Ideas for Home Plans

Green Homes

• While much of what makes a home green depends on the building materials used, like efficient windows, most of it is how the home is built. If you want a greener home, look for one that is compact, with most of its living area close to an imaginary center axis, for the most efficient air circulation. Open floor plans will help, especially with generous use of ceiling fans. In non-flooding areas, homes built partially underground are very efficient for heating and cooling, and generous use of skylights in open floor plans ensures plenty of sunlight.

Narrow-Lot or Odd-Shape Lot Homes

• You can build surprisingly nice homes in narrow lots. Victorians lend themselves well to narrow lots, for instance, and shotgun-style homes were designed specifically to fit in narrow lots as well. However, it's difficult to match spacious home plans with small- and odd-shape lots. For these, ditch the house plan books and go to an architect who specializes in compact design. You'll pay a little more up front, but you will have a good home that assesses higher and that you love to live in.

Special Needs

• Not every family is two parents, two kids, one pet. Your family may have a grandparent moving in, or a child in a wheelchair, or include seven children or require a home office. If you currently have or anticipate special needs, make sure you plan accordingly. You might, for instance, opt for a home with a mother-in-law apartment if you have an elderly parent moving in who would like to maintain independence, or if you have an older teen who will be staying home to go to college. Young families planning more kids should look for homes that are easy to build additions to, or that have large bonus rooms. Families with mobility issues might select only one-story homes with easy access between driveway and living spaces.

Nature-Resistant Homes

• There's a good reason A-frame houses are more common in the north and flat-roofed Spanish designs are popular in the south. Snow slides off the A-frame's roof without collapsing it, and hurricane-force winds tend to blow over flat-roofed homes. Consider nature's effects in your area while choosing home plans. Lots of tornados? Make sure you have a basement and good home ventilation. Flooding an issue? Build on a slab, or with a crawlspace foundation or even stilts if you're on lower ground.

Kit Homes

• If you want a bit more than a plan, you might consider a kit home, a home construction staple that's been around since the Craftsman period of the early 1900s. Both Sears-Roebuck and Montgomery Ward sold kit homes through catalogs. These kit homes were in essence pre-cut supplies and finishings labeled and numbered with not just plans but construction instructions. Today, you can still find kit homes, most commonly log homes. They're perfect for do-it-yourselfers who need a bit more than home plans, especially those who'd like to put their own finishing touches on a home.