FAQs

There are plenty of resources to help you get started with your home building project. Begin by checking with family members and friends that have built a new home. They will have a wealth of information to share with you based on experience. Also, consider contacting local professionals that work in fields related to residential construction such as a builder, contractor, or county building official. Home improvement stores and lumberyards can provide you with some information as well as the internet. The House Plan Shop can help you too. Check out our resources page. There are several articles and tip sheets to help you get started and carry you through the building process.

If you are searching for a specific combination of elements in a home plan, please use our plan search tool. Enter the criteria you need or want, and let the website do the searching. It will only return house plans that meet the criteria you selected. If you find a home plan that does not suit your needs exactly, but is close to what you want, the next step is to fill out a modification request form for that specific plan number.

The House Plan Shop offers a variety of plan packages and supplemental items. Please refer to our detailed outline, Plan Packages and Additional Options, under the Miscellaneous Information heading on our resource page.

The number of sets of construction drawings and the plan format (paper/printed sets or electronic files) you will need to build your home depends on you and your builder's specific needs. As the homeowner, you should have a set of plans for yourself (either a paper/printed set or an electonic file in PDF or CAD format). Check with your builder to find out if he/she will need paper/printed sets of plans or electornic plans (PDF or CAD file). Also, ask the builder what will be required by the subcontractors. Typically, the mortgage lender and building inspector will require a set of home plans along with your local building department when you apply for building permits. It will be necessary to confirm with each person/entity what they require to ensure you have the proper format for each.

One-set/study-set house plan packages and PDF study sets are stamped or watermarked “not for construction”. They are available for the purpose of reviewing your home in detail before construction begins. Study sets can be used to determine how the home will fit on your lot and to obtain bids and estimates for materials and labor. However, they do not include a construction license, and building from a study set is strictly prohibited. Additionally, reproduction of stamped or watermarked construction drawings is a copyright violation. In most cases, you can upgrade your study set plan package to another buildable plan package within 90 days of the original plan purchase. Often, a portion of the original plan purchase will be applied to the cost to upgrade to the greater plan package.

Most house plans published with The House Plan Shop typically include the following elements:

Coversheet – In most cases this is an artist’s rendering of the finished home. Generally, this page is not necessary for construction, but rather serves as a visual aid representing the finished home. Not all designers provide a cover sheet.
Foundation Plan – The foundation page provides a detailed drawing of the foundation including information such as thickness of foundation walls, column locations, floor joist sizes and spacing, as well as other construction notes and details.
Floor Plan – The floor plan page(s) reflect the layout and construction of each floor of the house. In most cases these pages will include all wall sizes, room dimensions, notes about ceiling design, window and door locations and sizes, and other structural and layout notes and details.
Basic Electric – The basic electrical information is sometimes found on the floor plan page, while other times it is on a separate page. In either case, this information will reflect the suggested locations of outlets, switches, and fixtures.
Simple Plumbing – The simple plumbing information may be found on the floor plan, or it might be on a separate page. This diagram indicates the locations of bathtubs, showers, commodes, and sinks.
Interior Elevations – The interior elevations page contains descriptive details and drawings showing the built-in elements of the home such as, fireplaces, kitchen cabinets, built-in bookshelves or desks, vanities, moldings, and handrails.
Exterior Elevations – The exterior elevation page is used to describe the look and feel of the home’s exterior finish. It provides views of the house on all sides and calls out the exterior finish and trim materials and their placement, including siding, brick, stone, stucco, etc. This page also indicates the type of roofing materials and decorative elements such as window shutters. The exterior elevations typically indicate details such as roof pitches and ceiling heights. Sometimes window and door sizes are included here.
Details – Details may be found on a separate page or in various locations throughout the construction drawings. They communicate how smaller elements should be constructed. This includes items such as how the fireplace should look, the design of handrail spindles and the sizes and styles of moldings used throughout the home.
Sections – Home plan sections may be on a separate page or on various pages throughout the construction drawings. Typically, they are views of the home showing the composition of the foundation, interior and exterior walls, roofs, floors, and stair details. These drawings indicate the rooflines, ceiling heights and the relationship between floors.

