The many important differences between “stock” plans and architects’ plans for one-of-a-kind homes
There really is no fair comparison, as it is apples to oranges
I used to work in my Dad’s stock room when I was a kid. That was where the inventory was kept. The best way to look at stock plans is to imagine them as “inventory”.
The idea of purchasing already drawn plans for homes dates back to the Sears catalogues in the middle of the 20th century. Over time, they were featured in magazines, often with the banner headline “See Our 150 Best-Selling Plans!” This is still the case, but in the early 90’s websites were launched by the publishers of the magazines, and these sites became the focus of their plan businesses.
Like every retail business, these sites needed inventory to sell. Home designers – those who had their work in the magazines already and others who saw an opportunity – began cranking out plans. In the vast majority of cases, these designers were working in their offices, creating designs without clients or property to inspire them. And after finishing a design, they would then make small changes in different parts of the house, and with each change they produced more inventory, giving each version a different “name”.
I have a personal story to tell that highlights this description. I was long ago called by a home designer whose plans were offered on every major stock plan site. I explained that I did not offer “stock” plans, as he could see by looking at my site, but eventually I agreed to look at his work because I really enjoyed talking to him. So he sent over marketing materials for his top 10 best-sellers over the years.
I’m a very through person, so I looked carefully at each one. And then it dawned on me – 9 of the 10 homes were the same house! Four had the master on the main level, and five had it upstairs; and there were tiny changes to the floor plan layout; but they were just variations on a single house.
When I called him to explain this, he didn’t believe it at first. He had just gone through his records and sorted to find the ones that he had sold most often. But when he looked at the homes he’d selected he immediately saw the same thing I had.
If creating house plans was as simple as drawing out a floor plan, folks would just sketch something out on graph paper, or buy an inexpensive software program to create their dream home. But of course, it is not so simple. However, if you’re trained to draw plans, and you can do so without having to deal with the specific needs of a client or their property, it is not that difficult. And when one design can become 30 or 40 with slight changes…
Designers have been churning out plans for decades now, which is how some sites can offer tens of thousands of “different” plan sets. Out of necessity and circumstances, the designs tended to be rather generic inside and out. And to increase sales, they often designed to the “sweet spot” of home sales – two story homes with 3 or 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.
These plans are often quite inexpensive, and they should be!
But for a set of plans to be offered on our site, the following must be true – a client (whether it be an individual, a family, or a builder) hired a licensed architect or designer to draw up plans for a one-of-a-kind custom home; together they went through a design process that lasted anywhere from six months to a year; the finished drawings then went through the permitting process and were approved; and the house was then built on their property. This helps explain why we can show you photographs of more than 80 percent of our homes, while stock plans sites are closer to 2 or 3 percent.
Architectural plans are the product of countless hours of conversation, interpretation, drawing and design. A family with specific real-life needs works with the architect, who then translates those needs into a beautiful and functional home design. A design is created from scratch to fulfill that family’s requirements as well as their dreams. However, people’s dreams are often larger than their bank accounts, so an important part of the architectural design process involves highly efficient use of space and resources, to help clients stay within their budgets. The FAQ question titled Why are space, energy and material efficiencies so important? on our website provides a more detailed explanation of how this works.
Our plans are not only better in terms of the time, thought, and professional training brought to the process – they also contain much more information! Architects typically charge around 10 percent of the total cost to build for their services, and sometimes more, so when homeowners spend that kind of money they expect to have a very detailed and complete set of plans to hand to their builder. For a complete explanation of what’s included in our plans, please click on the What’s Included link located at the top of every page of our website.
Most importantly, there’s a huge difference in the way a well-designed house looks, feels, and functions. Architects often refer to their drawings as the “artwork”, and the homes created from them are often as much sculptural as structural. Architects go through extensive training to be able to think and design in three dimensions, creating spaces that are balanced in scale and proportion, “feel” right when you enter them, suited to the way we actually live, and provide great views and lots of natural light. There is nothing generic about architect-designed homes. Each is unique, and each has character.
And finally, there’s a huge difference in value should you decide to sell the house in the future.