# Small / Economical Build



## mstrat (Jul 10, 2013)

Anyone have any good sites to see some actual economical and efficient floor plans? Searching high and low for a nice 1200-1500 ft2 house plan that doesn't entail bizarre niches, angled walls everywhere, and 12/12 roof pitches...seems like it's too much to ask for to find a simple ranch with a 2-car garage attached, with 3 bedrooms these days...any suggestions?


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## MechanicalDVR (Jun 23, 2007)

mstrat said:


> Anyone have any good sites to see some actual economical and efficient floor plans? Searching high and low for a nice 1200-1500 ft2 house plan that doesn't entail bizarre niches, angled walls everywhere, and 12/12 roof pitches...seems like it's too much to ask for to find a simple ranch with a 2-car garage attached, with 3 bedrooms these days...any suggestions?


https://www.beracahhomes.com/homes/townsend

https://www.beracahhomes.com/homes/brighton

https://www.beracahhomes.com/homes/bridgewater


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Lots of manufactured home sites. You have to add on the garage in most cases, but if you're just looking for efficient floor plans...


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

In 1989, my favorite restaurant owners slammed a wad of home plan mags in front of me, and said "we like this one, but you tell us which one we should build.".

So I looked at what they picked, and it was a Tee ranch, easy build, open floor plan. So I sad, "yeah, that's the one alright", and sent away for 4 sets of prints. I had a local archy sign them, and we built it that winter.


The outfit is still in business.

http://www.sunsethouseplans.com/


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

Look at the Carolina collection from Allison Ramsey architects.Their homes have curb appeal and floor plans the way people live today.


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## mstrat (Jul 10, 2013)

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm looking for something that has a little curb appeal but isn't full of stupid design items like a billion gables and a foundation with a million corners...the modular sites have some thoughts, I'm feeling like I'll end up just making a plan on my own...but figured a little inspiration wouldn't hurt!


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## Fouthgeneration (Jan 7, 2014)

Early seventies here, a 8 corner house was far up-scale....

Most home are covered in Gee Gaws to hide their similarity to all the other homes in the neighborhood.

Use modular dimensioned graph paper to lay out floor plans and elevations, I.e. 96",48",32,24,19.2" 16" and 12"& 8" if absolutely needed. Walls, roofs, ceilings and floors cost, Air not so much, fewer high class rooms cost less to build, Tiny rooms are by their nature labor pigs. Square buildings have the least amount of roof and wall per foot of living space, trailer house plans the the most waste.

Remember New insulation standards need thicker walls, ADD the dimensional increase, Don't shrink the rooms, Check that all rooms meet federal loan standards for minimum size and fenestration.

Hide the garage doors on the side or back if possible..... spend a few dollars on the Garage doors panels.

Get with the Plumber, tinner and electrician to shrink runs, and thus material costs. Siamese baths, stacked plumbed rooms, maybe upgrade the floor system thickness for the HVAC.

Use only four or five window ROs at the max. A few hours laying out the windows so they look good from the kerb and from inside. Maybe a few matching windows for garage sidewalls to fool the eye.

Leave the under 36" doors for the shack attackers....

Copy the last house with minor changes, or build just from a short list...

I start with a lot set-back plan, then design the stairwell, FFL and garage slab elevation, then add the rooms around the stairwell as needed


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## MechanicalDVR (Jun 23, 2007)

SmallTownGuy said:


> In 1989, my favorite restaurant owners slammed a wad of home plan mags in front of me, and said "we like this one, but you tell us which one we should build.".
> 
> So I looked at what they picked, and it was a Tee ranch, easy build, open floor plan. So I sad, "yeah, that's the one alright", and sent away for 4 sets of prints. I had a local archy sign them, and we built it that winter.
> 
> ...


LMAO, Sunset...several relatives built from their plans in the late 60s and 70s. :thumbsup:


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

Fouthgeneration said:


> Early seventies here, a 8 corner house was far up-scale....
> 
> Most home are covered in Gee Gaws to hide their similarity to all the other homes in the neighborhood.
> 
> ...


^^^ yup.


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## FarmerBrown (Dec 4, 2009)

mstrat said:


> Anyone have any good sites to see some actual economical and efficient floor plans? Searching high and low for a nice 1200-1500 ft2 house plan that doesn't entail bizarre niches, angled walls everywhere, and 12/12 roof pitches...seems like it's too much to ask for to find a simple ranch with a 2-car garage attached, with 3 bedrooms these days...any suggestions?


mitrat, I think you've shed light on a topic that most of us have allowed to slide into memory. When I was a kid growing up, Julius Caesar's dad and my dad used to . . . .

OK seriously though, when I was a kid, my father and grandfather used to extol the virtues of thrift and economy. You were smarter and wiser, they said, to look for real value and savings in everything you did. After all, they would say, you could always perform upgrades down the line. But once spent, that money was gone.

I grew up in a ranch house built around 1960. It was a lovely brick home with an attached garage, three bedrooms, a bath and a half, and a front porch formed by a half-wall, where my brothers and I would sit and watch it snow until my mother swore that if pneumonia didn't kill us, she would. It was a nice, typical, middle-class home.

Nowadays too many people want McMansions. Soaring gables and gleaming gourmet kitchens are all the rage. Homeowners sink so far into debt that they resemble alligators poking their noses out of the swamp in hopes of snagging a quick, free meal.

Not me. I'd just as soon stick with my ranch house, and let the gator feast on something other than my wallet. You can never have too much common sense.


