A Guide to Custom Home Design

Introduction

This is a simplified guide to custom home design for those of you who are planning to build a new home but aren't quite sure where to start. In the following paragraphs I hope to give you some ideas that should make your custom home journey much easier than it would otherwise be. The methods I describe have proven to be effective for many clients that Design Consultants, Inc. has designed homes for, and hopefully they will aid you as well.

Getting Started

Many people who come to Design Consultants, Inc. for custom home plans say essentially the same thing: "We want to build a house but we're not sure where to start". The best advice I can give is to create a 'wish list'. Take the ideas you have for your new home and make a room by room detailed list of what you would like to incorporate into it. Consider everything from floor finishes to appliances to ceiling height and design. Be thorough and begin educating yourself on different appliance choices, building materials and interior & exterior finishes. This will be of tremendous help to you later when you deal with a builder.

Most clients I deal with have a hard time visualizing room sizes and what will be adequate for their needs. I recommend that you measure rooms in your current house or apartment, or even in a friend's home that has room sizes you like. Note whether the room is too small, adequate or too big. List any particular items you want each room to have--a master bath jetted tub, a kitchen cook top or living room bay window are a few examples. The more thorough you are the easier it makes my job in understanding your particular needs and creating a custom plan that works for you.

Finding a Plan

Now the part that most people find frustrating begins--finding the perfect plan. I will emphasize 'frustrating' because I've had many clients who have looked through a dozen or more plan books without success. Most became burned-out trying to find a plan that was even close to what they liked. The trick to custom designing a home is to find parts of plans that appeal to you. For example, look for bedroom layouts that are close to what you want. If you don't like the rest of the plan discard it. Now look for living areas you like. To break it down even further look for individual rooms that look good. Don't worry about the exterior style of the house, we will cover that later. For now concentrate on the plan only. You might want to get a file folder at this point to keep your wish list and plan ideas in so they don't get lost. If you do happen to find a plan that works for you with little or no revisions consider yourself lucky.

Creating A Plan

Once you have gathered together room ideas you must decide how they will relate to each other. There are several ways to do this, one of which is a bubble diagram. Draw a circle and label it with a room name. Now draw another circle next to it with the room you want there, and so on until you have a rough idea of the room arrangement. Don't worry about walls and fixtures at this point, only the overall layout.

Another example is the jigsaw puzzle method. Photocopy plans or parts of plans and cut out the rooms you like. Now start putting them together like a jigsaw puzzle until you have a layout that looks good. Don't worry about windows and doors being in the wrong location, odd room sizes or getting too elaborate with design particulars. Leave that up to me when I put your idea into a preliminary plan format.

If you are good at sketching you could get some graph paper and start laying out the plan yourself. Not everyone feels confident doing this, but if you have the ability to draw your own rough plan, go for it! There are also some relatively inexpensive home planning programs available that are extremely helpful to those who aren't comfortable doing a pencil drawing.  Between your rough ideas or sketches and wish list I should be able to come up with a custom design that is pretty close to what you want. I normally quote a lower design cost should you do this because it shows me you have put some thought into your home plan layout and most likely there will be fewer revisions once your ideas are put on paper to scale. Because our design fees are based on an hourly rate, not per square foot or on a percentage, the less time I put into a design the lower your final cost will be.

Choosing An Exterior Style

Finding an exterior design style is the next step. Look through plan books or magazines for pictures or illustrations that are similar to how you envision your new home. With a few exceptions, you should be able to adapt almost any style of exterior design to your plan.

Another good place to look for ideas is some of the newer housing developments in your area. This way you can see the current design trends in an actual finished structure and not just a picture or artist's rendering in a plan book or magazine. Take a camera along and snap some pictures of details that you would like to have on your new home.

Site Considerations

One of the major things to consider in the design of your home is the site you want to build on. The shape and slope of the lot and any available view can affect how you arrange your rooms. Taking advantage of site conditions will result in a better design that will give your house higher resale value should you want to sell your home a few years down the road.

Most plats have covenants, conditions and restrictions that regulate square footage, exterior finish, roofing type and even maximum building height in some areas where views cannot be obscured. You will also have to abide by building setbacks and zoning requirements for the jurisdiction that you are building in. Because these restrictions can vary widely in different cities and counties it is extremely important to research them before you get your heart set on a design that may not work on the site you have chosen.

Budget Considerations

The major factor in custom design for most people is their budget. A problem that many people run into is they choose a plan that is way out of their price range. One of the builders that I design for says many of his clients want a champagne-quality home but only have a beer budget. Remember, the more elaborate your design is the higher the price will be. Multiple corners and different ceiling heights usually add character but can also create complexity from the roof all the way down to the foundation.

Another thing to keep in mind is two-story homes are generally less expensive than single-story designs because they have less foundation and roof areas. Stacking an upper floor over areas where floor joist spans are less will mean smaller-depth joists or fewer large beams, thus lower cost. Stacking bathrooms isn't as critical as it used to be when cast-iron pipe was prevalent, so this shouldn't be an item that totally dictates your plan layout. Also, keeping overall dimensions as even as possible will result in less waste since sheet goods typically come in two- or four-foot increments and lumber in even-foot lengths.

