Plans or house designs (also called blueprints) are the drawing describing house structure, room allocating and so on. But although the answer to the question mentioned above seems quite obvious, not all people define small houses the same way. There are many types and kinds of these houses: you have the cottage house, common in rural areas, and there are the coastal houses, which you can find by the ocean or some lake. Let's don't forget the log cabin houses and even the small luxury homes. As you can see, small homes became so popular nowadays, that not only empty nesters are building them, but they function as family residence and vacation homes as well. Before we start talking about floor plans, adding bedrooms and figure out were should the kitchen be located, let's first answer the most obvious question regarding small home plans - how much is small? Is 1300 square foot home considered small? And what about 1500 square feet home? Well, in the construction industry, house under 1600 square feet is considered small, and houses under 900 square feet are called tiny houses, and there are many of them, like a townhouse with 2 stories and a bungalow home with one story, both are considered as small houses. You should be familiar with all kinds of small home plans, before choosing the one that will be your dream house.

Probably you'll build one house in your life. You want to put all your experience, knowledge, and much of your financial resources into it. Surely you can use the knowledge and vast experience of professional house designers, of architects who designed hundreds of houses before. Now imagine you can do it for only a few hundreds dollars. How exactly? Stock home plan is the answer. More about that, in my next post.

Saying small home plan is really saying affordable home plan. Since building a house is usually the highest expense you'd have in your life, it's very important to know where you can save money and time, without compromising your demands. Yes, I know that it sounds like a contradiction, but once you'll be familiar with stock plans, you'll see how it's possible. Stock designs were used for many (if not most) of the houses you enjoy looking at (and sometimes even jealous of their owners...). I discovered this interesting fact, while looking amazingly at the cottage house my friend built. Since I knew he could afford hiring an architect and a designer, I asked him - "Jack, who's the creative architect responsible for this beautiful yet space efficient house?" When he replied that he downloaded the house designs from a web site for less than $800 I was quite surprised. So I set down and learned all about purchasing house designs. It was all years ago, before I built my log cabin.Yes, you've guessed it just right. I used stock blueprint. So what are they, stock house plans? How come they can reduce your expanses so much? Hiring an architect to design your house would cost you thousands of dollars, whereas stock home plan usually cost no more then $700 - $800, and the design you receive is not much different. I'm sure you're now asking yourself, how it could be, how stock design can match your requirements? Well, the answer is quite simple - there are thousands of home plans, and there were all made by the most experienced and talemted architects, familiar with all the various demands people have of their dream house, so no matter what are your demands, most likely there is a plan already written for it. No matter how many bedrooms, bathes, the shape of the porches and the martial you want to use for your roof - there is a stock house design that would answer your requests. Actually, there are several, and they can offer you even things you haven't thought of. If after selecting your home plan, you wish to make some modification, it's of course possible, and still would cost you much less than hiring an architect. And let's don't forget all the time you spend in finding the architect you think is the best for you, the months it would take him to design your house and then starting discussing his proposal for your house, whereas selecting and downloading a stock plan is a matter of days, and can be made comfortably from your chair. But don't hurry doing it, before you've made a thorough research - this choice would have crucial effect on your family life.