Houseplans.com

The plans provided are incomplete and lacking engineering detail for construction. I purchased a farmhouse style plan set with basement, the received plans have a hybrid basement/crawlspace. Floor girder is called as "built-up beam" with no dimensions or loading provided. Covered porch is called as 2" floor joists with wood columns, guess an engineer is needed there. Wall and foundation details are inconsistent, vaulted ceiling is unspecified, roofing calls for standing seam in elevation and asphalt shingles in details. The only thing the plans are good for is the floor plan.

The house plan I chose was number 120-257 Contemporary farmhouse. There were a few issues and of course made lots of changes. First I flipped the house over totally to have garage on right side and Master on left. More privacy based on land. Also I finished the bonus rooms off by making one a bedroom. Plan called for open rooms. I made island larger 11' instead of 8' I also put down-staircase off office instead of under upstairs case. The plan did not call for basement but based on the lay of the land I was forced to put 1/3 basement with 12-1/2 ft ceilings.. So when you select a plan that calls for slab, make sure your land is flat and can accommodate a slab structure. I am doing a blog with Houzz.com so it is fun talking about the build and the changes and issues you have along your journey.

I paid full price for plans that got rejected by the building department. The plans I purchased have a vaulted ceiling but absolutely no drawings show how the ridge beam is supported on the wall or down to the foundation. It is literally without any drawings to show how the roof is supported to the foundation!! It cost $1600 to have the drawings fixed by a local structural engineer. Please don't make the mistake I did. NEVER buy online house plans. They don't show you the plans until after you've paid and by then it's too late when you discover the plans are woefully inadequate. Shame on this business that makes false claims and takes hard earned money from people.

Update from my May 8, 2020 review. After paying $1,440 for incomplete plans and leaving the review below, I was contacted and offered a free CAD upgrade. While I do appreciate this gesture it did not resolve the issue completely. The CAD just made our architect fee less. We were given an estimate of $3,300 to fix and complete the plans we purchased from houseplans.com. This is by far the cheapest proposal we found. One architect said $8,950 to correct and complete the plans. We have paid the $1,500 retainer fee to the architect and he is working on it now. I was also contacted by their social media rep asking that I remove the negative review as I was given the free CAD upgrade and my issue is “resolved”. Being “resolved” is not having to pay an architect to correct and complete plans that were advertised as “ready to build” with “no architect needed”. If you do buy plans just know you WILL need an architect. Your plans WILL need to be redrawn. And you WILL spend a lot of money on it. The plans are NOT ready to build. The plans are NOT complete sets. Plan on adding at least a couple grand on to your purchase price to get the plans corrected to turn into your county for permits.

Don't buy online plans! We made this mistake. We ordered the CAD file believing our local draftsman would be able to tweek a couple things prior to submitting to the county for permits. WRONG! Draftsman explained that the plans were inadequate, and would need to be redrawn completely. I recommend you just take a screenshot of the plans you like and give that to a draftsman/architect. Called Houseplans.com to express my dissatisfaction and request a refund. Basically was told tough luck buddy.

We were very excited to find a house plan to use to build our dream home. Stacey Kiilerich was very helpful during the entire search and buying process. She even gave us a code to use! After reading how all plans on their site are ready to build, you won’t have to waste money on an architect since their plans are complete, that the exterior elevations would be included as well as the foundation I wanted that cost an extra couple hundred I was confident in making the purchase. That’s when everything went downhill. The plan I was sent was incomplete. The foundation I was sent is a cinderblock foundation which is not what I asked and paid for. The foundation elevation is missing. The stairs are missing on the plan. The entire second floor framing is missing. There are no smoke detectors or CO2 detectors on the plan. The foundation and wall height measurements are not there. Several notes and details missing. We paid approximately $1440 for scrap paper. We have talked to several architects and they have all said the same thing- that plan is incomplete and has to be redrawn. We are going to have to hire an architect to redraw the plan so it’s actually buildable and that cost is approx $5,000. I have sent 5 emails asking for someone to fix the problem and if the complete plan cannot be sent I need the CAD sent for free so I can pay an architect to finish the plan. Stacey suddenly won’t respond to my emails. The designer of the plan is not responding. And I sent an email to the company and have yet to hear back. This is false advertising which is illegal. I’m not sure how you are legally allowed to sell these plans as “ready to build” advertising you will save money as you won’t need an architect. I would strongly advise not using this company.

I have used house plans twice now and worked with Geoff. First time great experience second time it could not of been worse. He said 3 weeks and it took 3 MONTHS!! I would find another company that is more concerned about the customer than taking your dollars and farming the project out over seas as they do. Do yourself a favor and a lot of wasted time and missing deadlines with your permits and contractors and find another company. Take a BIG chance and I hope it's not i told you so. VERY VERY DISSAPPINTED.

BEWARE!!! I was very dissatisfied with the customer service at houseplans.com. They offered NO help in resolving my issues. POLICY, POLICY, POLICY is there only answer. Where is customer service? not at houseplans.com I purchased a set of plans at $1200.00 only to find that the County and State in which I live advised me the paper the plans were printed on could only be used to "start a fire" not build a house. There were so many errors on the drawings I not sure how they can sell these as a full set of plans. I highly recommend you finding a local architect who is aware of state and county codes and avoid buying anything from houseplans.com

I would never do business with this company ever again. I ordered a set of plans for a home I wanted to build and then changed my mind. I am not a contractor or builder - but we were looking to build our dream home - and found it instead. Houseplans.com would not issue a refund of any kind even though the plans had never been opened and were in the original packaging. It is very disappointing that in today's day and age a company would be so unwilling to provide any level of customer service to satisfy a customer. I was even willing to return the plans for a small refund (we paid over $1200 for the plans) so they could resell them. They adamantly refused to issue any refund of any kind and said it is in their terms and conditions when you make the purchase. Once your card is charged folks, you own them and there is no going back. Buyer beware.

It should go without saying that Dan is extremely knowledgable regarding all aspects of the built, green and designed environment. He is also a well published author and editor of houseplans.com, a Brilliant coverage of cutting edge architecture and design. I doesn't get any better.