new construction Archives - Page 4 of 13

Top 5 Online Home Plan Problems and Solutions – Problem #2: Will I be able to build a home from the plans I receive?

by Paul Foresman | May 10, 2021 | HER Home

Building Codes. Designed to comply with local codes at the time they were designed, the home plans you see online usually are not warranted to comply with your specific code requirements. Residential building codes vary by jurisdiction and have evolved over time. Though efforts have been made to establish more uniform codes, you need to know what portion(s) of which specific codes have been adopted for where you will be building.

It’s a good idea to check with your local building department to determine what is required of your home plans. Then talk with the company you would be ordering the plans from to find out if the plans include what your jurisdiction requires. Most, but not all, residential design companies will allow you to have modifications made locally, for compliance with local building codes. You may need to have home plans ordered from Design Basics modified locally to comply with your local codes and conditions. This is allowed under the license you receive, but not a service offered by Design Basics.

Design Basics offers lower-cost “Dimensional Plan” versions of our plans for customers who must have the home plans redrawn locally to meet the specific building code requirements of their jurisdiction. The Dimensional Plan is a fully dimensioned CAD-file for your architect or drafting staff/service, saving considerable time over starting from scratch to re-draw the plan. Includes:

Design Basics’ federal Copyright and Construction License
Scale front, side, and rear elevations
Fully dimensioned ¼” scale floor plans
Fully dimensioned ¼” scale foundation plan
Roof plan (aerial pitches of the roof)
NO structural information is included.

Some jurisdictions require an engineer’s stamp on home plans. Again, find out from your building department whether an engineer’s stamp is required on the plans for your home. Online home plans do not carry an engineer’s stamp, as that would likely have to be for a specific home site. As with building codes, most residential design companies will allow you to have any additional required engineering done locally and any corresponding modifications made to their plans. Sometimes this depends on the size of the home (e.g., an engineer’s stamp might be required on homes 4,000 sq. ft. and above.) While Design Basics home plans are engineered, they are not stamped. If you will be working with a local engineer, you may want to order a Dimensional plan (see above). If you need engineer-stamped plans and do not have a local engineer to work with, Design Basics can refer you to a 3^rd party engineering firm to get this done.

Some jurisdictions require an architect’s seal on home plans. Though rarer (except in Nevada) your building department may require an architect’s seal on the home plans. Online home plans do not carry an architect’s seal, as that would likely have to be for a specific home site. Again, most residential design companies will allow you to have the plans re-drawn by your architect and remain in compliance with copyright law. Having your architect re-draw a home plan based on a Design Basics plan is allowed under Design Basics Construction License. You may want to order a Dimensional plan (see box above).

The bottom line: Check with your local building department as to what’s required to be shown on home plans. Then you may want to contact the plan designer to discuss, in order to identify and arrange for any additional work that may be needed to build a home from the plans you order.

In our next post, we examine problem #3 – What about making changes to the plans?

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Top 5 Online Home Plan Problems and Solutions – Problem #1: The Quality of Home Plans Varies

Maximizing Space In Your Home – Additional Opportunities

by Paul Foresman | Apr 26, 2021 | HER Home

Maximizing space in your home might mean moving a few things out. The McNabb plan’s garage has a 10’-8’ by 6’-8” storage area at the back, perfect for long term storage, freeing up space inside your home. Furthermore, that space can corral mowers, bicycles, camping gear and trash cans, eliminating cluttered parking and pathways in your garage.

Another way of looking at garage storage space, the Cherry Gables plan showcases a full-depth, tandem 3-car garage which could be for a third vehicle or small boat. Or, as with the unfinished second floor or basement areas addressed in our last blog post, finishing that tandem garage area off as living space – in this instance a main floor bedroom with full bathroom, or Sunroom – can maximize the space and livability of this home.

Coming in from the garage, benches topped with coat hooks/cubbies/lockers and a Drop Zone can maximize storage and organization in your home.

Covered decks and patios expand living space outdoors without the fear of plans being cancelled due to a rain shower.

Rear foyer (entry from garage) concept shows area beneath the bench left open for shoes to be slid under.

For some plans, there may be opportunities to extend space beneath sloping rooflines.

For example, in the Gainsville plan, the wall which is the right edge of Bedroom 4 and the unfinished storage area was is pushed as far to the right as possible, while still allowing for an 8-foot high ceiling in those spaces under the garage’s sloping rooflines. Rotating the closet for Bedroom 4, and adding a closet for the unfinished storage under that sloping garage roof, maximized usable space and storage in those rooms. Ceiling height for those closets sloped downward from the standard 8-feet.

Suggesting a study loft opposite the second floor staircase in the Hepburn Terrace makes good use of that space, as does placing a linen closet atop one side of the U-shaped staircase.

In dens, formal Dining rooms, Flex rooms and bedrooms, double door swings take up less space than equivalent-size single doors. For the Norcross plan shown, a pair of 18-inch wide double doors lead into the bedroom where a single 36-inch wide door’s swing would have felt like it was “limiting.”

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Maximizing Space In Your Home – Flexibility Rules!

by Cheri Duryea | Apr 18, 2021 | HER Home

Maximizing space in your home naturally depends on how you want your home to “live” – what’s important to you. For some, that means storage for money-saving bulk item purchases or inventory for their home-based business. Other households thrive on space for activities, from creating art and crafts to play areas. Maybe it is a room that serves multiple purposes or perhaps there is unfinished space in your home which can be finished as you need. Bottom line – flexibility rules, allowing you to tailor your space for maximum enjoyment and utilization.

