Top Five Expert Tips: Design plans

(1) 1,000 hours – This is the amount of time a lot of experts think you need to properly plan your house. I personally did not spend that much time and ended up logging around 500 hours in the design phase. I did, however, fail to plan for a few essential items that eventually cost me a few thousand dollars.
(2) Plan books/Home shows – the first stop for home design for most people is plan books. I got probably a dozen or so of these and began cutting and pasting together my dream home. Home shows are great not only for ideas but also for understanding the scale of each room. If you can get a floor plan of each while you are touring it can really give you an idea if that 10X6 closet you see will feel big enough for your taste.
(3) Architect/Draftsmen – If you do not buy stock plans then you will need to have them drafted by an Architect or Draftsman. Architects generally cost more and tend to charge by a percentage of the job. Architects also tend to give more detailed plans then Draftsmen, as their fee is typically higher. I chose to go with a Draftsmen as I gave mine a plan of two houses – one with an outside I liked and one with an inside that I liked. I then asked him to combine the two. Most draftsmen set his or her fee by the job.
(4) Future Proof – Always try to think of changes that you may need in the future. One example would be running 3” conduit through each floor from the attic to the basement to future proof for changes in home low voltage wiring.
(5) Have Fun – This to me was the most fun time of the whole homebuilding process. Literally, nothing has really gone wrong at this point and everything has been smooth sailing. If you are not having a ball at this stage then you need to revisit the notion of building your own home.