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Choosing House Plans: 19 Things to Check Before You Fall in Love With the Elevation
Plans and design House plans From a builder
Choosing House Plans: 19 Things to Check Before You Fall in Love With the Elevation
People choose a plan the way they choose a car: from the outside, in about four seconds. Then they live inside it for twenty years. Here are the nineteen things I check on a plan before I price it, in roughly the order they turn into regret.
Short version: Check the plan against your lot and the sun first (the long side and the glass should face south, the garage and utility rooms north), then against how you actually live: traffic from garage to kitchen, where the groceries land, where the coats go, how far the laundry is from the bedrooms, where the furniture fits with 36 inches to walk around it, where the light falls at breakfast and at dinner, who can see into which window. Cut the hallways and the rooms you will not use, keep flexible rooms with closets for resale, and price the plan before you love it, because the exterior is the easiest thing to change and the footprint is the most expensive.
The lot and the sun
- Orientation. The living rooms and the big glass belong on the south side; bedrooms you use in the morning on the east; garage, mudroom, laundry, mechanical and storage on the north. A plan drawn for a south-facing street lot can be a disaster mirrored onto a north-facing lake lot. Flip it, rotate it, or keep looking. Walkout basement design is the same lesson for a sloping lot.
- Fit to the lot. Setbacks, the septic bed, the well, the driveway grade, the trees you want to keep, the neighbour’s second-floor window. Put the plan on the survey before you buy it. The buildable-lot checklist comes first.
- Views. Rooms clustered on the view side, windows sized for it, and nothing you care about looking at the hydro pole.
- Outdoor rooms. An L or a bump-out makes a sheltered deck; a plain rectangle makes one big exposed one. Decide where you will sit outside in June and where the wind comes from.
How you will actually live in it
- Traffic flow. Groceries from the garage to the kitchen without crossing the living room; a bathroom reachable from every bedroom without a tour; guests to the back yard without passing the kitchen sink. Doors that swing into each other are a sign the plan was drawn, not walked.
- Wasted space. Every hallway costs the same per square foot as a bedroom and does nothing. Short corridors, fewer of them, and a walk-in closet that is not just a hallway with hooks.
- Rooms you will not use. The formal living room that becomes the room for the piano nobody plays. Put the square footage where the family is: the kitchen and the room beside it.
- Storage. A pantry, a linen closet near the bathrooms, a coat closet at the door you actually use, a place for the vacuum, the recycling, the Christmas boxes, the hockey bags. Plans from warmer places forget Ontario needs a mudroom.
- Work space. Laundry near the bedrooms or near the mudroom, not in the basement corner; a half bath off the mudroom if you garden or hunt or have a dog.
- Flexible rooms. An office with a closet is a bedroom at resale. A gym with a window is a nursery. Avoid rooms that can only ever be one thing.
- Furniture. Measure what you own and draw it in; leave 36 inches to walk around it and room for doors to swing. Check that the sofa will make it up the stairs and around the corner. A square room uses space better than a long one of the same area, and a door in the corner leaves more wall.
- Life stage. Newlyweds and retirees want different plans. Think ten years out: kids, parents moving in, a main-floor bedroom you will want at 70, a suite the Code now lets you add. Forever-home features is the long list.
Light, sound and privacy
- Light patterns. Where does the sun land at 7 a.m. and at 6 p.m.? A north-facing kitchen with one window is a cave in January. Skylights and a window at the end of a hall make a house feel bigger than its square footage.
- Sight lines. A window at the end of every hallway and across from every doorway; walls that block the view make the house feel small.
- Sound. Open plans are noisy. A closet between the bathroom and the bedroom, a wall between the TV and the office, bedrooms stacked over bedrooms not over the family room.
- Privacy. Which windows look into the neighbour’s? Is the primary bedroom beside the kids’ rooms or across the house? Where is the hot tub going, and who can see it?
- Openness. The kitchen open to the family room is what most people want; the kitchen open to the front door is what most people regret.
The money
- Resale. Do not design something so personal that only you would buy it. Three bedrooms up, a main-floor office, a garage that fits a truck.
- Budget. Price the plan before you love it. Footprint, number of corners, roof complexity, foundation type and the kitchen drive the cost; the exterior cladding is the cheapest thing to change and the most common reason people walk away from a good plan. Designing to a target budget is how to do it in that order, and how much house you really need is the question before it.
Where to get plans
Stock plans from the catalogues are a fine starting point and a poor finishing point; nearly every one gets modified for the lot, the Code and the family. A BCIN designer or an architect takes it from there, and in Ontario your permit drawings have to carry a designer’s BCIN or an architect’s seal unless you qualify to draw your own house. Architect vs BCIN designer explains who does what; Designing a custom home is the hub for the whole design stage, and the most popular house plans shows what Ontario families keep choosing.
Related guides on this site
Sources and further reading
Questions people ask
What should I look for when choosing a house plan?
Orientation on your lot (living space and glass to the south), traffic flow from garage to kitchen and bedroom to bathroom, minimal hallways, storage including a mudroom and pantry, furniture fit with 36 inches of clearance, light and sight lines, privacy from neighbours, flexible rooms for resale, and a cost estimate before you commit.
Can I change a stock house plan?
Almost always, and almost everyone does: window sizes, the mirror image, a bump-out, the exterior finish. Structural changes (moving bearing walls, widening spans) need the designer or an engineer. In Ontario the permit drawings need a BCIN designer or architect unless you qualify to draw your own.
What makes a house plan expensive to build?
Footprint, corners and jogs, roof complexity, a walkout or deep foundation, and the kitchen and bathroom count. Cladding and finishes come after. A simple rectangle with a trussed roof is the cheapest shape per square foot.
Which direction should a house face?
In Ontario, the long side with the most glass should face south for winter sun and summer shade with overhangs; put the garage, mudroom and utility spaces on the north. Match the plan to the lot, not the other way around.
Have a plan already?
Send it to ICFhome.ca and we will tell you what it costs to build and where the drawing is spending money you may not want to spend.
Reviewed and updated October 2026. Costs are Ontario ranges, not quotes; code references are to the Ontario Building Code in force at that date.
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There really is a lot that you have to consider when choosing a plan for your new home and I really like a lot of the suggestions the article makes. In particular, I really like that the article goes over how important storage space is when designing a new home. After all, regardless of how simple you live, you are likely going to have a lot of stuff and, because of that, you need to have space in your home to store it.
To tell the truth, it is so cool that I came across your article because me and my husband are planning to build our own house and before this moment I hadnβt even been aware of the fact that East-facing houses are often considered auspicious and will bring you wealth. It is absolutely unique and important for me because well-being always plays a huge role in our life. Also, I didnβt know that it has so many nuances and that you need to take different factors into account in order to implement it in the best possible way. It is so valuable that you mentioned various east-facing house plan drawings because, I think, every person will be able to find something meeting his requirements and needs.
I found your blog on choosing house plans incredibly thoughtful and arranged. The tips you provided are practical and essential for anyone navigating the difficulties of home design. I especially appreciated the focus on balancing functionality with design. Your advice will surely help many readers make informed decisions on their homebuilding journey.