Flex Areas. The new realities of remote learning and working from home, ushered in by COVID-19, further heightened appreciation for flex areas in the home. In Design Basics’ Honey Springs home design, the 6-foot by 8-foot pocket office behind the garage provides workspace and privacy without taking up all the space of, say, Bedroom 3 at the front (48 square feet vs. 163 square feet). Additionally, surging interest in maximizing possible space under roof prompted designing a flexible second floor for this original one-story home, adding a relatively inexpensive 772 square feet. The uses for that space are endless!

The Honey Springs - #42380

Maximizing space on a second floor has also led to replacing two-story-high areas with finished space. Additional closets, study nooks, and sometimes laundry rooms, have taken the place of soaring entry foyers. And in lieu of 18-foot-high Great Rooms, today’s buyers prefer added bedrooms, family lounges, studios, and other flex spaces, as with the bedroom 4 suite shown here in the Mackenzie plan.

The Mackenzie, as originally designed with tall ceiling in the great room (left); and with added BR.4 suite (right).

Slightly less than one-half of all new homes in America are built on basement foundations. If your new home will have a basement, can you finish a portion of that lower level area as living space? Regardless of a home plan’s original foundation, nearly every home plan Design Basics offers can be ordered with a basement. And unlike homes built 20+ years ago, most of today’s basements are designed so that ceilings in finished portions of the basement would be 8-feet high. Design Basics currently offers 99 home plans with finished basement layouts, and through our Customized Home Plan services, we can design a finished basement for any of the other plans we offer.

Designed for sloping lots so that it can have it’s own garage, the lower level of the Strasser Point plan was created for multi-generational households. Finished space was maximized in this lower level, with this generation having its own exterior entry, kitchenette, entertaining area, flex space and bedrooms.

When you think about the features which make a great laundry room – folding counter, storage, natural light, and sink – those same amenities would be ideal for other pursuits. In the Aden plan, the washer and dryer are behind doors, presenting this flex space as a wonderful activity center, complete with work island on casters for easy re-positioning. Would that be your scrapbooking center? All of that storage would be ideal! Kids’ art projects? Hard-surface flooring and a sink in that space makes for quick and easy clean up!

As their name implies, Flex spaces, as well as unfinished areas in a home, present some of the most obvious opportunities for tailoring your home for your specific needs and wants, including maximizing your space. And, there are still more areas that can be maximized, which we’ll look at next time!

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Maximizing Space In Your Home – Kitchens, Dining and Entertaining Areas

by Paul Foresman | Apr 12, 2021 | HER Home

Maximizing space in your home. Though sometimes unspoken, it’s a goal most of us share and pursue. How can thoughtful design provide more space? Last time we looked at private spaces – bedrooms, bathrooms and closets. Here we turn our attention to public areas.

Kitchens. Function and form – kitchens are asked to maximize space beautifully. Serious cooks look for abundant countertop prep space, and specifically, space on both sides of the cooktop and sink. Yet with the Sunflower Creek’s kitchen shown, it’s likely that the 12-foot deep by 6-foot wide pantry impresses the most. It would require 21 lineal feet of expensive cabinetry to match the storage efficiency of this pantry. And within the pantry, an Appliance Center conveniently keeps your most frequently used small appliances ready to use without cluttering your kitchen counters.

Appliance Center Concept: Conveniently located within a pantry or just outside the kitchen.

Kitchen island eating bars at the same height as the countertops maximize space for food preparation, buffet-style serving, or even finishing schoolwork. When space allows, extending the eating area to wrap around two sides of the island, as seen in the Olsen Place plan, provides more room for quick meals. And these 5-foot deep islands, which utilize back-to-back 24-inch deep base cabinets, provide lots of additional prep space AND storage.

Dining. Formal dining rooms plus casual breakfast areas aren’t often desired among today’s home buyers, who instead show preference for single eating areas that will be used regularly, plus island snack bars. However, many families still enjoy the practical storage and beauty of dining room hutches. Hutch spaces/recesses, like the Welker’s, offer the perfect location for your hutch so that it doesn’t protrude into the eating area, nor will your hutch dictate furniture placement and traffic patterns around it.

Depending on the size of home and other layout considerations, built-in banquette seating such as the Hutton’s layout, may maximize this space, as no room need be provided for sliding chairs back where the bench seating is provided.

Increasingly popular are dining areas that flow uninterrupted into an adjoining entertaining space. Having 10 people for Thanksgiving dinner? As illustrated here with the Shelton plan, simply add the leaves to your dining table. So what if it extends into the Family Room for a couple hours? You’re maximizing the eating space and bringing everyone together.

Also, sliding patio doors onto the rear deck/patio in this design maximizes space. A hinged door would typically swing into that area (locks and hinges on the inside provides enhanced security), potentially conflicting with your table and chairs.

Fireplaces are still a popular amenity but can crimp your entertaining area. While saving money on exterior trim, locating the fireplace on the inside of the family room takes up more space than having a fireplace on the outside. Choosing a traditional raised hearth in front of the fireplace also takes up space in that room. Many of today’s contemporary linear fireplaces are considerably thinner, taking up less space.

Where the big screen TV and associated electronics go is another issue. Wall mounting the TV eliminates the need for a stand or entertainment center, freeing up space, but may still pose the question of where the DVD player, game system(s) and accompanying electronics go. At least many of today’s electronics use RF remote controls meaning you no longer need a “line of sight” between the remote and what it is controlling, making audio-visual/tech closets a space-efficient solution.

So far we’ve covered private spaces such as bedrooms and baths, and entertaining-oriented public spaces. Next we turn our attention to flex areas, garages, basements and attics.

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