Design Considerations When Building A New Home

In this section we will provide you with a starting point for ideas to help you create the home design you want with the features you need.  Obviously it will be impossible to cover every idea or feature available but hopefully from the information presented here, it will trigger your own ideas and thought processes to help you get the home of your dreams.  Remember always consider current and future needs in your design considerations when building a hew home.

Finding house plans
There are numerous resources available for locating floor plans, such as books, magazines and the internet.  The simplest and easiest way is to use the internet, just use your favorite search engine and type in “floor plans” or “house plans” and instantly you will have hundreds of pages of sites for house plans that you can view for free.  Most of these sites will categorize the home plans by type, style, size etc., making it very easy for you to narrow in on the style of house plan you like.

Home designs and house plan ideas

Continue your research for home designs and home plans by going for a drive and visiting show homes and open houses.  But before you head out assemble a few items to help record your research:

• Prepare a list of homes you want to view that day
• Map
• Camera
• Measuring tape – minimum 16 foot length
• Note pad
• Pencil
• A snack and some water

One of the main benefits of viewing a show home is that the home is already built and you can see first hand the size of all the rooms; sometimes it can be difficult to visualize the size of a room just by looking at a plan.  While you are at the show home gather as many of the handouts and brochures as you can, take notes on layouts and features you like and write down any ideas that come to you while visiting the show home.

The more show homes you visit the better, go out and visit show homes even if they are not in the area you want to live in.  Your mission is to gather as much information as you can not only information on the size or layout of the home but what unique features they might have that you could incorporate into your own home.  Many home builders will hire a professional designer to work on their homes.  Take advantage of this and look at the style and colors used; on walls, floors, cupboards and drapes etc.  Even look at the size and style of furniture used, use all of this information and incorporate it into your own design considerations.  I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.  Record anything and everything you like, even if you think it may not be incorporated into your next home, it may be used in a future home.