Think of the adage, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ That is most of us when it comes to building houses. Unless you have done this everyday for years, there just isn’t any way to know what the pitfalls are. House plans are no different. Today let’s talk about some examples that can pose issues.
Recently, we have worked with some really wonderful people who received some big surprises when they asked to proceed with a set of plans they already had drawn, prompting us to make a podcast and a post about it to help you.
Sun Coast Homes and Development is a design/build firm. What does that mean? It means we (Eugene) draws the plans in-house. From that plan he can price your house, prepare your specifications or specs, and allowances tailoring those to your particular needs and wants. This plan will be used to take to your bank for your loan as well as obtain building permits after they have been approved by an engineer. Why is this advantageous to you?
First, to be clear, we love draftsmen and architects. They are amazingly talented! Regardless, here are some things to consider though.
The price of your home
Some figure the price of the homes they draw and some don’t. Some are paid a percentage of the house price and some just sell the plan. The takeaway is that if your draftsman or architect prices houses, make sure to ask if they have today’s material and labor prices. If they don’t then, of course, the price will not be accurate. If they don’t but work closely with the builder you’ve chosen, they most likely will be able to work out those details. The key is to ask.
A design/build firm prices your house after your house plan is completed. Eugene is able to get a count on lumber, drywall, concrete, roofing, plumbing, lighting, paint, tile showers, flooring, special details, etc. He has today’s pricing for materials and labor so when he gives you a contract price, it is what it is. He will visit your lot to tell you what land prep costs are as well. There is no wondering if it’s close.
We don’t like inefficiency nor unneeded costs and we know our clients don’t either. We want to see you get the very most out of your home so you don't have wasted space or expensive things that aren’t needed. The plans are very well thought out and come with 4 decades of experience. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect. It means Eugene tries to make them beautifully and efficiently designed based on what he’s learned from each and every house he has built. To date that number is over 1,000 homes.
Recently, we had some wonderful people come to us to build them their forever home. They brought us a set of gorgeous plans already professionally drawn. But, there was an expensive issue. Because the walls didn’t stack, steel beams were needed to carry the load. Then those steel beams had to land on, you guessed it, steel. That was a $20,000 surprise! With their permission, Eugene redrew their entire plan, moved the walls in question keeping the plan very close to what they previously had, and worked with the truss engineers to bring the cost down to give our clients a choice on the direction they wanted to go. The takeaway is it could have been avoided.
Another set of really great clients came to us with their house plan only to discover that plan was more than $100,000 OVER their budget! Yikes! They had no idea. The footprint of the plan was massive and that costs a lot of money. There was a significant amount of wasted space, rooms that were a lot bigger than what was necessary, and flow that didn’t really work. When the flow isn’t efficient you get wasted hallways, doors that aren’t necessary or open into other doorways, rooms that aren’t fully usable, nooks that serve no purpose, odd beams coming down in the middle of rooms, etc. (We once had a plan brought to us that had two toilets right next to each other! A wall in between of course, but really not a good idea.)
Efficiency and flow
Oftentimes, folks will send a plan to Eugene as a rough idea and he makes them better. He takes out areas that aren’t needed, he moves rooflines so you can maximize the use of a room and bring down cost, adds more storage, moves doors, changes window sizes or removes them to either save money, maximize the view, add more light, etc. An example of this is rather than having a big window in your master bathroom that you will have to pay to put a blind over anyway, he will often put a fixed long rectangular window way up so no one can see in but you can still have a lot of light. No unnecessary windows or blinds, and no window peekers! :)
He will move walls to avoid odd beams in the middle of the floor and make sure the trusses stack where they should be. He will adjust walls to avoid expensive exterior bump outs, unless that is the desired look. He will adjust the pitch of the roof if cost is a factor. He shifts kitchens to not only make them more efficient, but at times to preserve a view. Our beautiful coast sometimes affords breathtaking views in all areas so sometimes moving things around to make being inside more enjoyable by what you can see outside has its advantages.
Eugene also likes things to be symmetrical. He is careful where he puts windows, lights, dormers, the front door, etc. He considers what wall a bed would be most suited for and adjusts the windows. Windows and doors are expensive so those are carefully considered by choosing the actual doors needed (such as: full glass french doors, full wall collapsible, solid fiberglass). If you have full glass do you want interior blinds? Those also cost more. Do you want to add transoms and sidelights to the front door? Will the sidelights you want fit? What is the cost of those? You get the idea…He considers all of those things based on what you would like and your budget. If you are over budget, he will talk to you about what is driving up costs and offer alternatives.
Specifications
One thing we have learned over and over is one person’s idea of fancy is another person’s idea of average. There is no way to take a house plan to several builders for pricing without the same set of specifications. It doesn’t work so well when we aren’t comparing apples to apples. What is the material and quality of your siding and roofing material? What about the window and door manufacturer and level of quality? Do you have a $10,000 statement front door? The length and size of your driveway, landscaping, plumbing, electrical, finishes, flooring, tile showers, etc are also big factors.
Pro tip: What we see the vast majority of people get stuck on are the finishes such as lighting, flooring, plumbing, tile showers, cabinets, countertops, appliances, etc. If you do NOT want to come out of pocket for allowance items like these, it is a great idea to visit our vendors to get an idea of where your taste falls on your allowance before you sign a contract. If you can afford it, the contract price can be raised by raising your allowances rather than paying the overages out of your pocket. We’ve seen people pay close to $100,000 out of their pockets in overages. I don’t say that to scare you. I just want you to be aware and ask good questions because there is no way for your builder to know what level of finishes you prefer. We have people who are under budget on everything also while most come in very close.
HOA and zoning
Does your architect or draftsman know if your plan will be approved by the HOA or zoning? Remember our sweet clients with a house plan that was over $100,000 over budget? Well, to add insult to injury, their overall plan wouldn't work with the zoning of their lot. Did I mention that they already purchased it? Not good news.
We have some very strict HOA’s in our area. One in particular, is so difficult to get through ARC approval, even builders who build in there all of the time take 60 days+ due to random changes. If your architect or draftsman isn’t perfectly up to speed on the requirements there is no way your plan will be approved without potentially expensive adjustments.
Case in point: Imagine buying a lot in a neighborhood where you didn’t read the fine print. The HOA requires 3 story homes with a minimum of 3500 square feet in certain areas of the neighborhood. You happen to buy in that area but you can’t or don’t want to afford a house that size. You’ve gone through the expense of having a cute little coastal farmhouse plan drawn only to find out you can’t build it there and if you keep and build on that lot, your budget just went up by a minimum of a couple hundred thousand dollars! Yikes!
I’m sure you see the theme by now! There is a lot to know so finding an experienced builder will save you a ton of money, time, and stress. If you’d like to talk with Eugene, just give our office a call 252-764-0024 or email us through our website. We’d love to hear from you!