6 Tips to Finding A Floor Plan Fast!

“I don’t know what I’m looking for.” “How much space do I really need?” “What are the most important aspects when trying to find a floor plan?”

To find a floor plan can be one of the most challenging obstacles to any new home experience. With thousands of floor plans on the internet and builder offices it can take weeks just to decide which plans you will even consider, let alone find a floor plan that makes you happy. Here are six ways to find a floor plan that will fit your unique needs in half the time/faster.

1. What is actually working in your current home?

For whatever reason, be it a job transfer to an amazing city—like Greenville, SC—or the growth of your family unit, you find yourself looking for a new home. Instead of belaboring your brain/mind with the intricacies of dozens of floor plans, the best place to start is right at home. What are the things that you love about your current home? It is easy to villanize our current living situation when considering a new home but step one should be about identifying what is right with your current home. This will help you identify those same traits when you go to find a floor plan.

Example, if you were to say, “The size of our dining room is perfect, we have guests over often and it fits my grandmother’s furniture perfectly,” then chances are you’re going to want your new dining room to be similar.

2.What “Grinds Your Gears?”

Do you and your spouse have to get ready in separate rooms due to lack of space? Is your kids’ 10 x10 room getting smaller with every year that passes? Are you unable to see your kids playing in the living room as you cook because of a compartmentalized floor plan? A house should grow with you and have the ability to not only suit your present needs but also your future ones. By identifying and objectifying exactly what’s not working in your current situation, coming up with solutions will be much easier.

3. What are Your 3 Must-Haves?

Think long and hard other than minimum bedroom count, what are the 3 non-negotiables? Of course it would be nice to find a floorplan with all 11.5 of your must-haves but the chances of actually finding one are slim to none. Do you want an open-concept, a mud room and master bedroom on the main floor? This will help elimate all the noise and you can quickly and easily eliminate the 80% of plans that don’t have these 3 non-negotiables.

4. Quantify and Qualify Your Needs.

What do you mean when you say you want a big living room? The human brain understands and references size based on its previous experiences. What does a dramatic entrance mean? A long formal hallway, a two-story foyer or a living and dining room within eye-sight of entry? There are dozens of floor plans, so understanding and defining some of the ambiguous terms used to describe homes is a must. If I live in a tiny apartment then a HUGE living room might be 14×20, but if you’re downsizing from a huge estate, you might feel a little differently about that 14×20 “closet.”

5. What’s Special In Your Life?

Is it a man cave? A special room for your collection of cat t-shirts? Or a patio that you and your family get-together and grill on every weekend? When you move you will still be the same person and enjoy the same activities and hobbies. It’s important to make sure you have identified places within your new home to be yourself.

Example: If your dog will only sleep on the floor in your room, you need to make sure master bedrooms you are considering when you go to find a floor plan have enough space for not only that king size bed, but also a little parking pad for Sparky at night.

6. Use a Marker, Change the Plan.

No, I don’t mean the structure of the home, but instead, the names and descriptions of the rooms. Instead of “Bedroom #3” or “Formal Living Room,” I guarantee upon moving in it will quickly become “the office” or “little Johny’s play room.” Put yourself in the space before you finalize your plans, so you can humanize the home and really evaluate its ability to become an extension of your life. You will be surprised at how quickly your perception changes when you begin viewing a floor plan as a real home and not just a square with dimensions.