You:0)

Answer 1

There are several ways to get good house plans. One is to find a good architect or CAD designer. You really need someone that has lots of experience not just with drawing the plans but with an excellent design background.

Since I have built many homes over the years, I have found that working with a designer and and architect works best, if you are going to choose this method.

The next thing you can do if find a contractor that is also a CAD designer. In my business, using Chief Architect design software, I can sit down with a client and design a home based on their input and my experience.

It really helps if the contractor has had hands on experience because he or she will know what will or will not work in the design of the home.

You can also find great home plans on many websites that specialize in home design. These plans are already pre-drawn and in some cases  if you cannot find exactly what you want, they will make modifications for you.

If you cannot find or afford either of the two methods above then there is a third method and that would be for you to buy and good home design software that is easy to use and able to generate 3-D renderings so that you can not only design and draw out your dream home but also see what it is going to look like before you build. I favorite is the software from Better Homes and Garden. You will find links to their website included below.

Below I will give you links to sites where you can buy sample and buy house plans and site where you can get the best easy to use home design software available.

I hope this helps. Rick

Answer 2

When we built our home we wanted basicaly the same sq. footage and started taking blank pieces of copy paper and making boxes that we interconnected and intersected on our drawings.. Basement was unfinished so we could finish that later; which we really took our time and made it complete with a small kitchen/ bar with counters and lots of seating. We turned the basement into the music and entertainment areas with lots of sliding glass doors that serve as large windows, letting in lots of natural light. First floor was broken up into entrance and hallway, dividing the house in half. The kitchen is located at the end of the hallway with the large livingroom on the left of the hallway and the dining room on the backside of hallway on the right. We also have the stairway off the hallway, at the entrance, that goes up to an open landing that overlooks the downstairs kitchen and bedrooms on each side of the landing.Three bedrooms upstairs with two bathrooms for the Master and Second bedroom. We have a full bath and a half bath on the first floor with one bedroom in the back, as an outside space. and a full bathroom and half bath downstairs. We have an attic bedroom for guests with a half bath and lots of windows on both ends of the bedrooms.  We took our copy paper plans to several Home Builders in the local area and found that they knew of several house plans that fit our drawings. We went on-line and found hundreds of plans and slowly narrowed down the plans until we had several we really liked. We then got copies of several and combined the two. Our builder worked with us and made lots of suggestions that we included. Having a builder that you can talk to, call and ask questions, will be very important. We have a 400 amp service, house wired for cable, phone and computer in all rooms so that you can add flat screens, phones, computers , as needed on down the road. We used double cased vinyl windows in all rooms and lots of sliding  french doors on all sides of the house so we can add outside decks and steps to gardens and walkways to our double car gurage with upstairs bedrooms. Take a look at Custom Home Plans and House Plans on the Internet and find several you like and then find a builder that you feel comfortable with and have him over for coffee and just talk. You will find what you want, it just takes time and an openness to explore the possibilities. Our builder built our house as a showcase to show other clients and built at a rate per sq. ft. It took a full year but we have our dream house and all it took was quality time well invested. By doing most of the leg work searching , most research finding what we wanted on-line and planning  the house before we started we saved on the total cost of our custom house. Enjoy the road to your dream house.

Answer 3

This may sound crazy but, look at some mobile home floor plans. They use every available inch of space. You could then change what you want and build accordingly.

Answer 4

You already have some ideas.

I would highly suggest that you take some Home Tours.  You'll discover some great ideas, what to do, as well as what not to do.