**Note: Not all stock house plans come with each element described here. They vary by designer.

For more information, please refer to Everything You Need to Know About Stock House Plans.

A reproducible master is one complete, printed set of construction drawings that comes with a copyright release granting legal permission to modify the designer’s original copyrighted plan. If you would like to make simple changes to the house plan, the reproducible master may accommodate your needs. This allows your builder or a local residential designer to make necessary changes to the construction drawings by hand without investing the time or money it would take to completely redraw the stock house plan or draw a custom home plan. Once your changes are completed, you can make the copies needed to build your home. You will need to take the copyright release with you to the print/copy shop. The copyright release does not give you the right to build the home more than once with the same set of construction drawings. Not all designers offer the reproducible master plan package, so check for availability. (Note: While some designers print reproducible masters on erasable vellum paper, others print the plans on bond paper, and it is necessary to use White Out to make changes.)

A CAD file is a complete set of house plans in an electronic file format. If you want to make substantial changes to your construction drawings, a CAD file is recommended. It will be necessary to hire a design professional to make changes to the electronic files. A copyright release is included with the CAD file allowing you to legally make changes to the copyrighted plans and print the copies needed for construction. In most cases, it can be emailed to you within one to two business days of placing your order during regular business hours, Monday – Friday. Please be aware that some of our designers require customers to sign and return a license agreement before the CAD file is emailed to the customer. Note: CAD software is required to open CAD files. CAD files are not available for all plans. CAD files are non-returnable once the designer has emailed the file to you.

The PDF plan package is an electronic version of the construction drawings that comes with a copyright release granting legal permission to modify and print the plans. It allows you to make minor changes to the construction drawings and reproduce the sets of plans necessary for obtaining bids and permits, as well as constructing your new home. In most cases, the PDF can be emailed to you within one to two business days of placing your order during regular business hours, Monday – Friday. Simply take the PDF to a local print shop (or forward it by email) to have your construction drawings printed. Please be aware that some of our designers require customers to sign and return a license agreement before the PDF is emailed to the customer. Note: PDF files are not available for all plans, and they are non-returnable once the designer has emailed the file to you.

The stock home plans published by The House Plan Shop are designed to meet national building codes, but they do not necessarily meet any specific state, county, or municipal codes. Therefore, these construction drawings do not include extensive HVAC, plumbing, and electrical details. Information about your HVAC system will depend on the size of your home, the types of units you use, climate, and common practices for your area. Ductwork will be defined by your local building codes and the type of heating and cooling system you choose. Be sure to discuss all HVAC with your builder and HVAC contractor before construction begins. Plumbing fixtures are included in the construction drawings showing the kitchen and bath fixture symbols and locations. The flow of water lines and sewer system are site specific and must be determined locally. Take time to discuss plumbing details with your builder and plumber before construction begins. They should be able to provide you with the necessary information based on your local building codes. A basic electrical plan reflecting suggested locations of outlets, fixtures, and switches is sometimes included in the construction drawings, but not always. Availability of this information varies by designer and by plan number. It is necessary to review the electrical details with your contractor and local electrician to ensure local codes are met.

Many construction drawings published by The House Plan Shop include detailed sections of the framing, floor joists, and roof layouts, but it is not often that they include the entire layout. An experienced builder or contractor will be able to construct your home using the information provided on the construction drawings.

Walkout basement foundations are well-suited for sloping lots usually with one wall of the foundation exposed rather than dug into the earth. The exposed wall allows for larger windows and a doorway at the basement level that directly walks out to your lot.

Our construction drawings will not be engineered for your specific city, state, county, or province, and they WILL NOT include an engineer's/architect's seal or stamp (engineering requirements). Engineering (or a BCIN for Ontario) is a local requirement. Often, engineering requirements are influenced by climactic and geographic elements that are specific to the area where you plan to build, making them local requirements. If you need engineering or an engineer’s/architect’s review, seal, or stamp, to obtain building permits, it will be up to you (the homeowner) or your builder to hire a local engineer/architect to review and seal/stamp the plans. This professional must be licensed in the state/province where the structure will be built. We recommend finding someone who can help you with this before purchasing plans.

