Yes, I know: you have been looking online for your perfect floor plans and can’t seem to find them. Gee. Do you wonder why? The American Institute of Architect has said that the design of a house is one of the most complex design activities in which an architect can engage.
Why? There is a lot going on between the walls. More, than in an office building, grocery store, restaurant and even a hospital. Rand Soellner should know, he has designed ICUs (Intensive Care Units), and ICNs (Intensive Care Nurseries), optical laboratories for NASA, Air Force projects, and a host of other extremely technical projects, and hundreds of housing units. And yet he has chosen the design of houses as his main interest.
Let’s get back to the main premise of this post: that you are Not likely to find your perfect set of existing floor plans (especially for free!) just posted out there on some design website catalog that you spend dozens of hours pouring over. Why? Because no 2 houses are exactly alike. The land is different; the people’s needs are different; the colors are different, the materials are different, the kitchens are different, the bathrooms are different, the outdoor living spaces are different, the garages are different, the exterior and interior materials and styles are different! And that’s not all!
So much goes into a house. Thousands of things can vary from one to another. Yes, we know. You really want to save, so you are determined to find your plans online for free, print them out on an 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper, give them to a builder and tell him to build from that. When your contractor finishes laughing, he will explain that he can’t build from that. He needs detailed dimensions, R-values, a host of selections of insulation values and types, cabinetry, building sections, wall sections, roof plans, door schedules, finish schedules, specifications for hundreds of things, a Site Plan, structural layouts for foundations, framing for floors and roofs and much more to just obtain a Building Permit and actually construct your house.
So, your time spent trying to find “free plans” is really pretty much a waste of your time. Especially since you aren’t going to find exactly what you want that way anyway. For gosh sakes, break down and talk with and visit and hire an architect to design your house! They won’t bite! They are pretty nice guys (and gals). They can actually help you save money, from all those really expensive scraps of articles you have torn out of expensive residential magazines (houses in most of those magazines can be very expensive to build, so do yourself a favor and talk to your architect before you fall in love with features of a house that are way over your price point).
For instance, give Rand Soellner Architect a call: 1 . 269 . 9046. Let a professional help you get the house you want. That’s why they are there. www.HomeArchitects.com
Look at the websites of architects whose design imagery you admire. Stop worrying about the floor plans. The architect you hire will create that for you. Stop thinking you are going to save anything by trying to second guess the architect and try to do his job. You will probably take up more time having your architect explain simpler, better, more attractive and more cost effective ways to do things that what you come up with, anyway. Why? Because architects do it for a living! Do you? What do you do for a living?
Are you an Accountant? Doctor? Lawyer? How would you like it if your clients came in the door with operating tools and their surgery all mapped out? Or had researched some legal online source and “figured out” how you need to try their case? You’d have to explain to them that they really need to let you do your job…
Same thing with architects. Relax! Explain to your architect what you are after and what things that architect has done that attracted you to his work in the first place. Talk about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want, number of cars in the garage, the orientation of your main views looking over your wonderful view property, that wonderful kitchen you have in mind: things that really mean something. Let your architect work out the details and the floor plans!
Try it! You are bound to enjoy the process much more than wasting your time studying “free plans” in the Internet. Instead focus on the Style and Qualities of architect’s houses that “speak” to you. That will be much more fruitful than bargain shopping for “plans.”