Can you buy a house off the internet?

April 18, 2010 7:10 PM

Tell me what you know about buying house plans. Good sources, pitfalls. I am especially interested in modern designs.

We are considering building a new house. We have done a major house renovation in the past and found working with the architect frustrating and expensive, considering what we are after. So we are wondering about buying standard home plans.

What are sites with good designs? What should we be aware of? What should we watch out for? Are there sites with modern or green designs?

Assume we have contractor we trust who can do contractor-appropriate modifications.

posted by shothotbot to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

All I can say is that you might consider trying out other architects. Design is one thing, and off-the-shelf plans can be fine in and of themselves, but ideally any design should be tailored to your desires and the site itself. Every site is unique, and lends itself to a particular design. If there are natural resources or features on the site that can be preserved, make it a part of the plan from the very beginning.
posted by Red Loop at 7:20 PM on April 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I haven't used any of these companies, but you might want to try:
> FreeGreen (www.freegreen.com)
> Hometta (www.hometta.com)
> Houseplans (www.houseplans.com)
posted by quidividi at 7:25 PM on April 18, 2010