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.