Typically, square footage calculations are made from outside the exterior frame wall and do not include decks, porches, patios, screened porches, verandas, fireplaces, garages, basements, attics, future space, and bonus rooms. This means livable, heated, and finished (dry-walled, painted, carpeted) space. Two-story and vaulted areas are included only once in the calculations of the first floor. The stairs are counted once. Balconies and open walkways in two story and vaulted areas are included in square footage. If a house plan calls out finished square footage in the basement, it will be calculated as part of the total living square footage. Typically, brick is not included in our square footage calculations. This is generally true for all the home plans on The House Plan Shop website. Square footage is calculated using the actual construction drawings. You will not be able to calculate the square footage using the room sizes from spec floor plans on our website. If you need to clarify the square footage of a particular home plan, please contact us.

The total square footage of The House Plan Shop's house plans includes all the area inside the exterior face of the "heated walls". This refers to heated living space only. It does not include garages, porches, verandas, bonus rooms, future space, or decks. It does include the living space for a finished basement. The listed dimensions of each room cannot be multiplied and added together to come up with the total square footage because hallways, closets, and other small spaces are not included.

The House Plan Shop, LLC offers home plans with a variety of wall framing options. Please use our plan search tool to select the type of exterior wall framing you need, and then begin your house plan search. Please note: Some house plans are available with optional wall framing types for an extra fee. These options and fees will be listed on the respective plan page. If a particular wall framing type is not available for a specific plan, please submit a modification request to receive a free quote to convert to design to the wall framing type you desire.

Yes. All plans sold on The House Plan Shop website are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced. Copies can only be made if a reproducible master, PDF, or CAD file is purchased. All home plans and illustrations published on this website are the exclusive property of The HousePlanShop, LLC and the architects and designers represented on this website. Only one structure may be constructed from the plan package you purchase. Home plans may not be resold or copied. We strive for accurate representation of renderings and house plans and will not be responsible for errors or omissions on this website. Copyright laws strictly prohibit reproduction in whole or in part of any home plans or illustrations on this website.

Some of our designers require that you sign and return a license agreement before your order is emailed or shipped to you. This requirement varies by designer and by plan package. Please be sure to check your inbox and junk mail for a license agreement after you place your house plan order. If the designer requires you to sign a license agreement, it will be emailed to you.

Most house plans are designed using a double-hung divided-light window. Each set of construction drawings uses a generic window sizing system that does not apply to any specific brand of windows. For example, a common size seen on plans is 2850. This is a window that is 2'-8" wide by 5'-0" tall or 32" wide and 60" tall. This standard system is used to identify the door sizes as well. A door labeled 2468 is a standard 2'-4" wide by 6'-8" tall door.

The following is a list of abbreviations commonly used on spec floor plan drawings shown on The House Plan Shop website.

BR – Bedroom
BRK – Breakfast Room or Nook
CLG - Ceiling
DN - Down
DW – Dishwasher
E – Entry
F or FURN – Furnace
FPL – Fireplace
KS – Knee Space
LN – Linen Closet
MBR – Master Bedroom
MC – Mechanical
OPT - Optional
P or PAN – Pantry
PDR – Powder Room
R or REF – Refrigerator
SHWR – Shower
SKLT – Skylight
STOR – Storage closet/space
VLT – Vaulted Ceiling
W/D – Washer/Dryer
WH – Water Heater
WIC – Walk-in Closet
WS – Woodstove

Abbreviations are common on construction drawings. Please see The House Plan Shop's tip sheet, Construction Drawing Abbreviations, under the Miscellaneous Information heading in the resource section to review a full listing of abbreviations used on stock house plans and in the residential building industry.

Building codes are safety guidelines and regulations dictating how a building should be constructed in a particular area. These building codes range from nationally recognized guidelines to specific city and county building laws. Building codes are set forth and adhered to as a means of protecting the builder and the buyer of a new home. Many of the building rules and regulations in a particular geographic region or area are based upon elements specific to that area such as soil and weather conditions. All the house plans published on this website were designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the nationally recognized building code in effect at the place and time each plan was drawn. Generally, construction drawings designed after the year 2000 conform to the International Residential Code (IRC). Portions of four major building codes compose the IRC. They are listed below. Typically, house plans drawn before 2000 conform to one of these four building codes in effect at the time of creation.

