Choosing the Right Plan for You
Now that you are ready to build a house, how do
you go about finding the plan which best suits your needs? When
building a new home from scratch, your choice of a design is the single
most important decision you will make.
You have essentially three options:
- You can design it yourself, perhaps using
books, other plans, or the help of building professionals for guidance.
- You can select and order plans from one of the
many books or magazines available.
- You can hire a professional building designer
to prepare a design and drawings based on your site and your personal
specifications.
Each option has its own advantages and limitations, as well as cost
implications. Let's look at each in turn.
Doing it Yourself
For many people, designing their own home is the fulfillment of a
long-standing fantasy. It seems simple and natural, for who better
knows what you want than yourself. And when it all works out, it is
indeed deeply satisfying to look around and feel "we created this". A
part of you lives in the walls and spaces around you. If you then go on
to build the house yourself you will, hopefully, know how it all goes
together.
When choosing this route, be prepared to do lots
of homework. Your level of knowledge and experience in construction and
design—as well as your ability to translate your concepts into reality
using visualization and drawing skills—will have a great bearing on
your eventual "success". Since it's something you may do only once in
your life, you don't get a lot of chance to practice.
Where resale is a concern, remember that one
person's masterpiece is very often another's "handyman special." Try to
avoid those extravagantly personal and expensive flourishes that the
next owner may want to remove immediately.
Beware, too, the pitfalls that can await couples
who do it themselves; co-designing a home requires close cooperation
and partnership so that nobody feels left out of the decisions—or one
of you may wind up living in your dream house by yourself!
Finally, you should keep in mind that you get what
you pay for; while this is the least expensive way to get your plans,
they are only as good as you are. Results can range from the sublime to
the, well, ugly. If the latter happens, be ready to plant vines, lots
of vines!
Using a Stock Plan
If you find the do-it-yourself approach daunting, choosing a stock plan
may be more of a sure thing. With the large number of house plan books
and magazines available, there is a wide range of options to suit
nearly everyone's budget and taste, and because they are mass-produced,
stock plans can be inexpensive.
Looking at plans can help you define what you
want (and don't want) in a house. These designs, the simpler ones
anyway, often employ very basic construction techniques which are
familiar to builders (and building inspectors) and can be the most
inexpensive structures to put up.
The plan books present you in effect with an
"inventory" of what is currently fashionable and easily marketable,
should resale be a major concern.
Bear in mind though, the same qualities that make
a house marketable can also have a down side—these homes are frequently
geared for curb appeal, with more focus on flavour-of-the-moment
accessories than on good space planning or quality construction. Plans
ordered from out of your region often fail to meet local building code
requirements, and must be engineered or re-designed. Similarly, these
homes tend to be designed for a "generic" flat site, which is hard to
find in many areas and building them often requires extensive (and
expensive) site modification. The also usually lack references to local
historical building styles or personal features. In most cases you have
to fit into the house, the house doesn't fit you.
Of course, some plan companies, among them BC
Mountain Homes, try to address these shortcomings by offering homes
with a different design approach.(See our "Home Page" for a discussion about The
Well-Fitted Home.)
Hiring a Designer
When you hire a design professional, a different level of opportunity
and insight becomes available. The design process provides a venue for
you to express your ideas, problems, and desires to someone who has the
expertise and perception to translate them into an attractive,
practical, and well-built reality with an eye to your budget, site, and
personal style and taste. Designers have more immediate access to
building products and up-to-date technologies, and are familiar with
building permit and variance procedures and dealing with the
bureaucracy of obtaining approvals.
The potential of the designer-client relationship
allows for an open dialogue between all parties right through to the
construction phase. This can disarm volatile situations, as the
designer is your advocate. Working with a design professional lets you,
the client, participate in the development of concepts and the
resolution of problems, which can take your design further than what
was originally thought possible.
Of course, not all designers have the necessary
combination of skill, experience, taste, knowledge, and attitude that
fit compatibly with the requirements of the client. Also, since the
development of a custom design involves a lot of work, the process can
take more time and cost more money than the other options. As a client,
you will be required to commit to the project. This means participating
in decision-making and being willing to consider different and
potentially challenging alternatives. Hiring a design professional can
provide a dramatic new perspective, but it does not absolve you of some
responsibilitiesa—you will still be expected to communicate, make
decisions, and have fun in the unique experience of creating your home.
Click
here to return to the
Library
Click
here to return to our
Main Page
Copyright 2004
John Gower and BC Mountain Homes
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Toll-free:1-877-366-2502
|
