5 Tips for Choosing a Home Plan for Your Lot
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Stepping onto the lot where your dream home will be built, you may come across features that lend themselves to certain design elements. For instance, if your lot is sloped, a home with a daylight basement is a natural choice. Looking around the complexity of your lot, you may even convince yourself that you have no choice but to go with a fully custom home design. Fortunately, even with a sloped, narrow or otherwise unique lot, you can maximize your home’s potential without contracting for a custom home plan.
Here at Alan Mascord Design Associates, Inc., we have a wide variety of home plans for all sorts of lots. Chances are we have the plans for your dream home. Of course, it might take a bit of browsing to find the right home plan for your needs. Following are a few tips to help you discover the perfect plans for your unique lot.
Tips for Choosing a Home Plan to Fit Your Lot
1. Start with lot dimensions. Knowing your lot’s basic measurements and allowable building area will allow you to quickly sort through potential house plans. For instance, a skinny, long lot will do best with narrow house plans. We offer a wide array of narrow floor plans designed to maximize flow and sunlight while maintaining a slender shape.
2. Prioritize important features.Beyond meeting basic lot requirements, a dream home should be comfortable and convenient for the residents. Work together as a family to make a list of “must have” features for your new home. For instance, if you’re planning to retire in this home, it makes sense to consider single story house plans.
3. Make use of topography. In one of our custom homes, the lot was so sloped we were able to locate a basketball court right under the garage! But you don’t have to “go custom” to capitalize on the unique space opportunities of your lot. For instance, you can locate a daylight basement on the lower story of a home that’s situated on a slope.
4. Showcase natural features.You may be lucky enough to have a fantastic view. If your dream home will look out over a lake, stream or mountain range, be sure to select a home plan that has living spaces that face toward that special feature. Even small cottage house plans can be designed with walls of windows to take in that amazing view. Look for plenty of windows facing the showcase view.
5. Get inspired. Get creative as you compile ideas for your dream home’s floor plan. The hardest part of the home design process is visualizing what you want and need without any pre-existing image. We recommend starting a collage board where you can clip out home features you’d love to have in your own home. Online, Houzz.com is a wonderful site that allows you to create idea boards from photos of existing projects. Be sure to check out our compilation of project images at Houzz. Then, as you’re perusing home plans on our site, you can focus in on the ones that include your favorite features.
These are a few of the top considerations when selecting a house plan for a specific lot. Think of this as your starting point. As you dive into the home plan selection process, other traits, such as orientation and the potential for future expansion, will come into play.
Note: The home shown above is The Barberton House Plan 21144.