How to Create House Plans

Blueprints are the traditional plans for building construction.

A home can be a statement of your personal expression and creativity. If you are planning a new home construction now or in the future, you can purchase a set of cookie-cutter house plans from a builder or design your own house plans. Build the home of your dreams where your entire family will be comfortable and happy when you create plans for the perfect home. You can design the plans for your dream house and pass them along to your contractor for implementation, or work with an architect to help tweak your vision into reality.

Things You'll Need

• Graph paper
• Ruler
• Design software
• Blueprints

Instructions

1. 

   Use a ruler to help create your plans with straight lines.

   Draw your plans for your house by hand. Use a pencil and paper to sketch drawings of the exterior of the house. Sketch a design for the front of the house as well as the rear and side elevations of the home. Create a vision of how you want the windows to be laid out on the exterior of the house in addition to doors and porches or decks.

2. 

   Design a floor plan that works for your lifestyle.

   Sketch a floor plan for the interior of the home. Lay out a space for your main living areas such as kitchen, family room and dining room. Create a space for bedrooms and bathrooms as well as for additional spaces such as offices or hobby rooms. Be sure to designate a space for a washer and dryer or laundry room, and add a space for the machinery of the house. Hot water heaters and home heating and cooling systems can be situated in a basement, garage or utility closet.

3. 

   You can also note building materials and methods.

   Review your drawings and make additional changes as necessary to match up door and window placements with the exterior drawings. Use graph paper or use a computer aided design (CAD) software program to draw the plans to the proper scale. Typically plans are drawn using a scale in which 1/4 inch equals 1 foot. Make sure you take into account the dimensions of the home's footprint and the size you want for each of the rooms and hallways. Your pencil drawing may serve as your plans, or you can print out the plans from the computer software system if applicable.

4. 

   An architect ensures plans are legal and structurally sound.

   Take your plans to an architect for a consultation when you are ready to build. Bring along any documentation you have regarding the land you choose to build on. Ask the architect to make any necessary changes to maintain proper building codes for your area. The architect may also offer other advice for additions or redesigns of your house plans. Request a set of blueprints from the architect based on the final draft of the plans so the home can be built according to the official blueprints.

References

• Make Your Own House: My Own House-Blueprints
• The House Plans Guide: Module 8 - Draw Floor Plan
• Declutter and Organize: Design Your Own Floor Plans