Some more advantages of stock house desgins

In my previous post, we talked about stock plans. Here are some more information explaining how they make it easier for you build your dream house -

• Besides the huge financial saving, let’s not forget that time you save by purchasing small home plans – rather then hire a designer and wait for months until your plans are ready, you can instantly download them from the website.

• There are so many designers and so many small home plans in the websites that offering them that you can be sure you’ll find home plan that suits your needs and demands on the one hand, and unique on the other hand.

• You don’t have to spend time meeting witch designers. You do it in your free time, specify your requirements. Then you’re presented with several home plans, and you have all the time to think and ask your friends and family which plan is the best for you.

If you want to know about how you can get a true estimation of your house or the house you're interested in. read my post on the electronic appraiser.

Stock small home plans save you money and time

Probably you will build only one house in your life. I’m sure you’ll put most of your time, money and knowledge into it. Naturally, if you can reduce your costs you’ll be more than happy, and if you can do it without compromising your requirements and needs – you can really be satisfied. Buying stock home plans is a good example of it, and you’ll be quite surprise how popular it is. Many of the houses you enjoy looking at (and sometimes even jealous of their owners…) were designed using stock house plans. And you’re not the first one to wonder about that and to ask yourself why you should purchase them - That is exactly what I did a few years ago when one of my best friends suggested me buying house design. Each time I visited him (not quite often, I must say. 150 miles are separating us), I used to be amazed of his home. It looked so beautiful outside and so efficient in its space usage, I was sure he paid architect to design it (and he can sure afford it, trust me). One day, as I told him I wish I could build home like his own, he instantly replied “So go and choose one plan. There are thousands of them. Who do you think designed this house?” At first I couldn’t believe, but when he showed me the blueprints and a website with so many small house designs, I understood that you can use stock home plan to build your dream house, and it’s not just a phrase.The main advantage of getting stock home plans is that they are significantly less expensive than custom home plans. And when I say less expensive, I’m talking about thousands of dollars. Try and look for custom home plan – no architect will charge you less than 5 to 7 thousand dollars, whereas stock home plans would usually cost you no more than $700, and as I always say - small home plan means affordable home plan.Usually you’ll build one house in your life. You want to put all your knowledge, experience and much of your fortune into it. So why don’t you use the experience and knowledge of a professional home designers and architects, that have designed hundreds and thousands of houses, all in a very affordable cost? On my next post, I’ll show more advantages stock home plans have.

If you want to know how you can get a true estimation of your house or the house you're interested in, read my post about the Electronic Appraiser.

Small home plans

Before we start talking about designs, floor plans and bedrooms and other small home plans related terms that will be discussed in my blog, let’s make sure we all refer the same thing. As you all surely know, small house plans (or small home designs – it’s the same) are blueprint designs of small houses. Well, it’s quite obvious and no one can argue that.  Less clear are the following common questions:

•  How much is small?

There are several definitions to small. But most people in the construction industry would say that a house under 1600 square feet is considered small. And after looking into hundreds of plans, I can tell you that many of the small houses are even below 1000 square feet, and there even tiny house plans with square footage of less than 800.

• What kinds of small homes are there?

Today, due to their popularity, when one says small home, you’re no longer can be sure what kind of a house he means – cottage house or a log cabin? He’s into European style or maybe he prefers the traditional one? A bungalow with one story or perhaps townhouse with 2 or 3 stories? There are plenty of small houses that fall into these categories, and it’s important you’ll be familiar with them before examining small house plans and choosing one.

Can I find my dream house as one of the stock home plans?

Well, you’ll be surprised. Stock home plans were designed by gathering all the features requested by home builders and owners throughout many years. No matter how many bedrooms you like your home to have, how big your living room you want, and how many bath rooms you wish – there is a home plan that fits your needs. How can I be so sure? Well, first of all, because I looked into hundreds of them over the years, and believe me – there are much more I haven’t look. The companies selling them designed so many of them, so they could answer any potential customer. As I said earlier, they have years of experience of what people are looking for in small home plans. All you have to do is tell them all the relevant details and they’ll come up with several home plans for you to choose. And even if you’ll decide that some modification should be made to the home plan you’ve purchased, you can ask for it, and still it would cost you much less than hiring a designer and the result would be pretty much the same. 

Bungalow house plans

affordable bungalow house plans

When someone asks me to define bungalow, the first thing that comes to my mind is that a bungalow is a combination of art, simplicity and natural material, all in a very affordable cost.Usually we're talking about one and a half story house with low pitched roof and deep porches.It's quite common to find a bungalow with sun room with lots of windows, which makes you forget it's a small house. The floor plans are quite efficient, and it's considered as friendly to families, especially young families, because of its low cost and artistic characteristics.

