# Cheapest Way to Get House Plans



## westend (Jul 11, 2012)

Hi all!

I live in a county with inspectors and building codes. As such, I need me some house plans for the radical remodel that will be tackling on the new property (assuming the seller agrees to the price). Both the bank and the county require them. Buying stock plans isn't an option because we are adapting the old house.

I know I will need house plans but what is the cheapest way to have these drawn up? People who want to spend a lot of money engage the architect. Other than paying an architect for a consult, I'd rather not pay an architect for drafting work.

Anyone go through this and have suggestions?


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

There are some good computer programs to do it yourself. Ask if the county will accept them--they will here and they are real picky.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Call some contractors/builders, they will know someone. We found a local guy that way who still draws "old school" on paper and he took my chicken scratchings of a sketch done on graph paper and turned it into 10 sets of house plans that the county would accept and builders could use. He charged $800 but he is in demand, came highly recommended from two different builders, and has done the plans for some very high end homes. You might well find somebody cheaper, especially if they do it on the computer instead of the drafting board.


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## westend (Jul 11, 2012)

That's certainly within reasonable budget range. As for doing it myself, this is just one of those things I know I need help with. I can roll in the insulation, install deck boards, haul lumber, even serve as the general... but making sure everything comes out to scale and works in 3D is just not my strength. I've got the sketch...that's about as far as I go.


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## bignugly (Jul 13, 2011)

You might want to check with local colleges or vocational schools that offer drafting or architectural classes.


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## westend (Jul 11, 2012)

I'll check out all these options. The seller just accepted my offer last night. Moving forward with the bank and the builder search!

AMAZED this is starting to come together!!


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

We just went through the same process, and it depends on how youâre approaching your âprojectâ. In our case, we picked the builder, and then asked him who he prefers to work through for the design. He uses a designer linked to one of our local lumber yards, so that incurs a discount on materials, and the designer was very reasonable.

Since weâre doing ICF (Insulating Concrete Form) construction, the list of available builders in our area is relatively short, so this was a viable option. 
Luckily, weâre retired military building near a post; itâs a âtightâ community so we spoke with several new home owners in our area and took some new home tours from folks that used the same builder. 

Chuck


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## acde (Jul 25, 2011)

I heard one time all plans are a matter of public record for a short length of time.
I vaguely remember a boss going to court house and getting plans for the price of copying.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Well, I had a great answer, (buy a $2 graph paper book) till you mentioned codes, inspectors, and banks. Never found any kind of plan that filled my exotic needs.... and thus the 'plans' are in graph paper notebooks, and it's being built as I get extra cash (by myself). 

Good luck!


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## westend (Jul 11, 2012)

Did the initial inspection yesterday and hae been doing my building cost research...have reached out to several local builders and have sketched out (yes, on graph paper!) the layout to spend up the design/plan process. Have to have plans in hand and a contractor bid before the bank will give the final yes.


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

westend said:


> Did the initial inspection yesterday and hae been doing my building cost research...have reached out to several local builders and have sketched out (yes, on graph paper!) the layout to spend up the design/plan process. Have to have plans in hand and a contractor bid before the bank will give the final yes.


Yup, the bank wants detailed plans and the final bid from the builder before they'll discuss the construction loan. It's a process!

I used a combination of MS PowerPoint, pre-done plans, and sketches just to give the designer an idea of what we wanted. The "final" plans were finished on Monday, now the builder has 2 weeks to come back with the bid. Then itâs back to the bank for the construction loan, after the appraisal weâll get to figure out how much beyond the 20% down we have to have due to the difference in bid vs. âappraisedâ value.

In the meantime I wrote a $13K check to the rural water district to run the water line .5 miles to the home site and Monday Iâm coordinating for the Perc test. 

I seriously donât know why people think this is an enjoyable/exciting endeavor.

Chuck


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## westend (Jul 11, 2012)

With you Chuck.

Its a real tangle.

I've got 14 acres on the hook, $5k in earnest money in escrow, finished the initial inspection on Friday. The house, including the foundation is complete ly unsalvageable.

My hang up right now, is my realator is trying to do a swag market comps to see if the house I want to build (and can cover with the construction loan) will appraise out at the $$$$ I need to hit the 80% loan to value ratio.

Right now I don't know. Anyone got tips on how to leverage to value ratios? So the deal without more cash in will still satisfy the appraisal levels?

I don't want to build a huge McMansion with shoddy construction... I'm building a smaller footprint, energy smart, mostly green 3/2 bath. Which I know people like me who are working day jobs want. But there'd are no market comparables for it.

Frustrating....

Anyone got any ideas? On how to hit a high appraisal value?


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## chefed (Jan 30, 2009)

Chuck R. said:


> We just went through the same process, and it depends on how youâre approaching your âprojectâ. In our case, we picked the builder, and then asked him who he prefers to work through for the design. He uses a designer linked to one of our local lumber yards, so that incurs a discount on materials, and the designer was very reasonable.
> 
> Since weâre doing ICF (Insulating Concrete Form) construction, the list of available builders in our area is relatively short, so this was a viable option.
> Luckily, weâre retired military building near a post; itâs a âtightâ community so we spoke with several new home owners in our area and took some new home tours from folks that used the same builder.
> ...