BOCA (Building Officials & Code Administrators)
CABO (Council of American Building Officials)
ICBO (International Conference of Building Officials)
SBCCI (Southern Building Code Congress International)

Each state, city, county, or municipality follows some form of one or any combination of these residential building codes. To learn more about the required building codes in your area, please consult a local building official.

Our plans are designed to meet the national building codes in place at the time each plan is created. However, we DO NOT guarantee the plans will meet all local building codes. Due to the wide range of building codes and zoning requirements in cities, counties, municipalities, and states/provinces throughout the United States and Canada, it is possible the construction drawings may not include all the information required by your local building department. It may be necessary to hire a local design professional or engineer/architect to adjust the plans to comply with your local building codes.

There are a few options for modifying or changing your house plans. We offer a modification service for customers who need to make changes to their construction drawings. Our team will be happy to provide a free, no-obligation quote for your changes before you purchase plans. All requests for changes must be submitted in writing using the modification request form. Simply click on the “Modify this Plan” link at the top of any plan page to complete and submit the your modification request for that plan number. NOTE: It is necessary to monitor your inbox and junk/spam folder after submitting your modfication request. Sometimes modification quotes will end up in junk mail.

Learn more about our modification service.

Another option is to hire a local design professional to modify the construction drawings. When you purchase a PDF, CAD file, or reproducible master plan package (depending on availability), you will receive a copyright release granting legal permission to modify the original copyrighted construction drawings. This allows you to work with a design professional of your choice.

Sometimes, your contractor can make minor changes on site. You should discuss any changes you want to make with your builder before purchasing plans. In some cases, your homebuilder can make changes at the jobsite without the extra expense of having the original construction drawings modified.

The cost to modify a house plan varies greatly depending on the plan and the types of changes you want to make. Please submit a modification request if you would like to receive a free quote for your desired changes. The House Plan Shop modification team will email a quote to you within one to three business days.

In most cases, you can upgrade your plan package or purchase supplemental items within 90 days of placing the original order. When you place an upgrade order, a percentage of what you paid for the original plan package will be applied to the upgraded order/plan packge. Additionally, you may be charged a service fee for your upgraded order or supplemental items. Percentages and service fees vary by designer, plan number, and plan package. Please Note: You cannot place your order for an upgraded plan package or supplemental items online. Please contact us by phone or email, and we will be happy to help you with your plan package upgrade or supplemental items.

In general, a material list is a complete list of the building materials needed to construct a home or other structure. It calls out the sizes and quantities of building materials needed for construction such as, lumber, doors, windows, drywall, exterior finishes, and more. Appliances, HVAC, foundation materials, rough plumbing, and other various interior finishing materials may not be included. Note: The material lists offered on our website only include the materials for the base plan with the standard wall framing and foundation options (those offered at no extra charge). The materials for alternate wall framing and foundation options available for an extra charge will not be included in the material list. Additionally, please be aware the materials included in material lists vary by designer.

Material lists are available for many home plans published on The House Plan Shop website. If a material list is available for a specific plan number, it will be listed on the plan page under the “Additional Options” heading for an additional charge. When a material list is not available, we recommend checking with a local lumberyard. Most lumberyards will create a material list for you at no charge when you supply the lumberyard with a copy of your construction drawings. NOTE: Material lists are only available with the purchase of a plan package for a home plan of the same plan number.

Material lists are only available with the purchase of a plan package for a home plan of the same plan number.

Sometimes a particular house plan will work better on a lot if the original plan layout were reversed. In these cases, right reading reverse plans are available for some of the home plans advertised on The House Plan Shop's website. Availability is indicated under the "Additional Options" heading when you view the plan page. If right reading reverse are not available for a specific plan, our modification team can help you. Please complete and submit the modification request form for a free modification quote. Our modification team will email a quote to you within one to three business days.

