Building A House Checklist: The Perfect Floor Plan

What is your ideal layout?

How big do you want each room to be?

Will you be able to afford it?

When looking for the perfect floor plan, it can be challenging to try and find something that meets all your needs and stays within your budget. We certainly struggled.

In this post, I will go over money and time-saving tips to help give you the best floor plan!

Tip #1

Square it!

You will save a ton of money and time if your floor plan is a singular rectangle or square.

As beautiful as it may be to have half circles, octagons, or a second square as part of the overall perimeter, all those extra corners and shapes will end up costing you more in materials.

This goes for inside the house as well. If you must have features like that, try to use them in only 1 or 2 places-unless you have the money to back it up.

Tip #2

The more bedrooms and bathrooms the higher the appraisal.

When your home is all said and built you will have someone come appraise it. You will be able to use the appraised value of your home to get a better mortgage.

Banks place a higher value on a home having bedrooms and bathrooms than they do on things like a large main living area or home office.

Tip #3

Storage, storage, and storage!

Unless you plan on living with only enough items to fill a suitcase, you will need space to put everyday items and things you only use seasonally.

You can never have enough storage space!

When we drew up our plans we knew we wanted a big enough closet in our entry to hold all our seasonal gear without taking up all the space that our guests would use; I mean nothing is more unwelcoming as a guest when you walk into a home and have no space to take off your outerwear.

Tip #4

Get your plans professionally drawn.

The last thing you need is for all your measurements to be off because if one thing is measured incorrectly it can impact the overall end result of the entire space.

A professional will already have the standard sizes for things like wall thickness, cabinet depth, and door swings pre-programmed and ready to be added to any floor plan.

They will also make sure that the correct measurements are indicated on the plan for whoever ends up building your home.

Tip #5

Going up is usually cheaper than expanding out.

Building a home big enough to fit everyone and have space for guests and family activities can get pricey.

A lot of people love having everything on the first floor for convenience and comfort, however, that may not be the best plan for your building space or your budget.

This is where most people will build a second floor and put the bedrooms upstairs.

You will save money in building the foundation and heating your home by building up instead of out.

Tip #6

Don’t forget the basement!

If you live in an area where basements are more common than slabs, then I want to point out that there can be money saved in building down as well.

Everything that you would put in the upstairs you can put in the basement.

If you are really pushing pennies here then finishing the basement can be a great way to get everything you want without building something grand.

Not to mention, finished basements also add value to a home!

Tip #7

You don’t have to buy a floor plan online.

Most construction companies can draw up plans using a picture or basic drawing of a floor plan.

We found ours’ online, brought it to a construction company and they were able to create a construction floor plan for a fraction of what we would have paid elsewhere.

Also, if you choose to work with a lumber yard, chances are they will give you a materials list. This is a list of everything you will need to build your house!

Final Thoughts

When you are ready for this step make sure that your plans are easy to read and have everything a builder would need.

Plan ahead. Chances are you will be living in your home for quite some time so try to plan for future changes. Is there a room you might get rid of in the future? Will you want to change the function of a room later?

If you plan for these changes ahead of time; while you are building the house, then you’ll be able to implement structural and design elements beforehand so when you go to make those changes the hard part is already done.

Make sure you are truly happy with everything because it will get costly to try and change things later-changing and moving things on paper is ten times easier than changing and moving things during construction.

~Megan