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Working with clients designing homeplans.

Throughout the years I have worked with a lot of people designing home plans to suit their needs. I often get clients that I spend time with designing a home in one direction and then after hours of work they change their mind and want a totally different design style. This is fine, and I really am here to help people get a home design that they are happy with and eventually that is how things end up. The mind changing and throwing out ideas is part of the design process. However, this is exactly why stock house plans are a great deal for most people. The cost that is involved designing and redesigning is far greater than just buying a plan that is already completed.

Why do I mention this? I have recently been working with two couples. The first had me come up with a two story design that was fairly large, the next time I met with them they had decided on a totally different idea, so we're back to the drawing board.

The other couple really liked a house plan that I had designed a couple of years ago, but just wanted some modifications. No big deal... I made the modifications and adjusted the plan as necessary. They really liked the new changes, but in the meantime had found another plan by another designer that they liked more. Turns out the other designer, was me. Just another one of my plans that I hadn't shown them before. So, I started searching through old files. While I was looking they walked through another design I had completed last year that a neighbor just built. And guess what? they like that one better than the first two. So now I am making changes to that plan. I've decided I need a more comprehensive plan book so that people can find what they like the first time. It would save everyone a lot of time. Anyway, the second couple was fortunate as I didn;t spend a great deal of time making the modifications. The first couple will end up paying more because I spent a lot fo time on the first design.

The moral of the story, try and figure out what you want (be pretty darn sure anyway) before meeting with a design professional, it will save you money. And, you may consider looking through stock house plans that are available as there are probably many that would fulfill your needs.

Comments:

engjake says:
Thanks for the comments Mishelle.
The key to a happy marriage (i think) is agreeing with your spouse about your home plan, which takes some compromising on both sides. So if that is important to your husband to have seperate closets and bathrooms, that's what I would look for. Please do check back with us often. New house plans are being added all the time on The Plan Collection.

Just a tip, sometimes, designers will have a similar layout for several plans. So... if you find a house plan that you like, but need more or less Square footage; you can click on the link at the top of the plan page that says "other house plans by this designer" The chances are good that he/she might have another great home plan with a similar floor plan but a different size.

Oh, and sorry for the delayed response. I've been working on building my own home these last few weeks and have not had a greta deal of time to spend here on our house plan blog.
Posted:2/7/2005
anonymous says:
I just discovered this blog and it's great - thanks! I have been a house plan junkie for a while now, and we finally have a lot in mind. Now that the planning is getting more serious, I'm finding that certain features are difficult to find. For example, it is hard to find a 1500-2000 sq. ft. home plan that has His/Hers master bathrooms and closets separate from each other (my husband believes it's the key to a happy marriage!) I'd also like to see more "mud rooms" off the garage, instead of laundry areas. I don't want to step over dirty clothes all the time.
I'll check back periodically to see what's new here - thanks!
Posted:2/7/2005
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