How to Find the Original Blue Prints to a House
The newer the house, the easier it is to locate the original blueprints, also known as building plans. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the local municipality is an excellent resource for researching documents for any property, including blueprints. Government agencies will comply with all requests for information regarding home construction. But the older the home, the less likely a copy of blueprints will be on file with the municipality, and more rigorous investigation will be required.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Visit your local municipal office responsible for governing licensing and inspections. Provide your address and real estate identification number, or legal description, and request all documentation for your property. Request permits, inspection reports, contractors and architects of record and occupancy certificates.
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2
Search through the documents related to your property; it may as simple as your local municipality having blueprints on file and providing them in response to your request.
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3
Inspect the building permit, which will have the contractor, builder and architects listed. Check inspection reports for the name of any contractors.
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4
Research the contractor, builder or architect. Check with the local municipality to find business licenses, addresses and other contact information. In most cases, these professionals will have a set of plans for your property in their document storage. They may charge a small fee to provide you with a file copy of your blueprints.
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5
Contact the developer of subdivisions; track houses in subdivisions are often built by contractors without using blueprints. Hundreds of homes built with the same dimensions and specifications are repeated from one master blueprint. The developer may have a set of the master plans.
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6
Research the original owner and find out if they carried a construction loan. Investigate the bank or original lending institution, which might have a the original construction loan plan set.
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1
Tips & Warnings
After most residential construction projects are finished, plans tend to get lost or discarded as they are no longer of use to anyone, so there may be no blueprints available for your house. There is also the risk that your house was built by a contractor or builder who didn't use plans at all, depending on the geographic area and city incorporation status.
