House Plan Blog

Anyone who has searched for or purchased house plans online can attest to how easy it is to quickly become overwhelmed by the volume of plans that are available. Whether building a forever home, garage or investment property, homeowners can successfully navigate the search process when they know where to start, what questions to ask, and how they can most effectively (and efficiently) find what they’re looking for.

Georgia based Design...

The joy of a vacation is universal across countries and cultures. For many, a second, vacation home can add to the bliss of getting away by providing welcoming comfort in an exotic locale.

But as tastes change, so too do the features that vacation homeowners look for when choosing a design.

“We’ve had vacation homes forever, but today people want to have more flexibility because they’re more mobile than they used to be,” said Ken Pieper, owner of Ken Pieper Signature Plans in Evergreen, Colorado.

Pieper’s...

A sloping lot can seem like a hurdle to building the ultimate dream home. But the right home plan can unleash the best of what nature throws one’s way. Owners embracing sloped lots have reaped the unique rewards of these distinguished sites: stunning views, light-filled living spaces and adaptable lower levels that maximize a home’s square footage. With a little creativity, builders can turn even a formidable slope into a bright hillside oasis to call home.

To be able to have a finished, light downstairs with all the advantages of a usable space, it helps keep a smaller footprint upstairs and keep a better cost per square foot,” said Allison McGraw, client services manager for Ahmann Design, Inc. in Hiawatha, Iowa.

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Over the past two decades, tastes and preferences in home design have changed drastically in many respects and very little in others. The House Plan Company dug into the archives to find the top five most popular house plan designs since the late 90s and discovered it’s a diverse collection of styles to fit varying purposes. The only common denominators among all of them, they found, was the attention to detail and open living space in the design.

“Each of my designs delivers as much detail on the exterior of the home as they do in the interior,” explained Ken Pieper, owner of Ken Pieper Signature Designs in Evergreen, Colo., whose house plans are featured on The House Plan Company. “One thing I find...