Chris -
what draftsman drew your plans for you? Do you recommend him? Was it $$$$ ? I've heard that an architect will charge 10% of the cost of the house when it's built for him to draw up plans - Seems awfully high unless some engineering is required. My feeble attempts at drawing up my plans from high school learning - is enough to give someone a good idea what I want but I don't believe good enough to build off of. I just can't see spending $15,000 for drawings of a very simple 1850 sq ft house with 1 roof line and 4 outside corners. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
mike
I would not recommend the draftsman who drew up our plans. He was very knowlegeable and an extremely nice guy but he had too many irons in the fire and it is because of him that it has taken so long to get our plans drawn. He does design for the Exxon complex here in Baytown and he just did not have time for me. As a matter of fact, he quoted me .65 per sq. ft. (roughly $1260) to draw up my plans but he felt so bad about how long it took to draw them that he took my initial down payment of $300 up front but put me off when I got ready to settle the balance with him, so it looks like I got my plans for $300. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
We had gotten a referral for an architech in Pasadena, on Richie. His price was $1 per sq. ft. which would come out to $1850 for your plans. That's considerable cheaper than what you were told but stll high in my book. The co. name was Adams something or another. We talked to them but decided to go with the draftsman because our design was pretty simple and square and .65 sounded better than $1 per sq. ft.
During the process of trying to get my plans drawn I discovered that I owned the "junior" version of the same program the draftsman used to draw up my plans. As a matter of fact, he copied my house plans onto a diskette and gave them to one of the builders we are talking to so that he could look at them on his computer (he has the same drawing program.) I drew up a one bedroom, one story garage apartment on my jr. program and emailed the drawing to the builder and the format was the same and he was able to put the drawing into his drawing program and look at what I had drawn. I thought that was pretty cool.
I know your feel your pain and know your desire to move. After years of apartment living and the process to find a design, find a builder and have their architect draw changes then starting with a builder to determine price only to be blown off by them and acting like we were making too many changes. Well a house is the single largest investment you will make.
We found a different builder who I was reffered to but felt I should go forward with the original company. Glad I didn't. We met with our (current) builder on a Wednesday and fired out old builder the next day (Thursday). Their sales person tried every trick to get us to change. Well unfortunately for her she pushed the wrong button. She tried the "What do we need to get you to change your mind". Well I told her and 20 minutes later we parted. She was told how the sales process should work (I am in sales) and how unattentive or unwilling they were to return calls and how they screened calls. We were looking to spend $300k+ on this home and didn't want to get burned.
Our new builder is a smaller outfit with his own crew. Does excellent work, is a custom cabinet and trim maker. He uses long time subs for HVAC, Plumbing, electrical etc. He worked with our excavators and their time lines. His projection was 5 months start to finish, We began in late May and will be in mid to late October.
This was our dream home and our place tolive our lives out. We don't plan to move so we built it with us in mind.
Heres a shot of where we are, but the porch isn't done yet.
here in dallas, tx....i had my house plans drawn by an architect for .45 cents/sq. ft. for all the a/c space only....no extra charge for garages or porches....very detailed and the cost includes 8 sets of plans..additional sets were $21 ea.
When we got our final prints we did receive 8 copies, with two stamped and certified for the inspectors and such.
Since then I have had to make copies and I found that going to Kinko's works just fine. They have a large plotter printer that makes great clear copies.
Something else I found is have a set laminated (Kinko's too) will do that for you. Great to have on site so you don't have to worry about the rain, mud and other stuff.
I also left a smaller set of prints from the cabinet company in the kitchen area tacked to the wall so the electrician could spot his recessed lights, the HVAC guys would know were cabinets were going so they wouldn't put the floor vent where they did (and moved late for me).
I used the Broderbund program. They have 2 or 3 available. It worked well for me. Get as many ideas from builders and floor plan providers on the net as you can and then design your own. One thing, also get an architect involved if possible to review your ideas & changes. Fortunately, we have a friend that did this for us. They have the experience and can visualize what you have on paper or the computor screen. The builder can help also, but may be more qualified to answer the cost/labor questions about your ideas, but not always "how will this look?" [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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