You may want to go back to your wish list and start pricing specific items at this point. As I mentioned earlier it will benefit you to become educated to what items actually cost and start comparing similar products from different manufacturers. You'll find that in many cases comparable items can vary widely in price. You will often pay much more for certain brand names even though another manufacturer may offer a virtually identical product at a lower price.

All these items I've mentioned add additional cost separately, but combined they can be a budget buster. Many people don't realize the costs involved until their builder gives them an estimate and they experience sticker shock. To avoid this problem you should contact some builders before you get too far into your plan search and find out what their estimated price per square foot is. Remember, this will be an educated guess based on your description of what you want, but by averaging the high amounts you can arrive at a rough figure of how much house you can fit into your budget.

Working Drawings

You may ask "Since I've found a plan in a plan book that I like why not order it and save myself a lot of money?". If you do this you are taking a big gamble that the plans you receive may need major revisions in order to be built. Plans from other parts of the country often reflect building methods and code compliance for that particular region, which may not work in this area. Also, you probably won't get a site plan or Washington State Energy Code compliance data. Sometimes stock plans don't even show structural information such as beam sizes since the plan could be built anywhere in the country and every possible design condition can't be anticipated. Since most individuals aren't qualified to provide these items it means they'll have to pay a professional to get them done correctly. If you can find a stock plan produced locally the possibility of running into a problem with your builder or Building Department is greatly reduced. Stock plans aren't always the bargain that they seem to be.

Many people run into an additional cost they weren't expecting: structural engineering. The International Residential Code sets standards for construction that are spelled out in black and white. However, most home plans (and in particular stock plans) have definite gray areas that do not meet the IRC requirements. This usually means structural engineering calculations will be required by the Building Department. Building officials usually want a revised set of drawings with an engineer's stamp & signature on the blueprints, but sometimes they'll accept the engineer's stamped calculations only. When Design Consultants, Inc. produces a custom plan we can usually identify and avoid most of those gray areas. Even a custom design may need engineering on certain items. Hopefully you won't need to get your plan engineered since it costs time and money that are better spent elsewhere. However, it is something to keep in mind so that it doesn't come as a complete surprise should the Building Department request it.

Building Designer or Architect?

Many people think that in order to have plans drawn they must hire an architect. If you have a rough idea of what you want for your new home, have lots of money to spend and want someone else to deal with the builder during construction then by all means hire an architect.

However, if you do the research and have a pretty good plan idea, as well as a competent builder that you can trust and work with, hire a building designer and spend your money on your new home instead of on your plan. Additionally, some designers charge substantially more than others so it pays to shop around. Take a look at examples of their work, ask about their qualifications and find out what you get for your money. Ask for references and find out where some homes they've designed are located so you can see examples of their work at full scale.

Choosing A Builder

Probably the most difficult part of building a house is choosing a contractor. Some charge a lot more than others, so it's in your best interest to compare what each builder offers. Find out how they build their homes--do they use quality products and proper assembly techniques consistent with good construction? Ask for references from past clients and find out if they were satisfied with the job that was performed for them. A builder reluctant to give reverences should concern you. Since most contractors will probably only refer you to satisfied clients another avenue to check out is word-of-mouth references. Word-of-mouth can be surprisingly effective in promoting a good builder or warning about a contractor you should avoid.

I mentioned asking for a square foot cost earlier in order to figure how much house you can get for your money. Most builders will use a square foot figure for a rough estimate only, but need working drawings in order to give you an accurate bid. This is where doing your homework and educating yourself on prices will pay off. Give the builder a detailed copy of your wish list along with your plans and any other helpful information so that they know exactly what you want and can give you the most accurate bid possible. if you are dealing with more than one builder give each builder an identical wish list and plans so you will get an apples to apples comparison.

Hiring the lowest priced contractor isn't always the best thing to do. Choosing a builder who is substantially lower than the others can sometimes lead to added expenses later on should that builder miss something or intentionally leave items out of the contract that you weren't aware of because you neglected to educate yourself.

One other thing to keep in mind when choosing a builder is trust your instincts. Most people don't realize just how perceptive they are at determining whether a person is simply trying to get their name on the dotted line or whether they honestly want to give them a good job at a fair price. If you haven't got a good impression of a builder after meeting with them it may be worth it to look elsewhere.

Summary

I hope you can make use of some of the things I've talked about in the preceding paragraphs. Building a home is probably one of the biggest investments you can make financially, so the smarter you are going into the process the easier things will proceed and the better off you will be. Take your time, do the research and educate yourself so that hopefully you can avoid making the same mistakes that other people have made from doing things the hard way.

Design Consultants, Inc.

224 Stewart Rd., Suite 201

Mount Vernon, WA 98273-5430

or

(360) 424-3334, Monday thru Friday, 8am to 4:30 pm p.s.t.

Back