How do I? (building a house question)

[kfd82]

How do I go about turning a sketch on a piece of paper into a floor plan/blue print?
We know what we want to build, but I dont know how to make building plans. We need to have our idea turned into a print so the guys know where to put the plumbing before the slab gets poured.

Any ideas?

[Tubby]

You don't have actual house plans drawn up yet?

[Texastaxi]

Find a drafter, like Dervin, that will draw them up for you, on the side.

Prints are, IMO, the most important legal document when building ANYTHING.
No prints = no recourse if something is wrong.

[kfd82]

You don't have actual house plans drawn up yet?

No.
What we have is an idea of what we want drawn on a piece of paper.

Find a drafter, like Dervin, that will draw them up for you, on the side.

Prints are, IMO, the most important legal document when building ANYTHING.
No prints = no recourse if something is wrong.

Any idea what that would cost? Ballpark figure... As I'm sure Dervin would charge me double!


Thanks for the info.

[kfd82]

I'm going to try to be my own GC on this.
I have guys for the slab, electrical, painting. Looking for plumbing, dry wall, cabinet contractors.

[Aggiebush]

Just call a local architect and give them what you have. They can work with you to get the plans that you want. I will look around and see what my guy charges per foot.

[hunt247]

buy a computer program at staples. $30-$40

[outlawhoedoe]

you build it

How do I go about turning a sketch on a piece of paper into a floor plan/blue print?
We know what we want to build, but I dont know how to make building plans. We need to have our idea turned into a print so the guys know where to put the plumbing before the slab gets poured.

Any ideas?

build it alone lol

[bwssr]

and PM landrover..he is his own GC
And i think Bill M, and Pazthru are custom builders, and SticksandStrings

[Chief]

I have been working for some of the top production and Build on Your Lot builders for the last 12 years drawing up construction documents for anything from 800 sqft beach houses to 11,000 sqft 3 story homes. if you would like to call me and talk about possibly drawing up florplans feel free. pm sent with my number.

[Bill M]

You need something like this Frank? Email is in my signature. We need to talk.

[scotth89]

You can save a boat load of money being your own GC. Best of luck to you, it is a headache, but well worth it.

[Mike D]

How do I? (building a house question)

I can only tell you figures I have been quoted in DFW.

The folks that I borrowed my original base plan from were going to charge $1.55 per square foot of living space.

An architect doing it on the side was going to charge $5.50 per square foot.

A couple of house planners I have spoken with through a couple of the owner-builder outfits were going to charge $0.75 - $0.95 per square foot if you used the owner-builder folks to build your house.

Now I have looked at a lot of the DIY software and I bought a copy of Cheif Architect Home Designer Pro on Amazon for $399.00

It will do tons more things than the cheap programs will do. It will create a builders set of plans including all details, elevations, etc. You will still come out tons cheaper doing it this way. There is a learning curved to the software but you can allow it to do as little or as much automatic detailing as you want.

Most folks don't know that an architect is not required in the state of Texas for a residential construction.

[Bill M]

...........Now I have looked at a lot of the DIY software and I bought a copy of Cheif Architect Home Designer Pro on Amazon for $399.00...............
Most folks don't know that an architect is not required in the state of Texas for a residential construction.

I'm not sure what Frank is wanting to build Mike but if it's single story construction I could draw it for him for that price.

[Landrover]

We used a designer for our plans but it was a 18 month process to get the 7,400 sq. ft. under roof as close to our needs as possible. We have made multiple changes that made construction cheaper and also enhanced what our initial goal(s) were. Architects are/seemed to be more outlandish and not really geared to what we were attempting to produce......at least from what we learned. Not perfect with a designer but it has been very minor changes so far.