About House Plans

Building a house is a surprisingly complicated process. There are site issues, structural components, architectural elements, and mechanical and electrical systems to consider during the design and construction phases. To properly plan the home and ensure good results, a house plan is drawn up before the first brick goes down. Often called blueprints, these plans lay out a framework for the home's construction and help avoid conflicts during the building process.

History

Before the computer was invented, creating blueprints was laborius and time consuming. It required the home to be drawn over and over again so that each phase of the project could be detailed. In order for the various engineers, architects and interior designers to add their expertise, plans had to be physically transported from person to person. With the widespread use of the computer and the most popular drafting software, AutoCad, drawing house plans is much faster than in the past, and communication among the design team members is near instantaneous.

Function

House plans serve many functions. First, they help to iron out design problems before the project starts. All contractors and tradesmen involved in the construction process will know exactly what they are supposed to be building before they pick up their tools. Second, they let homeowners see what the house will look like before it is built, allowing them to provide input to make sure they end up with the house they want. Finally, plans are often required by local permit offices and planning commissions before permission is given to build.

Types

There are many different types of house plans, from the very simple to the elaborate. Some will show only minor renovations, such as decks or room additions, while other illustrate how a building should be constructed from the ground up. Within house plans, there are also several different varieties. First, there are the site plans that show how the ground will be prepared for building. Second, there are the structural and architectural drawings that show the actual shape and structure of the home. FInally, there are mechanical and electrical plans that show heating, piping, lighting and wiring.

Identification

Building plans come in many shapes and sizes. For small projects, a simple, letter-sized floor plan is generally sufficient, as it shows the general layout of the home. With larger homes, plans can be large and dozens of pages thick. Today, many house plans are also done electronically, then shown to the homeowner as a picture file or slideshow. This also makes them very easy to transfer among designers, contractors and homeowners.

Potential

One of the most popular trends in house plans has always been to provide a 3-D model of the home. Before the use of computers, this was done via the use of a scaled physical model of the house. Today, this is done by using computer software to generate an actual 3-D "walk-through" of the home. The computer model can show basic layout, finishes, colors and even furniture. These models are also useful to show homeowners how different design concepts would look once built.