Steve G.
We were able to find a Houseplan that…
We were able to find a Houseplan that we liked. We had a modification done to the plan and it was designed well. The problem is that there is no plumbing plan, no HVAC plans. They don’t supply these because different parts of the country have different ways or rules for doing that. So you have to supply that. The modification that we had done was just a drawing. It did not come with the engineering of the structure so the county turned down the plans until we found an engineer and paid to have that done. It did come with electrical plans but the electrician noted that they were dated and should be modified to today’s look. All this set our construction time back several months. All in all I probably paid about half of what a architect would have cost. But everyone should know that these plans are just the beginning of the process.
Response from Houseplans.comAug 5, 2025
Hi Steve, glad to hear that you found a plan that you liked and that you found it to be a good value. And we hear and understand your frustrations with certain aspects of the process. As you note, plumbing and HVAC fall under the category of items that will often need to be done locally because of how much local codes and climatic conditions vary. But you can usually get them easily from your builder, contractor, or a local supplier. It’s a similar case with engineering. Because each place has its own requirements, often including engineering, it’s just not possible or practical for stock plans to cover every situation. But as you mentioned, it’s still a great deal to buy a stock plan and have it engineered locally, compared with starting from scratch. Thanks again for sharing with us. Feel free to call if we can do anything for you or answer any questions. And we wish you all the best with your build.