Do I need plans for my project?

"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” – Benjamin Franklin

The short answer is that if your project requires work to be performed by more than one person and quantities of materials will need to be calculated, then YES, you need plans. The more quantities of materials needed and the more people needed to work on a project the more planning that will be necessary. Plans are a communications tool to keep everyone involved with your project all working in the same direction and towards a common goal.

Do you want to know what your project will cost before you start work or after the work is finished? How will you communicate what work is to be done and coordinate that work between all the different workers? Can my contractor design the project? A good set of plans allow you to bid the project effectively. All builders and contractors do different levels of work and will quote you a wide range of prices unless you can communicate exactly what you want for your project.

Price! It is common practice in the construction industry when a trade is asked to give a price for something and they don’t know exactly what they will be doing for them to estimate high to make sure they are covered. If you can’t provide plans and you can’t be perfectly clear on what you want them to do then they will assume the worst and price it out accordingly. Additionally, you need some kind of drawing in to do a material take-off. A lot of times the labor rates are based on materials such as labor per sheet of drywall. All of this can definitely be done without drawings, but it is much more difficult and much less accurate. The loss of accuracy means an increase in price to cover the trade in the event that more work needs to take place then what was discussed. Some trades will appear sympathetic and might suggest you hire them on a time and materials basis because they can’t give you an accurate estimate. This can end up bad for you or it could end up good for you but either way the trade will get paid for whatever work they do so they assume no risk. Another problem with time and materials is how do you then plan to do the work financially if you don’t know how much it is going to cost? When you add that price increase to every trade and every person working on your project those price overruns can easily cost you $10 - $20k on a $300,000 home.

Can’t I just buy plans online? You can but you need to be careful because house plans from as little as just three years ago might not meet current code requirements for stairs and insulation. The stairs may need to be longer to meet the lower max riser requirement because you will need more treads. Stairs can have a big impact on the overall layout of a house particularly when hallways and landings are minimized to maximize habitable living space. That one small adjustment can have a snowball effect on the rest of the house. Additionally, if the house was designed to previous insulation requirements and has 2x4 exterior walls rather than 2x6 exterior walls, then none of the cabinetry or bathrooms will work when you change walls. That two inch difference has a huge impact on whether or not things will work properly.

Can my builder just do the plans? Yes, but it is much better for you if you hire an independent designer to layout your project rather than the builder. First of all you wouldn’t hire an electrician to do your plumbing and you wouldn’t hire a plumber to do your electrical work so don’t hire a builder to do your design work. One huge reason why you should not have a builder design your project is because they are probably not going to provide you with plans or the resources necessary to be able to get prices from other builders or contractors. Selecting a building based on a price range when you don’t have plans is no different than asking someone to give you a price on a red car and then basing your judgment on who you will hire based on that answer. Well, what kind of red car? A Ferrari or a Honda? You need specifics to get consistent answers. Not all builders have the same resources to complete work, so even if you are specific in what you want their prices may be different but at least you know they are all giving you prices for the exact car with all of the specific options you want. All the bids are “apples to apples.”

Can’t my builder just give me allowances and then I can pick out my finishes later? Certainly! But allowances are often abused. A lot of builders will go light on allowances in the contract so that their overall price will be lower in order to get the job. Once the job starts and you start making selections you begin to realize that your overall price is going to go up a lot in order for you to get what you wanted. Perhaps one of the other builders included reasonable allowances for your selections which cause his price to be higher than the builder you selected. You can avoid issues like this by having a complete design that includes all of your selections for roofing, siding, doors and windows, flooring, cabinetry, countertops, appliances, plumbing and lighting fixtures, etc. A lot of builders have special arrangements or discounts with different vendors and can potentially suggest cost saving alternatives that are similar to your selection. This is a far better scenario than to allow a builder to short your allowances from the beginning. Hiring a designer first will allow you to get all of this information in order to make the bidding accurate and the process easier on you.

Builders and Contractors get paid a percentage. Why does this matter? Because at the end of the day a contractor or builder gets paid more the more money you spend… this is why most of them won’t mind if you don’t have a complete set of construction documents. They would much rather you pay $15,000 more in change orders that they can mark-up rather than for you to hire a design professional directly. A good builder will encourage you to have a detailed set of plans produced prior to bidding and signing a contract on your project so they can give you an accurate estimate upfront. Protect yourself and present them with a project that they can bid and bid fairly.

The plans and specifications become part of your contract with the builder or contractor and you will want to make sure that everything you want and how you want it is spelled out in as much detail as possible to protect yourself legally in the event something doesn’t go as planned. If you have no plans or specifications as part of your construction contract then what you get is whatever the builder says it is and that is all there is to it. He can charge you for higher end plumbing fixtures and actually end up installing cheaper fixtures if he wanted to because it isn’t spelled out. Plans are a homeowners legal protection to ensure they get the final product they think they are purchasing from a builder... otherwise it is all trust that the builder or contractor you hire is a good and honest person who won't take advantage of you. Even if they are good and honest... you still need good written and graphical communications with the builder to ensure they know exactly what you want at the end of the day. Protect yourself and have everything figured out before signing a contract with a builder or contractor!