Inspired by a strange combination of the English Arts and Crafts movement and Far Eastern wooden architecture, the Bungalow house plan quickly recognized as one of the most popular small house styles in nation wide. When I ask bungalows owners to define their home living style, they usually say it’s the American dream coming true in an affordable cost, and if you'll go visit a Bungalow home, you'll agree with it – on its on lot with his family car parked out front, the Bungalow house is all about independence and privacy. Originally just a shelter, the Bungalow house nowadays considered as the simple way to achieve what every one of us is looking for – a good life in a convenient and equipped house.

Cottage house plans

affordable cottage house plans

If you’re looking for a cozy house to be your dream house, cottage house plans an most likely fit. Your cottage house can be your gateway home.


When someone tells me he’s looking for a cottage home plan, my first question is “What kind of cottage home?”, since there isn’t one style for cottage houses. Although the English cottage house is the most popular among cottage houses, log cabins and bungalows are rather common as well.The architect and designers offices have years of experience in planning cottages homes, which results in some great home plans. The space is most efficiently used, and it gives you the feeling of a much bigger cozy house. Like most plans, you can customize cottage house plan according to your own taste – maybe adding a garage or a nice balcony.For many people, a cottage house is a storybook house with the enchanting English county style that includes romantic gardens and a fireplace. Many of them you can find as well.Although you can find many styles of cottage houses, they all steel have some characteristic in common:

• Steep pitch roof with gable and shingle, stone or stucco siding.
• One and a half stories with many interior design elements.
• The exterior is rather decorative.
• Cozy, cozy, cozy. Just another word for cottage home.
• The house design is influenced by the local landscape.

There are hundreds on cottage house plans available online – just pick the one that reflects best your dream home. There's is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on cottage house plans. After checking several sites offering these plans, including of course visiting houses built with the plans, I can confidently say that the Cottage House Plans Site gives you the best value for your money. Not only you pay less than $20 for your cottage plan, you get a great plans with a full material list and most important - a step by step instruction guide, that is most helpful for anyone without any building experience. Believe me, I just watch my friend Joe, who never hold a hummer in his life, building a storage shed from this site over the weekend. Yes, you can find there shed plans, cabin plans, deck plans, barn plans and much more - off all sizes, just get the one you need, and instantly download it. You have nothing to loose - they believe in their product so much, you can get refund in 60 days if you're not happy with it. I can't blame them - their plans are so easy to built and address a variety of needs, that there's no chance you'll ask your money back. Anyway, you can rest assured you'll get refund if you wish to.

If you want to know how you can get a true estimation of your house or the house you're interested in, read my post about the Electronic Appraiser.

Small home plans with great opportunities.

Many people prefer building small homes in order to save big money. And I’m not talking only about empty nesters. Since technology has advanced so much in the recent fifteen years, the space usage can be planned so efficiently that many families can really feel at home in their cottage or townhouse and thus save thousands of dollars. There are many types of small home designs, much of them I bet you’re familiar with. I summarized the different kinds and their characteristics so you can choose the right that matches your dream house the most: Beach house plans – it is the best place for you taking the weekend off and get some quality time alone or with your loved one, away from all the pressure and the stress of  city life. Many beach home owners consider it as a vacation gateway. Beach houses are usually one story homes although I’ve seen 3 stories beach houses as well. They are also referred as coastal houses, due to their location near the ocean or a lake. They usually raised above the sand, giving a breathtaking view of the beach or the lake nearby. Some design elements of beach house plans are borrowed from Mediterranean style home plans. Beach home plans usually offer features such as panoramic windows, balconies and plenty of outdoor living spaces to take advantage of the location by  the beach. The houses are built from materials that can withstand the salty air and the tides and winds. There are many kinds of beach house plans. I’m sure when you’ll look into them, you’ll finally find the one that will help you realize your dream beach house.

Small home plans with big size

When you ask someone what's the size of a home, the answer depends on the person you asked. You can hand out house floor plans to two different people, ask them to calculate the plans size, and get two different answers. And they’ll booth be true. Although you're sure the answer objective, it is rather subjective, since different people in the construction industry have different interests and ways to measure your house.  Builders naturally will tell you the house size is different from what county auditors would tell, both numbers are different from the net and the gross size of the home. As you've already guessed, there are several ways to measure the home size. This has a great importance, since the size of your home plan is a great factor of your suture constructing cost, and when comparing two home plans, it's important you'll compare sizes measured the same way. Some home designs calculate the square footage only according to the heated placed, and some include every area that is under roof. Some include the thickness of the walls in the area calculated (gross area), and some don’t, and gives you the net area. Most home designs state how the area was calculates. If this information is missing, you must contact the designer and get it – it has big influence on your building cost. When comparing two building designs, make sure their size was calculated the same way.

Some more things that will help you choose the best design from all small home plans

Hi there, all of you looking at all these home plans and can't really decide what suits them most: would it be cottage house plan or a log cabin house? Two stories or maybe one story with a porch? Well, as I started in my previous post, here are some more tips to help you choose the house design that would later on become your dream house.

