Who Is Building Our Plans?

It’s a question we’re always asking, so from time to time, as we develop an online community to share ideas, tips, and stories about the building process, I’ll be looking for answers.

Affordable Modern Living

Let’s start with Plan 64-167, below, a popular 2,269 square foot, 3 bedroom, 3 bath contemporary that was purchased last summer by Tim Young, a freelance web designer. The house is nearing completion.

Tim’s story is compelling. He already had the lot and assumed a custom design would be next. “I wanted my new house to have a loft-like feel,” he said, “And I even made a model out of foam core.” (It helped that Tim was a former art school student).) Next he went to an architectural designer friend who told him it would cost about $22,000 to create the plans from scratch, so they started looking online for plans he could buy and adapt with his friend’s help. That’s when Tim found this plan. “My site is on a slope so a few modifications were needed, like forming the rear wall of the first floor out of concrete and digging it into the hill,” he said. (He flipped it so the living room is on the left rather than on the right.) “But the plan is essentially the same.” Tim figures design costs – including the price of the plan, surveys, adjustments to fit the site, and engineering – came to about $8,500, a savings of $13,500.

Here’s an early construction photo:

Note how the lower floor digs into into the slope. And here’s one showing the full

two-story design. Below is a detail of the living room wing.

Bravo Tim! He’s now selecting the siding. Stay tuned; we’ll bring you more photos when Tim has moved in. See similar designs in our Modern Plan Collection.