Building Your Home

Architectural drawings are detailed plans to guide the construction of a new home or an extension. They usually include various intricate details, such as the room size and shape, the windows and doors placement, the roofing type, and other design elements. Plumbing plans in blueprints for houses are usually drawn up by a separate contractor, often a plumber.

The layout of your home is an important decision to make. The way you live will influence the floor layout of your space. As such, choosing an optimal floor plan can be difficult, regardless of whether you desire a single-story home or one with many stories with all of the bedrooms on the top floor.

Roof trusses are particularly important because of the loads that they’re expected to bear. We will walk you through the truss design and manufacturing process so that you can better understand the engineering that goes into a completed home.

Custom home design sounds like a wonderful idea, doesn’t it? Well, it turns out that there are a few disadvantages. While I love almost everything about my home, there are a few things that I absolutely hate.

Mortgages are confusing enough, but construction loans? This type of financial product adds another layer of complexity to your new home project. If you’re wondering how a construction loan works, look no further. We’ll show you everything you need to know about this type of financing!

There are two types of contracts that builders use - “fixed price” and “cost-plus.” We’ll show you the details of both so that you can make the right choice

In new home designs, tiled showers are extremely popular. Unlike traditional fiberglass showers, a tiled shower gives you the opportunity to customize to your heart’s content.

What Are Builder Allowances? Pros and Cons of Builder Allowances? Find out in this quick discussion about how they are used, and their benefits.

Mascord House Plans for Apple TV brings the Mascord collection of house plans to your living room! Browse fantastic designs, stunning photography and full screen images with your family and choose the right design to build.

This is an explanation of how Alan Mascord Design Associates calculates the total square footage shown on house plans and custom home designs.

When designing the home of your dreams, you want to be absolutely sure that everything you choose and order is the exact color it should be. You spent a lot of time meticulously choosing colors that coordinate perfectly, and you deserve them to be exactly what you expect. Here's one way to help ensure you're satisfied with the final results.

Once we know your preferences and needs, our staff can quickly find the house plan that’s closest to your “dream home.” With customization, our designers can turn that pre-designed home plan into the perfect house for your family.

At Alan Mascord Design Associates, Inc., we have a wide variety of home plans for all types of lots. Chances are we have the plans for your dream home. Following are a few tips to help you discover the perfect home plans for your lot.

This infographic illustrates the telltale features of a Craftsman home, with some history on how this popular home plan style developed.

Which came first, the lot or the house plans? We recommend choosing a lot first and have compiled four important factors you should consider when choosing a lot for your dream home plan.

Alan Mascord Design Associates (the design force behind Houseplans.co) is contributing luxurious homes and house plans to the Clark County Parade of Homes.

When budgets are tight, homeowners can't afford to buy expensive home plans. Here are some tips for finding affordable house plans.

..For instance, Frank Lloyd Wright chose to build the Fallingwater house directly over a waterfall so the residents would always be able to enjoy the natural music the waterfall created. Don’t expect your designer to be quite that innovative, but do ensure that he or she has experience working with your type of property.

Here we discuss what easements are, how they affect your decision when choosing home plans, and the key to picking house plans within the limitations.