Online Home Plans vs Architect's Plans: Which one is right for you?
You’ve decided it’s time for a new home. Maybe your family has grown and you’re ready to invest in a bigger house with more space. Or, maybe you now work from home and are looking for more functionality including that new home office.
But looking at the houses on the market, you haven’t quite found what you’re really looking for. They don’t quite meet your particular taste and needs. The makeshift home office is too secluded. The kitchen is too small. The guest room shares a bathroom or doesn’t have one at all. It quickly becomes obvious that you have a certain style and some very specific requirements. So, why shouldn’t your next home reflect your fantastic flair, personality, and include the must-haves you’ve dreamed about? It’s time to look into home plans!
Will online home plans create my dream home?
You might already be aware that you can buy home plans online for $1000 or less. They promise you the “perfect home” with thousands, even tens of thousands of plans to tempt you. From contemporary to modern, from the cottage to the farmhouse, they offer you a wide range of options. It’s a massive online marketplace offering buyers one-size-fits-all, mass-produced plans.
With so much to choose from, you would think that your ultimate dream home would just jump out at you. But after spending lots of online screen time trying to find the right one, you’ve determined that very few of the plans may come close to your ideal home. There is one plan, however, that may be almost perfect, except for some modifications needed to suit your lifestyle, your property, and your environment.
How do online plans compare to architectural plans?
Many of my clients come to my office saying, “I know what I want!” They point to a website that features lots of cookie-cutter online plans and shows me one set of plans in particular. But how do they know if that’s the right home plan for what they’re looking for?
Online home plans will likely need modifications - Many of the online plans are great. But many clients who purchase them end up coming to me to help modify them. Even though they come close to being the ideal plans, they don't quite fit their very specific requirements. For example, they may learn that the plans won't work on their specific building site. So, although the online plans may be a cost-effective option, they don’t provide location-specific needs.
Buyers of these plans are typically recommended to consult a structural engineer for the foundation design to suit specific site conditions.
Online plans must be built according to plan specifications - Online home plans may be okay for some as long as the structure is built as intended and according to the plans without any modification. These plans are mass-produced, which is why they cost less. This means they are designed to appeal to the masses, but not take into consideration unique needs and specific requirements.
Architect-designed plans are designed to satisfy your building needs - Home plans designed by an architect are specific to the client’s needs and site conditions. Each set of home plans are created for a particular client. They are therefore unique to each client and are never mass-produced.
Architect-designed plans are perfectly suited to your specifications - Think of architect-designed home plans as tailored clothes that are made from scratch to match your height, shoulder, arm, and hem length using the materials of your choice. Then think of the online home plans as a ready-made, pre-sized jacket you can buy at a huge retailer. Obviously, the price difference would be significant, with one product (the architect’s plans) fitting perfectly.
The benefits of architect-designed home plans
Typically, you’ll find that the plans that are developed by an architect can cost 20 times or more than the ones you can buy online. Again, using the jacket example, the reason costs are higher is that even though the client brings a picture of the jacket they like, the tailor must start determining (measuring) the client’s needs. Likewise, the architect-designed plans are designed by starting from scratch to create a pattern based on very specific requirements.
Attention to detail – The old saying, “you get what you pay for” is true in this case as well. The difference in quality and satisfaction is much greater when you work with an architect. A great architect pays particular attention to details to ensure that all of your needs are met. The end result is a well-designed set of plans that match your lifestyle.
Designed plans are not just drawings - Clients often assume that since they have taken screenshots of the online home plans, that an architect can then simply draw them for you. And although that might seem like a reasonable request, that’s not how it works. In fact, it’s a draft person who would perform that kind of service but falls short of what you will need to build your home. An architect ensures your designed plans will fulfill all of your concepts and conditions.
Designed from the ground up - Unlike online home plans or the rendering of an online set of plans, an architect will start your unique design from scratch, using your ideas. Your individual needs and wants are what make up your ideal home. From the very beginning, these will be addressed and incorporated into the design itself, along with foundation and site requirements.
Designed to reflect who you are (and not everyone else!) - All of the special touches and your personality will shine through when using well-designed home plans. Your architect takes great care to bring your dream to life designing a home you’ll love to live in!
At Lindsey Architects, we provide concierge architectural service to find your true needs and style, develop an actionable design, and turn your vision into a reality.
Let’s get started on designing your new home. Contact us today.