READING A FLOOR PLAN

If you are new to the building game being presented with a set of plans can be a bit of a daunting experience but fear not, once you know what you’re looking at it is a lot easier to read that you might have though.

A concept plan will be the first set of plans you will receive when building a new home, it will have less pages and builder jargon that a full set of construction plans but the crucial pages that you need to know about are all included in your concept plans. Of course from concept the plan may change or be altered but the way in which to read the plan will always be the same.

A concept plan consist of;

Cover sheet – stating the proposed residence and client information

Site Plan – showing the placement of the proposed new home on the block of land

Floor plan – showing the internal floor plan/layout of the new home

Elevations – showing what the exterior of the home will look like from the exterior

How to read each page – the Cover sheet is a fairly basic one, it will generally show a sketch of the façade (Front) of your proposed new home, your details and the plan details of the block of land you are looking to build on.

The Site Plan – this page shows your how your new home will be situated on the block of land, noting the homes orientation, distances from the boundary’s & any key features of the block.

The Floor Plan –  the most important page to with a few extra important details to note! This page will show you the internal view as if the homes roof has been sliced off and you are looking in from above showing walls, rooms & sizes, joinery & fixture placements, window & door sizing and any other important structural details of the new home. So often people get caught up in the total square meter size of a home BUT what you need to be looking at is the LIVING size – not the living room but in the key on the plan noting the area size the LIVING m2 tells you the total size of the internal area of your home that you will live in. you don’t want to get caught out thinking you have a +200m2 home when your living area is in fact only say 120m2.

And while on the m2 topic other important thing to remember when talking plan size and pricing is you should NOT shop for a builder by square meter pricing – the reason being is this does not give a true representation of what your price will be. When looking at square meter rates a kitchen or bathroom for example would be a lot more expensive than a bedroom this is why square meter pricing is NEVER a good measure and when talking about pricing you should be talking about a total fully comprehensive price for the whole build showing exactly what is and isn’t included for that price.

And finally your elevations page shows the exterior of your new home from each aspect, showing window and door openings & finished floor and ceiling level in relation to the natural ground level.

Any good builder will take you through your concept plan step by step to insure you understand exactly what you are looking at but as we always say, doing your homework is golden when it comes to building a new home and knowing exactly what you are getting!