The advantages of purchasing a stock home plan.

Finding the perfect house plan for your dream home can be a daunting task. Everyone seeks the perfect plan to meet their individual or family needs. At times, it may seem like the perfect plan is right in front of you, but it is missing that critical feature that would make it perfect. Perhaps the bathroom is too small or is in the wrong place. Perhaps it lacks the fireplace you have always dreamed of curling up next to with a good book. Maybe you need three garages instead of two.

Designers and architects across the country are always actively involved in custom designing residences for all types of people. However, many architects and designers spend a great deal of time creating stock home plans to meet the needs of a general audience that are functional, with effective use of space without compromising the curb appeal.

Often times designers offer popular floor plans with several different facades. This allows you to find a great floor plan and still choose an architectural style like country or traditional. You may spend a lot of money having a design professional draw and redraw your plan to see what it would look like as a different style.

Stock home plans are also a lot less expensive than having your home custom designed. A stock home plan is already completed and can be copied and shipped right away. Having your home custom designed may take weeks or even months to complete. This will not only delay the construction of your home but will end up costing you significantly more. Custom designed plans may cost you two, three, or even ten times more than a stock home plan. With the vast number of home plans available online, including all kinds of styles from Victorian to Mediterranean and even Feng Shui, you are bound to find a home plan that meets your needs.

To help you find the home plan that best meets your needs we allow you to save your favorites to your personal Plan Collection. Now you can select the plans that you like best and log in at a later date to show to your significant other without having to filter through all our plans to find it again. With the several search options we have implemented on our site, you should be well on your way to finding the home of your dreams.

What if you need to personalize a plan?

The Plan Collection is affiliated with many excellent architects and designers that would be happy to help you personalize your home plan.
We have excellent architects and designers affiliated with our site that would be happy to help you personalize your home plan. Just click on the "customize this plan" link on the plan display page and follow the prompts. We will be in contact with you as soon as possible to provide a quote for the changes. You may want to read our information on "What you should know before customizing a plan" before you make a request.

What you should know before customizing a plan.

We have great design professionals that would be happy to customize your home plan. However, there are a few things you ought to know before doing so. Often times municipalities will require plans to be reviewed by a local structural engineer or architect before they issue a building permit. Why? Designers and architects create their drawings according to the building practices in the location in which they reside. Construction practices will not vary tremendously but homes built in the Rocky Mountains will be able to support significant snowfall while homes in Florida will not. An engineer will analyze the structure and size the beams, rafters etc. to assure that the structural integrity of the home is not compromised by the location in which it is built. In the same manner, he may be able to save you some costs by downsizing the fortitude of various framing members; should you be building a home that was designed for an area with higher snow loads.

Even if you have a home custom designed by an architect or designer in your area, the municipality will still require an engineer's review. It is important to know this before customizing a home plan for a couple of reasons. Often times people have minor changes like moving a door, adding a door or window, or moving an interior wall. The engineer, builder or even a local draftsperson, may add these personalizations to the plan. You may be able to save some costs by having your changes "redlined" in this manner after you purchase a plan package from us. You will probably want to purchase the vellum set if it is available so that you only have to redline the plan once before making copies. They call this redlining because it is generally done with a red pen so that it is easily recognized. You may consider this option before requesting a customized plan if your changes are not too significant since you may be paying the engineer to analyze the plan anyway. While we feel it is always best to have the designer or architect make all the changes to the plan, some minor issues can be cost effectively resolved through this practice.

Please keep in mind that if you find a plan that you like on our website or other publications, it is illegal to take our advertising plan images to a local draftsperson to have them redrawn with customizations. This is copyright infringement and is punishable up to $100,000. You can have our plans redrawn with your customizations but you must first purchase a plan package to obtain rights to do so.

Should you choose to customize a plan…
As you browse our plans, you will notice a link on the plan display page that says, "customize this plan." Clicking on the link will lead you to a window where you can submit changes you would like. We will respond as soon as possible with a quote. Should you choose to have the modifications made please return to the checkout page with the link that we provide in our quote email. This will assure that the customization information and the quote accompany your plan order. We will forward your customization information to the appropriate designer or architect and they will ship the plans as soon as possible.

Custom Designed Home Plans.
We have some of the best residential designers and architects across the country affiliated with The Plan Collection. We definitely have the resources to design the home of your dreams. If you would like to start from scratch designing your own home please contact us and we will refer the designers or architects that are closest to your area. If you prefer a specific design professional we will put you in contact with them to begin designing your home.

Please contact The Plan Collection Staff with any questions you may have regarding plan customizations.