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## mstrat (Jul 10, 2013)

ContractorsLiability said:


> mstrat said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone have any good sites to see some actual economical and efficient floor plans? Searching high and low for a nice 1200-1500 ft2 house plan that doesn't entail bizarre niches, angled walls everywhere, and 12/12 roof pitches...seems like it's too much to ask for to find a simple ranch with a 2-car garage attached, with 3 bedrooms these days...any suggestions?
> ...


That's my point exactly...the plans I'm finding are insane...so many corners and angles that add to the cost of it all and nothing to the function. Just typing it I'm sure I'm sounding like a cheap lazy boring guy, but I also see tge need for a more cost effective home to be built, without necessarily looking like "4 walls, 6 windows, 2 doors and a 4/12 roof modular"...I'm gonna come up with something!


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## Fouthgeneration (Jan 7, 2014)

Start from each end, i.e. add to the ranch bungalow, like a steeper roof pitch etc... And from a Mac-mansion you hate, write a list of details you hate/dislike/ or don't see much value in. Leaving a list of must haves and like to haves to upgrade the Ranch....

Millions of Man and (Women) hours have gone into designing the prefect home, they haven't got there yet, maybe you'll move the ball toward the goal line.:thumbsup:


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

mstrat said:


> That's my point exactly...the plans I'm finding are insane...so many corners and angles that add to the cost of it all and nothing to the function. Just typing it I'm sure I'm sounding like a cheap lazy boring guy, but I also see tge need for a more cost effective home to be built, without necessarily looking like "4 walls, 6 windows, 2 doors and a 4/12 roof modular"...I'm gonna come up with something!


Yup. Well, one can put a pitch on any box - it's getting the proportions and usability as good as it can be for a given space.

Somewhere, I remember seeing those prints still in the tube around here. Ifn I find them, I'll take a snap and put it up here. Can't say when or even if - just too many boxes and storage spaces....


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## mstrat (Jul 10, 2013)

Fouthgeneration said:


> Start from each end, i.e. add to the ranch bungalow, like a steeper roof pitch etc... And from a Mac-mansion you hate, write a list of details you hate/dislike/ or don't see much value in. Leaving a list of must haves and like to haves to upgrade the Ranch....
> 
> Millions of Man and (Women) hours have gone into designing the prefect home, they haven't got there yet, maybe you'll move the ball toward the goal line.:thumbsup:


I'm probably not going to nudge that ball too closely to the perfect home! :clap:

Obviously there's no perfect house because everyone's needs and situation is different. It was said earlier though that I'm a believer in building homes that make sense for who they're for...and some people want a nice home even though they don't have $40,000 extra to spend on decorative dormers, octagon 2 story foyers, and 5 walk in closets. I'd love to help get some more reasonable homes, priced low enough to actually be considered a starter home (in this area ~$130-175,000 I would love to hit...and before everyone destroys me, I don't live in Cali and I know where you live it's $100,000 a square inch for the land alone...it's just not the case here, you can get land fairly reasonably and easily here). 

I'll keep my search up, I'm seemingly drawn to the craftsman look on the outside of the house, I'm a fan of some curb appeal, just not into spending a fortune on it :thumbup:


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Dormers are cheap an add interest to a level of the house that otherwise is pretty boring.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

hdavis said:


> Dormers are cheap an add interest to a level of the house that otherwise is pretty boring.





That is a very true statement,however,it comes with a mighty big if. That being,if they are done correctly,which in the vast majority of times they are not.Here is a brief article that hits the high points. The very first thing on the list is show restraint. That is where most dormers go wrong,the designers feel bigger has to be better.

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2014/07/09/designing-gable-dormers


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

If you're just throwing one in for looks that doesn't add usable space, there isn't any upside to making it "too big". I put an eyebrow dormer in that was just for looks - nothing but attic trusses on the other side.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

Fouthgeneration said:


> Early seventies here, a 8 corner house was far up-scale....


I have favorites and the 8c ranch is oe of them.

Another is the quad. I looked at one as a possible income propoerty (my vote was yes, my two partners said no).

I just thought - what a heck of a neat place to raise a mess of kids - rooms everywhere - even had a walk up & out basement exit. Another one from the 70s IIRC.

Right now, IT workers are slightly overvalued in the US economy and they are the ones munching on all the McMansions.

At some point, the balance will shift back to where all the service trades are in higher demand - and they will want those simpler homes. I hope I live to see it and be part of it!


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## mstrat (Jul 10, 2013)

hdavis said:


> Dormers are cheap an add interest to a level of the house that otherwise is pretty boring.


I suppose that'd be a relative term, yeah? I'm assuming you're saying that dormers are an inexpensive way to add curb appeal? If so then yes, maybe so, but they're still an added cost (and 'cheap' is a relative term still, there's a fair bit of added lumber costs, more roofing costs, more siding costs, more window costs, and more labor costs...the true cost of adding that dormer adds up quickly!). I'm not trying to pick a fight, but they actually do cost a few bucks without any added functionality (unless it's a useful dormer, but I'm assuming you're referring to one that's purely decorative)


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

mstrat said:


> I'm assuming you're saying that dormers are an inexpensive way to add curb appeal?


Correct. There are only so many ways to add interest to a roof line.

If you're looking for the most efficient use of materials for the floor space, in a lot of areas it's a 2 story roughly square building with full basement and hipped roof. Anything you add to that is going to be an added expense.


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