This is another popular question and it’s a great question as it can cost several thousand dollars to have a custom set of plans drawn up for your home. While saving on existing plans seems logical, our experience over the years has shown that the cost savings between creating a custom design vs choosing a “stock” home plan is basically a wash in the end with no savings at all.
Stock plans or plans on the internet are designed to fit a general list of requirements to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible. With a plan this generic, you’ll find yourself trying to fit your family and your lifestyle into a home that wasn’t designed with you in mind. Most people usually end up wanting to add more room and/or change the plan resulting in more costs to draw up the changes.
Think about it this way; when you’re building a home, every square foot costs you lots of dollars (let’s say $150.00 per sq. ft.) With this in mind, if a stock floor plan has 100 square feet of wasted space, you are paying $15,000 for space you’ll never use. Building a custom home avoids having unnecessary square footage in the first place. So while you may spend $2,500-$7,500 on a custom set of plans, you won’t have to build a home from a plan that will cost you $15,000.00 for 100 square feet of home that you don’t need or will never use.
When we begin our design process with a new client, we don’t ask you to choose from floor plan A, B or C. Instead, we ask “How do you live your life? Describe an average day at home for you and your family.” Through a long line of questioning, we will discover a design that works for you. When you sit down with Bob, he’ll ask you questions such as “Do you have pets? Do you like to cook? Do you grill outdoors? Do you drink wine? Do you enjoy outdoor activities? Does the family watch a lot of movies? Do you entertain a lot? What are your hobbies?” and more. The answers to these questions help us come up with inclusions for your home’s design and layout; such as a nook in the kitchen for your pet’s dishes, or a big covered porch for entertaining around the grill or an island in the kitchen for a wine chiller. All these small considerations add up to the big picture of having a custom home designed with you in mind; without features, you don’t need and with no wasted space.
