Choosing from a Home Plan Book

By Kristyne McDaniel

Some of the most beautiful home plans around can be found in home plan book that you can purchase at your local book store. If you haven't been to the book store and taken a look, you are in for a treat. You can buy plan books with just about every type of home imaginable in them, and they are focused on home types. Choose something that reflects a style you like and has homes in the size ranges you are interested in.

Once you have selected a candidate for a home plan, take that to your general contractor to get a ballpark opinion on the cost of the finished home. There will be a great many variables involved; everything from the pitch of the roof to the number of windows and doors, and the number of corners and angles will factor in to the cost of the home when it is built.

If you like the ballpark answer, it might be time to go ahead and order a set of plans. They can be adjusted bya local architect or designer, and can be reengineered to local codes as needed. Expect to spend around $1000 for a set of plans and about $3000 for engineering, give or take as much as 100%. Changes will cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on how extensive they are.

No matter whether you order plans or not, you'll get loads of ideas from the plan books. You'll spend hours pouring over them and imagining yourself in one house or another. That's what they're best for. To get you to imagine what you will need in a house so you will know what to look for and ask for -- so you can concentrate on possibilities!