 List your requirement, but remember: no one's is perfect

These advice my mom gave me many years ago, when I asked her how can I find my princess to spend my life with. As years went by, I understood I can use this advice for other decisions in life as well. Looking for home plan, for example.There are two kinds of people – the first kind is looking for the best, and never satisfies for anything if he think he can get better. When he looks for car, and finds one that fits all his requirements, at the last minute before buying it he'll give up the car, thinking: "mmm…I can get a car just like it in $50 less, or – in that price I can get a much better car..". Well, there's never an end to its quest. These kind of people never find rest (and never get married..they always think they can find a much better spouse..) But I'm not this kind of person (Just ask my wife…). I know I should first list down my requirements and demands, what's important for me and what is just nice to have. Than I look at all candidates, ignore the ones that doesn't match my mandatory requirements, and from all the rest – pick the one I like the most. If you think a little, you'll see this process of choosing isn't appropriate only when looking for home plan but for other situations as well – even when you go to the supermarket to get some serials, for example. You should distinguish between your dream house to a perfect home. Your dream house is exactly what you're dreaming when you think about your home – all its features and characteristics. It's the home you want to live in for the rest of your life with your loved ones, or to be your vacation home. A perfect house – I don't think there is such thing..you can always find better.  So first list all your requirement from your dream house, look at the hundreds (and more) small home plans that fit them, sort them out, and finally take the one you and your family like the most – but don't wait for months until you'll find a better one – it just will make you regret later on for missing some great home plan, for missing time and money. 

 I won't let the sun go down on me

We all want the sun to light the living room, as well as the kitchen and where we eat our breakfast.  But no one promises you that placing the home plan into your lot would result in the sun lighting your rooms, rather than heating the wrong side of the house. Since you can't really change the sun location (You may try, though…), the designers can change the home plan orientation easily for you – reverse or rotate it. But you have to verify this before buying the home plans.

What type of small home plan are you looking?

As I mentioned before, there are many styles of small floor plans : first you have the small cottage house and the small log house or the cabin house, then you have the small country house and the small vacation home. And we haven’t talked even about very small house plans (or tiny home plans, as my young ones call it). Of course you can find small luxury home plans, small modern home plans and small guest house plans. What I want to say, is that you have to be familiar with all of this types, before selecting your specific design. Each type has its own virtues. You should consult your family, friends and acquainting, even visit some houses and feel them inside. Think, in which type do you feel home? Which type makes you that warm feeling? Of course, your budget plays a key role in selecting the style of your new house, and your lot location as well.  So you must take all factors: your budget, location, and your preferences, and select the best home plan that will turn to be your dream house. 

No place like home…

…and no place to start building your home than purchasing the right small home design for you. But how can you be sure that the plan you’ve bought really fits your vision? Choosing the right home floor plan can seem as quite complicated – you want it to reflect your personality, consider your budget and including many features you have listed.

Well, there are some tips – following them will make it easier for you choosing the home plan that will later become your home sweet home. I'll startt with couple of tips today, and continue throught week. If you have some tips of your own - I'll be more than glad if you'll share them with me.

• Your house plan will be build on your land

Yes, I know it's obvious. But many people tend to forget it when they inspect the thousands of home plans in the various websites. Since you can't change your lot to fit your house, your home plan must fit your land in size and shape. Remember’ looking for small lot house plans is You won't build a beach house in the desert so make sure your house style is compatible with its area. Remember that many times, the home plans were designed for specific area and soil type, which doesn't always fit with your lot location. The home plan and the soil where your lot is located must match, especially where foundation plans are concerned. The local building department won't permit you to build your house otherwise. For example, some home plans include basement with no piers at all, assuming the soil can bear the house – this plan will not be approved in a sandy area soil.You should contact homeowners and homebuilders in the area, and consult them for the restrictions of the soil and learn from their experience and mistakes. Remember that any amount of time and money you’re investing in checking and researching before you start building, will save you much more time and money afterwards.

Stock home plan or unique home plan?

Yes, I also had this dilemma before building my home. On the one hand, I told my self, I can save so much money and time, and I sure needed it. Just a year before, my older brother, Jack, and his wife, Jane, started building their amazing cottage house, using designs made by the architect he hired. And as someone that was close enough and was familiar with all the difficulties, the endless meetings with several architects, explaining him all his needs, until finding the right plan. Paying so much money to them for the designs...I just couldn’t afford it. And on the other hand, I wanted my house to be unique. A small unique home – that what I was looking for. But how can you get unique home plan from companies selling stock home plans?Well, the answer is surprising and simple at the same time Since there are hundreds and thousands off home designs, targeting any feature and demand home builders can think of, there is a very small chance that what you think as the best small home plan will be considered unique for another person.