Why are change orders so expensive? Change orders disrupt the flow of a project. Workers have been scheduled and materials have been ordered all the way down the line for the construction of your project. Some products have a significant lead time such as cabinetry at 6-8 weeks, typically, and if something is changed at the time work is set to be performed then that lead-time starts all over again. All workers and material orders down the line from that will need to be rescheduled and replanned. If they can’t be rescheduled and material delivery is imminent then the builder will have to absorb the carrying costs of storing those materials until they are ready. They will also have to pay for those materials long before they are ready to be installed and can be covered by a draw from the bank. All the rescheduling of the work to be completed takes time from someone and that someone gets paid for the work they do. Builders and contractors are businesses with employees who get paychecks for the hours they work and those hours will be billed to a particular job. All of those hours they worked will get billed to your job and you will eventually pay for it either directly or indirectly through very high markups on the change order. If there were workers already onsite at the time the change presented itself and those workers now need to go home and that results in a day's lost labor. Sub-contractors are having a very difficult time finding workers and due to simple supply and demand there are not enough workers to do all of the work out there so most subs, the good ones anyway, are booked up months out. If you change something during construction and they have to be rescheduled, that can result in significant construction delays. When construction takes several months longer to complete due to these delays and you are making mortgage payments. Imagine if you had to make 3 additional mortgage payments at the national average of $1,487 that comes to $4,461.

Project management and coordination. Project managers, planners, and designers are some of the highest paid people in the construction industry because what they do is so important to the success of a project. Businesses and government entities who do large projects have done the cost benefit analysis on construction projects and they all come to the same conclusion that it is far less expensive to pay for proper planning prior to starting a project then to try to build something without a plan. The primary tools of these professionals are the project plans, estimates, and schedules and without these items none of these professionals can do their job regardless of who is acting in that role for a construction project. It takes the cooperation and coordination of numerous entities and personnel to start and complete and project successfully. These organizations, businesses, and persons include, but are not always limited to:

Permits

1. Building coordinator

2. Planning and zoning

3. Health department

4. Critical area or any other specialty review department

5. Building inspectors

Building Suppliers

1. Concrete

2. Masonry

3. Building Supply - lumber, doors, windows, interior trim, stairs, railings, decking

4. Trusses

5. Roofing

6. Siding

7. Plumbing Supplier

8. Electrical Fixtures

9. Insulation

10. Drywall

11. Cabinetry

12. Countertops

13. Flooring

14. Paint

15. Misc Vendors – bath hardware, closet shelving, light bulbs, etc.

Sub-Contractors

1. Excavator

2. Concrete and or/masonry

3. Framer

4. Roofer

5. Siding installer

6. Mechanical Contractor – ductwork and equipment installers

7. Plumber

8. Electrician

9. Insulation

10. Drywaller

11. Flooring Installers, Hardwood, tile, laminate, etc.

12. Cabinet Installer

13. Finish Carpenter

14. Glass shower door installer

15. Painter

16. Cleaner

It’s virtually impossible to coordinate all of these people without plans. Attempting to do the project without plans will easily cost you far more in change orders, mess-ups and do-overs than the plans will cost you. Discovering something that doesn’t work after everything was framed or worse after, roughed in, insulated, and drywalled can easily cost you more to correct in just that one change order than the initial design will cost.

What should I look for in a design professional, do I need a licensed architect? Most states require that any commercial project needs to have plans produced by a licensed design professional primarily to protect the public from fire and life safety issues. Commercial spaces cater to the public so the rules of construction for those projects are different then residential. The International Residential Code (IRC) 2018 Section R106.1 says that “The construction documents shall be prepared by a registered design professional where required by the statutes of the jurisdiction in which the project is to be constructed.” Most jurisdictions adopt the IRC as written and only the appointed building official can offer an exclusion to these requirements. A registered design professional is not the same thing as a licensed architect.

What do design professionals charge and how much should I expect to pay? Any work performed will have to be paid based on the going rate of that design professional or whatever staff that will be working on your project. You get what you pay for but how much do you actually need? Fully licensed and insured architects typically charge 10-15% of the cost of construction for a full set of residential home plans. On a $300,000 house, that is $30,000 - $45,000. This is not reasonable for most residential projects due to “ways and means”. Ways and means is what would be considered “typical” construction that most building professionals are familiar with doing so it does not need to be detailed or spelled out in the construction documents. For example, a framer doesn’t need anyone to draw them a picture on how to frame a wall. But if you wanted to use advanced framing techniques for increased insulation then you would want to detail that out because it’s specific to your project. A typical house might need very minimal details because most of its construction would be covered under “ways and means” so paying 10-15% of the cost of construction is highly unnecessary. But if you were to pay 5% for a basic set of plans that you could then use to coordinate the work, to allow subs to bid from, to do take-offs then $15,000 is reasonable on a $300,000 project because it can quickly and easily save you at least that much during construction. We all want to save money and waste can add up quickly on a construction project and the biggest way to mitigate that risk is to have a detailed set of construction documents. Complete construction documents minimize scheduling delays, change orders, inaccurate estimates, and higher costs.

What are some of the reasons builders’ might not want an independent design professional involved? The primary reason is that you will have the ability to get realistic bids on your project from multiple builders and contractors and if a builder or contractor doesn’t have to worry about being competitive on price then that’s better for them. Another reason is that most designers are at a disadvantage when designing to fit within a budget because they are disconnected from pricing trends. They are not directly involved with purchasing labor and materials. So bring this up when interviewing designers. Another reason is some architects and designers will tend to push the envelope with what is practical and often what they design is not structurally feasible or at the very least going to be extremely expensive to achieve. These are important topics you will need to cover when qualifying the designer you will eventually hire for your project.

We believe in honesty and integrity and if all things are equal we truly believe that we are the best value as a custom builder. If we are not, we genuinely wish you well in working with another honest and qualified custom builder. We have no allusions or intention of trying to get all the work, we simply can’t handle it. We would rather see a client happy with another honest builder than to lose a job to a dishonest one. We are also hoping that by being completely open and honest that maybe we can cut down on how many people end up being taken advantage of just like my own parents were.