INTRODUCTION
As custom home designers, drafters, and home plan consultants, Before The Architect has been asked its opinion of stock home plans –
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You know, already-done home design plans, home building plans of a few to several sheets
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Usually artistically presented in home floor plans and artful home elevations
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online or in a
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brochure or
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pamphlet
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Wherefrom you order plans sets to give to a builder, building permittors, etc.
The answer, “Who cares what we think of stock home plans? Of central importance is what buyers of stock home plans think."
“What do you mean by that?" he asked.
WHASSUP WITH HOME STOCK PLANS
“If stock home plan buyers think that their work with home plans is over and done with once those stock home plans are bought and handed off to a builder, then they can be wrong, in our opinion.
"Stock home plans can be regarded as a good starting place, and not necessarily the ending place on the home plans road of life, in our opinion."
“Why?" the questioner persisted.
“Why what?" we asked back. “Why can stock home plans be a good starting place for designing home plans? Or, why stock home plans may not be regarded as the end of the home plans road?"
“Both."
“In our opinion, you may think of stock home plans the way you should be thinking of building codes: minimums – codes offer minimums for safety alone, home stock plans can offer minimums for design and construction."
“Oh."
“Biggest
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Weakness – owners think they’ve completed their home plans with a stock plan purchase.
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Strength – owners can become aware of house design options and complexities. This is an overwhelming strength of home stock plans that cannot be overstated.
"Home design and home construction are complex subjects requiring all the exposure buyers can possibly experience, in order to gain understanding and appreciation of opportunities and limits," we said.
THE GOOD AND THE BAD
"This is about the eye of the beholder," we went on. "Stock home plans can be regarded as a good starting place for designing home plans, because stock home plans can offer basic presentations of and resolutions to basic design matters of at least exterior style and interior room size and space relationships - all of which can save house design time and money. Stock home plans offer buyers myriad market choices in house design, the opportunity to learn about what’s important and appealing to those buyers in outside appearances and inside functionality."
“And?"
"Stock home plans can be regarded as bad in that they’re not necessarily the end of the home plans road, to the ignorance of the buyer, because there are no universal home plans that works for everyone, everywhere, and every time – our bet is just about never, never, and never, respectively.
One plan does not fit all – clients have different interests and intentions in regard to house needs and wants. A 'universal' home plan might not work well in upstate New York or Southcentral Texas without significant alterations. Stock plan publishers write as much, seems to us, on every stock plan we've seen at least about matters involving local building authorities having jurisdiction. No one can account for lifestyle, except the future residents.
"Specificity can be largely absent.
"Home plan details can range from vague to absent, so the other guys can build you a house whether you like it or not, unless buyers insert themselves in the home design and home construction process. Additionally, mistakes of design and construction can be in parts of the plan and those mistakes get built into your house.
"All this bad is basically about buyers' perception. It's not the buyers' day job going-in and, for a time, given the commitments of money and residence, it should become, near as can be done, a day job. If not, then the drive for hands-off instant gratification can turn into long-term dissatisfaction. Sellers sell what buyers buy."
SUMMING SO FAR
“So, home plans are good in offering choices for buyers personally to consider? Right?"
“Right."
“And home plans are bad when folks reckon them to be all they need to get quality residential design and construction to their own needs and interests? Right?"
“Right."
THE UGLY
“So, what about the ugly in home plans?"
Answer:
"There are three levels of ugly in our opinion. Ugly is about buyers' ignorance and some plans mostly."
The First Level of Ugly
"The first level of stock plan ugly involves the little things that could have meant a lot in the opinion of Before The Architect, for example
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Details that never made it to the plan set or are unreferenced on the drawings –
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Framing for a future passage
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Exhaust ventilation preference
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Trim preferences of material and method
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Wall and ceiling finish
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Cheap or ignorant or inconvenient or unsafe approaches to wiring
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Inattention to common errors of founding, framing, plumbing, etc.
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No identification of need or requirements for engineering latitude
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Conflicting details and drawings in dimensions and layouts, such as
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Mislabeled sheet
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Windows and window schedules can be troublesome:
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Scheduled window not in an elevation
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Window not scheduled and in an elevation
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Window in an elevation and not a floor plan and vice versa
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Scheduled window out-sized in an elevation
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Scheduled window identified as to type – say, double-hung – and identified as casement in an elevation or floor plan
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Hopper window confused with an awning window
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Casement travel reversed
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Mislabeled cross-reference
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No cross-reference
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Text and symbolic indicia without key and legend, respectively
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Sheets that never made it to the plan set, including by our experience
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Site plan
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Whole-house section(s)
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Electrical plan
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Roof Plan
"All true stories."
The Second Level of Ugly
"The second level of home stock plan ugly is upon us, and includes, among others, in our opinion –
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"Inconsistent design to an architectural style, particularly on the exterior
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Tortuous traffic pattern
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Unavailed line of sight
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Pervasively undersized dining space
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Mismatched scales
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No scale
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Overridden dimensions to cover-up drawing inaccuracies
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Unlabeled spaces
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Dimension statements ending in wall lines too darkened to determine edge or on-center
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Poorly laid out baths –
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Toilets as focal points to casual observation in passing by
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Too little space given to a toilet
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A lavatory too close to a side wall
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Poor door choice, especially in regard to door conflicts and intrusions"
The third level of stock plan ugly cometh –
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"Windows scheduled that were never made by the stated manufacturer
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A window specified that would never fit in designated wall spaces, misdrawn in elevations and floor plans to appear to fit
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Not enough space behind seated diners
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Utterly botched architectural style either as to attempted Period to be represented or as to Traditional disciplines of form or both
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Kitchen design of miserable inconvenience
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Kitchen design of unsafe traffic patterns
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Paucity of closets and other storage, especially by exterior doors and thereat especially at the main entry, or formal entry, or, simply, front door
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Obscured or unwelcoming front door
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Pinched deck depth
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Inadequate dimension statements
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All plan views written atop each other in a heap w/out a sheet-layer key to separate them.
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Details scattered all over the place
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Objects manually converted to light yellow
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Major design issues left to builders and tradesmen, such as
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Countertop height
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Lighting sites
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Illuminance levels
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Interior floor levels
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Pitch of recessed ceiling
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Stair riser and tread metrics
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Attic ventilation
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Crawlspace ventilation
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Gutter and downspout sizing
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Exterior slab-on-grade pitches
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Driveway metrics
FINAL SUM-UP
"Now, no home plan's perfect. It's just that some can come across as more imperfect than others, based on where we've been and what we've seen, heard, and worked with. Same goes for stock plan buyers and more's the pity. It's on the buyers. Our opinions. Think about it." |