Chuck-We love our ICF,best money ever spent, struggled with the contractor though.


Westend- I too started with a paper drawing then did a computer drawing with a cheap program then took to drafter. The local guy did my plans for 400.00, he is not an Architect as many are not and has to have the Trusses certified by another, but was great to work with. For me it was important to actually measure out funiture and spaces and put things togather myself. I wanted plenty of space for beds, kitchen, storage, ect.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

FIRST thing you better check is if the code folks require a STAMP on the plans....either an engineer or architect. Lot of folks can draw up plans ( I do my own ), but if they require a STAMP on them, you'll have to deal with the "stamper".


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

Westend,

I donât know IF thereâs a trick to hitting appraised value or not. Iâll be honest, itâs a confusing concept when dealing with a new house. Seems to me theyâd take the builders estimate as the âcostâ (especially a fixed bid) and go from there.

Our builder told us that this could be a concern due to the nature of how the appraisals are completed vs the features weâre having put into the house. One of the factors they use is home sales in the surrounding area to gauge the local market. If the appraiser doesnât take into account the ICF and geo-thermal weâre having done, then heâll come in lower than the house actual cost and weâll have to make up the difference. Weâre not building a big house, but due to features; ICF, Geo-thermal, windows, decking, etc. the cost per square foot will be up there. 

Luckily, we bought our land (80 acres) in stages and have paid it off, so weâre sitting on the 20% (+) in cash, and the land value for the âwhat ifâ the appraisal is out of whack. Depending on what the contractor comes in at next week, weâre sitting on about 100% down if we put the land against it. 



chefed said:


> Chuck-We love our ICF,best money ever spent, struggled with the contractor though.


This is the primary reason we chose the contractor we did, heâs not the cheapest, but it looks like heâs the best for ICF in our area. Like I said earlier, itâs a military community so âword of mouthâ on recommendations is a big deal. Not only did we get glowing reviews from multiple sources, but we took tours of several houses that he built ranging from 4 years old to a couple of months. The contractor also has been taking us out to watch one of âhisâ houses go up. After a few meetings, weâve decided we like the guy, which to me is important. Heâs also received some great reviews on flexibility, and some great reviews from some of the wives who had to deal with him due to their husbands travelling. Since it looks like I might be spending a couple months this fall in Afghanistan, the positive wive's review is key. The only good news is Iâll get to skip a bunch of the âknitnoidâ decisions that I really donât care about, and my color coordination abilities are severely lacking anyway.

After 23 years in uniform Iâm still asking my wife âdo these go togetherâ when I get dressed for work in the morning even after being retired 7 years .

BTW, my wife didnât understand ICF until we took a tour of a house being built, then she said âthatâs the way we build houses in Europeâ (sheâs Austrian). Then I explained how the method was developed to repair bomb damage after WW2. 

Chuck


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## westend (Jul 11, 2012)

The trick out here is they are taking sales of similar properties the last year and there isn't a lot to compare to. Matter of fact there is no exact comparable ....green bult, highly energy efficient, and the rest. Similar to your situation, smaller house, higher quality systems and construction. There is no comparison between a 1970s ranch 3bed/2bath and the plan I'm looking at...so the conversation now is having them look at similar construction for much larger properties and value based on that instead.

The other x factor is if the bank feels it's still a declining vs stable market, the appraisal has to come out an additional 10% higher. Which although on one hand makes since, it's a catch22 because nothing would appraise higher in a declining market...

Can't help but wish we lived in a simpler time where a banker knew you, looked you in the eye, checked the balance sheet, and shook hands as a partner and made the loan.

Not sure if this will all come together even though the loan (purchase + construction) would still be $500 less than my current rent, and $800 less than my last mortgage. Perplexing to know I can more than pay the bill, even if the job went away, and this might not pencil...

Have a good stretch in Afghanistan --did a six month run a couple of years ago.


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

Westend,

We got the plans finalized 2 weeks ago, and just got the builders bid yesterday. After the initial âsticker shockâ we took an appetite suppressant, and lopped off close to 59K in âcoolâ features last night, and are now awaiting the next set of bids. Apparently $150-$200 per square foot for a custom built house is the norm around here. Plans came out to 1700â upper, 1200â lower. Maintained the ICF and Geo-thermal by sacrificing some cool hand made cabinetry in the laundry room, and other nice to have, but not needed âgood ideasâ. Looks like Iâm also going to have a âdo it yourselfâ lower level finishing gig this spring/summer. May have to extend in Afghanistan just to pay for the carpetingâ¦â¦

Weâre still hopeful to get at least some dirt moved by the end of SEP, but weâll see. Did get the perc test done (passed) this week also. 

How are you making out??

Chuck


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