Dream Home Plans
As you consider building a custom home, take some time to look at the house plans and blueprints that are available to you on the internet. When choosing house plans, you will need to assess your lifestyle, the size of the home, and the budgetary limitations you may have.
There are many different ways to get your dream home plans, but all require having a licensed person review and stamp your plans before you can get a building permit in Ontario.
Stock House Plans
If you buy an existing plan from the Internet, then the cost of plans typically ranges from $750 to $1,500. The cost is usually related to the size and features of the home.
Plans for smaller homes often cost less than plans for larger homes. The cost of reviewing, redrawing and approving adds $0.75 to $1.00 per square foot to that figure.
Builder Plans
Some builders have their plans they typically build. Usually, the cost of the plans is included in the cost of the home, and the cost is usually up to $300.
However, if you want to change a plan or design a new plan, then some builders will charge for the time involved. The cost to draft a new plan may be around $1,500 to $3,500 depending on the square footage. Builder usually has someone to approve and stamp his drawings to make them ready for the building permit.
Architect
The cost of hiring an architect is usually around 7% to 20% of the home’s price depending on how much you want him to do.
The industry average is around 12%, but if you want him to supervise the whole project it may climb to 25% of the cost of the project. The cost may be less if you don’t use all of the services that the architect offers.
If you want an architect to review a set of plans, the cost is usually much less, and you may be able to pay them an hourly fee. It may cost around $1,000.00 to $3,000.00 to do a plan review. Before any work begins the architect can give you a ballpark estimate of the cost of his services.
Drafting Services
The cost of hiring a draftsperson to draw your plans is usually around $1,000 to $3,000. Typically a draftsperson just draws the blueprints but does not offer much design services. If you work with a draftsperson, you have to have your plans reviewed and stamped by a licensed designer at the cost from $0.50 per square foot and up.
Lumber Stores
Lumber stores sometimes offer free or low-cost drafting service if you buy the materials there. Lumber stores do not provide much design assistance, and you have to have your plans reviewed by a licensed designer. Some lumber stores that offer “free” design services will charge you if you want to make changes to the plan or they will put limits on a number of changes they will do for you.
It’s helpful that you mentioned that stock house plans can help me have more flexibility when it comes to house blueprint design services. I’m interested in looking for a good designer soon because I’d like to have my new home built very soon. It’s starting to feel a bit cramped in the apartment that I’m sharing with a friend so I would like to move out within the next year or so.
It’s good to know that I can save money by having an architect only do certain services. I’d love to have them help me out with every step. Maybe I can rework my budget to get more help.
BCIN qualified designer is missing from this list and is usually in between the draftsperson and architect for fees. Most of my projects come in between 5-10k from project start to finished permit at a rate of $50/hour, depending on how much consultation work is required with the city/agencies, etc.