The right reading reverse option will flip the floor plan(s) from left to right with all text, symbols, and notes reading correctly. If you order a right reading reverse house plan, all sets in the plan package will be shipped in right reading reverse. Availability is noted on the house plan page. Note: Your order will be fulfilled in right reading reverse format only. The standard format of the construction drawings will not be included with your order.

Processing and shipping options and rates vary per plan. The processing and shipping method(s) available for the plan you wish to purchase will appear under the "Shipping" tab on the plan page. U.S. Ground delivery typically takes 8-12 business days. Some of our designers also offer other options such as Priority shipping (3-5 business days) and Express shipping (1-2 business days). Orders placed before 11:00 a.m. CST Monday through Friday (on normal business days, excluding holidays) will be processed the day they are placed. Orders placed after 11:00 a.m. CST Monday through Friday or over a weekend may be held until the next business day. For orders shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada, or for orders shipping from Canada to the U.S., please check the available shipping options listed on the webpage for each respective design. Many of our designers will sell their plans to overseas customers. Please contact us for further information before placing your international order (outside the U.S and Canada).

Many house plans available at The House Plan Shop can be sold overseas or internationally. If you are not a resident of the United States or Canada, please contact us for plan package availability.

We make every effort to ensure your online shopping experience with The House Plan Shop is as secure as possible. When you place a home plan order online, all information is encrypted before sending it from our secure server to an automated payment-processing center that validates your credit card. Once your credit card has been charged, your order information is sent to the order-processing center without your credit card information. This ensures that your credit card information is never stored on our server, and no one has access to it at any time. As for your privacy, your personal information is used only for our account management and is not sold or given to any other companies or organizations.

Sales tax is charged on any purchase made in the state of Missouri.

The charges on your credit card will appear as The HousePlanShop, LLC.

Your plan purchase is NOT returnable or refundable. Since our construction drawings are printed and shipped or emailed directly to you in response to your order, The House Plan Shop does not honor any requests for returns, refunds, or exchanges under any circumstances. Review your order before placing it. Be certain you need and want the items you plan to order. Also, it is EXTREMELY important that you check the dimensions of your land, construction site, or lot before purchasing a home plan. All sales are FINAL.

The building license is not transferable. It is only granted to the person who originally purchased the house plan.

You are licensed to build one home or structure from the plans you purchase, unless you purchase a plan package that includes a multi-build license. Some of our designers offer plan packages that include a multi-build license. When available, the multi-build license will be shown on the respective plan page with the plan package pricing. If you wish to build a plan multiple times that does not have a multi-build license listed on the plan page, please contact us for a quote. NOTE: As the original purchaser of the house plans, you are licensed to build a single home from the plans. Constructing the home more than one time with the original purchase of the house plans is copyright infringement and violates the designer’s copyright laws. Buying a multiple-set plan package does not entitle you to build the home more than once. In the same manner, purchasing additional sets of the construction drawing does not give you the right to build the home again.

Photographs are available for many of houses published with The House Plan Shop. If they are available, the photos are published on the plan page for each design. If there are no photos posted on the plan page, there are no photos available for that plan. As we receive new photos of our houses, they are added to our website. Please check back periodically for new photos. If you would only like to view house plans with photographs available, please visit our photo collection. Note: The photographs displayed online may differ from the actual plans, depending on the modifications made by the owner/builder. Refer to the floor plan(s) for the actual layout of the home.

The House Plan Shop sells home plans throughout the United States and internationally. We know where we have shipped the house plans, but we do not know exactly where our home plans have been built. To protect the privacy of our customers, The House Plan Shop does not track this information. However, we have photography for many of our home plans. Any available photos can be viewed on the home's plan page. When we receive new photos, we post them right away.

In most cases, if additional elevations or photos are available for a specific home plan, they are published on our website. When The House Plan Shop receives new elevations or photos, we make an effort to post them on the website as soon as possible. However, if you would like to see an elevation that we do not currently publish, please contact us, and we will do our best to obtain the elevation from the designer.

Some of our house plans were originally designed for handicap accessibility. You can search for these plans using the plan search tool. However, if you find a home plan that is not handicap accessible, you can submit a modification request to receive a quote to have it modified for handicap accessibility.