The difference between stock and custom plans:

Stock Plans

    If you have ever built your own home or seriously considered it, you’ve probably looked through a stock plan catalog. People often start the quest to find their new home by looking through a magazine they buy at a local news stand, and many people meet their needs this way. Stock plans are designed to suit a large majority of standard lot configurations and design requirements because the publishers want the plans to appeal to the widest group of customers available. At most stock plan companies, in plan books or on web sites you can find a truly varied collection of plan styles and housing types, from ranches, capes, camps and split level designs. Computer Aided Design and Drafting allows the designers to produce drawings with greater accuracy and legibility than ever before (although hand drawings have always look more presentable, in our opinion). However, stock designs are built in multiple locations throughout the world and to the dismay of many a designer, placed upon sites completely wrong. To achieve the greatest sustainability and solar efficiency from your new home, it needs to be designed to fit your piece of the earth the right way.



Custom Designs

    The custom building design service is the best method of creating designs for a new home. Renovations and additions are the type of project that almost always require these services and in many cases custom designers will also provide designs for additions and renovations. The cost of having a custom designer provide you with plans can vary greatly from firm to firm so be careful to do some homework and realize that the cheapest is not always the best. The designs that are prepared for you are often a one- off design which means all the home's structural components will need to be sized and all building codes and local bylaws will need to be reviewed and conformed to. It is very important to contract a company who you are sure will be able to provide these services properly. Your best bet is to ask to see previous projects that the designer has completed. Experience, qualifications and references from past or present clients is also very helpful in making your decision. In the end, the product that comes out of the collaboration between you and the designer will depend upon the relationship you establish between yourselves, so don’t be scared to shop around.