A common question we hear from clients building a new home - "We can go to our local book store or search online and find many plans that are ready to go and much cheaper than designing new". Our answer is simple, you need to evaluate what you are getting and what are the short term and long term costs. For some people, it makes sense and you can save a substantial amount of money - for this reason RKD has over 150 plans it sells as "stock" plans. However, for most people that live in an incorporated city or especially if they have a Home Owners Association (HOA), stock plans may not work. Plus you need to understand that changes to stock plans can be very expensive and unless the plans were designed in your area of the country, it probably doesn't meet your local codes or building techniques. One last thing is stock plans never include a plan that represents exactly how your home is positioned on your property. This is a required document by the International Residential Code (IRC).
If a plan is drawn or designed in Florida then the designs will have an emphasis on air conditioning, minimal insulation, shallow footing design and typically lots of windows and doors. Plus that home will have substantial design details for hurricane force wind. Now if someone from the midwest were to buy that plan it would have to be modified so its focus would be more on heating rather than cooling, more insulation, deeper footings (for frost) and probably fewer windows because of the loss of heat windows create. And the added hurricane design could add thousands of dollars to the overall construction cost for reinforcing that is likely not needed.
Aside from the changes you may want to the home - lets assume that you find exactly what you want in a plan catalog. Once you submit it to your local municipality for a building permit they typically return the plans for corrections or clarifications. You will have to find a service that does this work locally for you at an additional expense. Once the permit is granted, there may be other clarifications or additional information needed by the contractor or inspectors. Again, you will have to turn to a local service to provide this. The plan services and books rarely provide any of these types of services and when they do they are very expensive.
Robert Klob Designs, Inc. does it a little different with their stock plans. For the fee of our stock plans, we include a site plan for your lot. Plus we do a code review and incorporate the code data into any plan set that when your lot is in an IRC municipality (most are). We will also make clarifications and provide additional information to contractors and inspectors during construction. As an added bonus, RKD has negotiated discounts for materials and services that occur during construction that can save our clients many times what our fees are.
Below is a breakdown of a plan that a client of RKD purchased online and the costs that were incurred during a normal building permit process versus a plan another client hired RKD to provide a custom design. As you can see, the stock plan cost the client substantially more in the end.
Stock Home Plans
Pros:
Inexpensive upfront cost
Quick delivery
Many to choose from
Cons:
Construction details don't match local standards
Codes may not match local requirements
Lacks detail for materials
Engineering may be required
Changes can be expensive
Home not unique to you
Design is "1 size fits all" concept
No discounts or contacts for local materials
May not meet HOA requirements
Custom Home Design
Pros:
Exactly matches your needs
Meets your budget
Details & Codes match local requirements
Engineering available
Changes included
Unique to each client
Can combine multiple plan parts to make one
Discounts for materials
Changes per HOA Requirements
Cons:
Higher Upfront Cost
Longer time line
Sample cost for for Stock Plans
Sample plan cost info:
Plan 39949
2,212 livable square feet
3 bed/2 ba, 2 car garage, 2x6 stud exterior walls
Single story
Initial Cost of Plans (reproducible set)
$ 850.00
Shipping/handling of 1 set of plans
$ 50.00
Changes (hourly - 27 hrs x $65/hr)
$ 1,755.00
Site Plan or Plot Plan
$ 350.00
Structural Engineering (non cad, $1.25/s.f.)
$ 2,765.00
City & Code Review Changes (10 hrs x $65/hr)
$ 650.00
Misc. Printing/Plotting
$ 350.00
Field Questions & Clarifications
$ 400.00
Total Cost for Plans
$ 7,170.00
Sample cost for Custom Design
Sample plan cost info:
RKD Custom Design
2,235 livable square feet (2,200 s.f. as contracted)
3 bed/3 ba, 2 car garage, ICF exterior walls
Single story
Initial Cost of Plans
$ 4,400.00
Shipping/handling of 1 set of plans
$ 0.00
Changes (included)
$ 0.00
Site Plan or Plot Plan (Included)
$ 0.00
Structural Engineering (cad, $0.75/s.f.)
$ 1,650.00
City & Code Review Changes (Included)
$ 0.00
Misc. Printing/Plotting
$ 350.00
Field Questions & Clarifications (Included)
$ 0.00
Total Cost for Plans
$ 6,400.00
Structural Engineering was less expensive due to the fact
the plans were in CAD and the engineer was able to utilize
standard details, notes and information already in the system.
Stock vs Custom Plans
