House plans

LT1JEEP

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Location
HARLAN, KY
Where can I find house plans close to this without paying around $2000.00 for them the house needs to be 3 bedroom house around 2000 square feet no garage want one that looks close to this would like the back porch to run full length of house my daughter wants to build one.
 

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It wouldn't be fair to copy a book plan this way...but here is what we did.

I couldn't find a canned plan that we really liked, so I drew up myself from scratch with a simple floorplan design program. Hand drew the elevations because the program only did birds-eye wall layouts. Then found a local girl that did drafting for the local builders, and she did a set a buildable prints for $600. Made whatever tweeks she needed to make my drawings fit. The truss company worked off them to do the truss design.

That said, I bet that 2017's $600 would be todays $1200...so that 2k may not be too bad. Do you get physical copies of the prints for that? How many? I think I gave my builder 5 sets, and kept one for myself.
 
To add:

I did the same thing for our first house in 2002. It was 1200 sqft, and our builder really liked it for a starter home layout, so he offered to pay me 500 each time he used it, if I would allow. He paid me for the first house he built with that plan, then half of that on his second from that plan, then never heard from him again. I ran into his construction foreman a few years later, said he built at least a dozen off that plan.
 
I not sure they talked to the people who has the blue prints they like the look of the outside of the house but they want the floor plan different than what is shown here they want 1200 for the plans as is but to make the changes to the plans to suit what they want they want 2400 to make the changes.
They want a 3 bedroom with porches across the front and rear and the house to be around 2000 sq. ft.
I figured that one of you guy might know someone or some company that has something closer to what they want.
 
LT1JEEP said:
Where can I find house plans close to this without paying around $2000.00 for them
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Are you planning to be your own GC?

If not, got a good builder?

It TRULY depends on the county requirements, but many here in NC only require little more than a napkin drawing to issue a permit. Closer to big cities it gets more complicated, but permit drawings generally only require a floor plan with overall dimensions and elevations. Then a site plan that shows the structure. But that's really only to dimension from boundaries and location from septic fields

I say all that to say if you have a GC you trust (key word) they should have a way to manipulate plans the way you want them (and here is where the trust comes into play) and build it right.

Otherwise, you'll need a comprehensive set of plans that tell the builder every single detail and how to do it to YOUR standard (not minimum code)

Just keep in mind, A set of comprehensive plans that you can hand to bob the builder, that you don't know from Adam, will cost you $5000 or more depending on how much time you spend with the designer to convey EXACTLY what you want.

Not to mention paying for changes along the way that you didn't think of until you see it framed and need to adjust
 
LT1JEEP said:
I not sure they talked to the people who has the blue prints they like the look of the outside of the house but they want the floor plan different than what is shown here they want 1200 for the plans as is but to make the changes to the plans to suit what they want they want 2400 to make the changes.
They want a 3 bedroom with porches across the front and rear and the house to be around 2000 sq. ft.
I figured that one of you guy might know someone or some company that has something closer to what they want.
Click to expand...
Talk to custom home builders in your area. They likely have someone they use to draw plans. I did similar to @kaiser715 when I built my house. We had 3 houses we liked different aspects of so we printed off all the plans and took them to the guy my builder used. He he drew us a house that incorporated everything we liked.
 
We took a house plan from a triple wide modular we liked, made several copies, cut the rooms apart, moved a couple things around, then went to a drafter with that. I have no idea how much he charged 20 years ago.
 
Online plans rarely come with framing information, or any code compliant details, because they're meant to be used in any jurisdiction. A builder in your area who is familiar with the code requirements and best practices can probably work those details out or knows who to consult.

Plan reviewers are much more careful when reviewing plans submitted by owner/GCs, as opposed to licensed GCs.
 
Having a good “plan” is the best start to any project. But that doesn’t necessarily require a design professional. NCGS does not require a design professional for a single family residential built using the residential building code. And for a single story or even a 2 story with no weird features just floor plan and the code book could suffice. If you want large open areas and cathedral ceilings I would probably get some plans drawn as the spans and point loads get off the code charts. And hire a 3rd party inspector as the building inspectors are usually over worked and only able to enforce the bare minimum. One resource rarely used, vet your contractor by asking your local inspection department for the inspection reports for his last few jobs. If you see a ton of deficiencies listed on numerous failed inspections that could be a red flag. It’s all public information.
 
They bought a set of plans they liked and had a few changes made to them. I got my dozer going after engine rebuild and was getting to do the final grade to the property and the ac compressor locked up and broke the belt so it is down till Wednesday when the parts arrive to fix it. Hope to have the property ready to start laying out for the footer the next week.
 
LT1JEEP said:
They bought a set of plans they liked and had a few changes made to them. I got my dozer going after engine rebuild and was getting to do the final grade to the property and the ac compressor locked up and broke the belt so it is down till Wednesday when the parts arrive to fix it. Hope to have the property ready to start laying out for the footer the next week.
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Man that sounds like a nice dozer.... this the piece we visited on the 4 wheeler looking for jeep parts?
 
ghost said:
Man that sounds like a nice dozer.... this the piece we visited on the 4 wheeler looking for jeep parts?
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That was the dozer sitting in front of my garage when you were here. The property is 1 mile from here it was on the way to my place when you crossed the railroad tracks you turned right instead of turning left and go about 1/3 mile to that property. if i get a chance i will take a pic of the property and post it.
 
CasterTroy said:
It TRULY depends on the county requirements, but many here in NC only require little more than a napkin drawing to issue a permit. Closer to big cities it gets more complicated, but permit drawings generally only require a floor plan with overall dimensions and elevations. Then a site plan that shows the structure. But that's really only to dimension from boundaries and location from septic fields
Click to expand...

NC residential building code doesn't even require architect stamped plans for residential homes. When I worked in planning/inspections we literally did accept a plan or two on a napkin. If any jurisdiction is trying to force you into getting architecture stamped plans for a standard single family house, kindly ask them for documentation that they've gotten special approval from the state to ask for them, because otherwise they have zero authority. They can't ask for more than what the code requires unless they've officially adopted their own set of building code standards that were approved by the state board.
 
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